A LABORATORY/FIELD WORKSTATION FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION

A STEP TOWARD BEING NUMBER ONE IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION BY THE YEAR 2000 (AMERICA 2000 GOAL) AND MAINTAINING REASONABLE SCHOOL BUDGETS CAN BE MADE BY INTRODUCING A LOW COST SYSTEM WHICH WILL BRING THE STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGY INTO THE HIGH SCHOOL LABORATORY. THE PLANNED LABORATORY WORKSTATION ADDRESSES THIS NEED, BY TAKING THE STATE OF THE ART TOOLS AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCHERS AND INTEGRATING THEM INTO A COST EFFECTIVE, EASY TO USE, MODULAR SYSTEM FOR USE IN HIGH SCHOOL LABORATORIES. THE SYSTEM CONSISTS OF A LOW COST HAND HELD DATA ACQUISTION AND LOGGING SYSTEM, A USER SELECTABLE SENSOR ARRAY, AND SOFTWARE FOR DOWNLOADING DATA TO A PERSONAL COMPUTER FOR ANALYSIS.L THE PHASE I PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A PLAN FOR INTEGRATING THIS WORKSTATION INTO THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM. THE PRECISE SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE WILL BE DEVELOPED THROUGH A SERIES OF MEETINGS WITH EDUCATORS. WITH THESE SPECIFICATIONS AND SIGNIFICANT MICROCONTROLLER EXPERIENCE, THE PROOF-OF-CONCEPT HARDWARE AND SOTWARE WILL BE DEVELOPED. THIS SYSTEM WILL THEN BE FIELD TESTED IN A HIGH SCHOOL LABORATORY. THE INFORMATION GATHERED IN PHASE I WILL DEFINE THE APPROACH TO CURRICULUM INTEGRATION THAT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN PHASE II. FEEDBACK FROM THE FIELD TESTING PROCESS WILL BE USED TO REFINE AND AUGMENT THE DESIGN INTO A PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENT DURING PHASE II. BY ACTIVELY ADDRESSING CURRICULUM INTEGRATION ALONG WITH FIELD TESTED HARDWARE, THE SYSTEM WILL BE READY FOR COMMERCIALIZATION IN PHASE III.