Note: Some artilces are in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat to read these files. To download the latest version go to www.adobe.com.

History of Probeware
Robert Tinker, President Concord Consortium
http://www.concord.org/ccprobeware/probeware_history.pdf

This is an overview of the development and dissemination of "Probeware." Also called "microcomputer-based labs", MBL, "Calculator Based Labs", and CBL, probeware represents one of the most valuable contributions of computers to education. By connecting probes to a computer running suitable software, students can observe real-time data in a variety of formats. When placed in an inquiry-based learning context, this capacity can significantly increase and speed learning.

The Evolution of Learning Devices: Smart Objects, Information Infrastructures, and Shared Synthetic Environments
Chris Dede, Harvard Graduate School of Education
http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/dede.html

Over the course of the industrial revolution, motors shrank in size and cost, disappearing inside household appliances and workplace tools to create new kinds of machines. Through a similar process, we are now embedding computers and telecommunications into our everyday context, making possible three innovative types of learning devices. Smart objects, with embedded microprocessors and wireless networking, explain their own functioning and help us create "articulate" educational environments that communicate with their inhabitants. Information infrastructures provide remote access to experts, interlinked archival resources, virtual communities, and "distributed" investigations involving many participants in different locations. Shared synthetic environments, by immersing us in illusion, help us develop a better understanding and appreciation of reality. The new messages emerging from these new media can dramatically improve instructional outcomes, but such an evolution of educational practice depends on careful design of the interface among the devices, learners, and teachers.

Sensors: The Next Wave of Infotech Innovation: From 1997 Ten-Year Forecast
Paul Saffo, Institute for the Future
http://www.saffo.com/essays/sensors.php

The infotech revolution is fifty years young, for despite all the innovation and surprises served up to date, it is quite clear that far greater change lies ahead. We marvel at how computers have insinuated themselves into every corner of our lives, knowing all the while that in a few years today's marvels will seem quaint compared to what follows. Amid all this change, a half-century of history provides us with one important constant -- a clear trajectory of innovation and consequence that reveals important insights about the nature of surprises to come.

Teacher Uses of Highly Mobile Technologies: Probes and Podcasts
Robert Tinker, Paul Horwitz, Stephen Bannasch, and Carolyn Staudt, The Concord Consortium, and Tony Vincent
Educational Technology, vol. 47, no. 3 (May-June 2007)
http://asianvu.com/bookstoread/etp/Educational_Technology_May_June_2007.pdf

This article introduces two contrasting ways of using highly mobile information technology for educational purposes. The first example uses mobile devices and scientific probes to gather information; the second uses a combination of mobile and desktop computers to disseminate it by way of podcasts. The examples also show that mobile devices complement, rather than replace, desktop computers.

Technology in the Lab; Part I: What Research Says about Using Probeware in the Science Classroom
Mark Millar
Science Teacher, vol. 72 no. 7 (October 2005)
http://www.heliotronics.com/papers/Science%20Teacher%20Article.pdf

The development of probeware—electronic sensors connected to a desktop computer, calculator, or handheld computer, together with supporting software—has revolutionized the conduct of science laboratory instruction and permitted students to engage in true inquiry. Part I of this two-part article offers a summary of educational research findings showing the advantages of using such sensors. Part II, by Nusret Hisim, offers a range of practical suggestions for using probes in laboratory teaching across the sciences.

The place for the computer is in the laboratory: an investigation of the effect of computer probeware on student learning.
Nanette I. Marcum-Dietrich
Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching (2002)
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/summary_0199-2591867_ITM

Computer data collection technology is commonplace in commercial and research laboratories, and this technology is becoming increasingly available in the secondary classroom. While a number of studies have been conducted comparing computer probeware laboratories to other laboratory methods, these studies have not addressed the larger question of how computer probeware impacts learning. This study investigated computer probeware's impact on student understanding of the phenomenon, the student's understanding of the discourse of science and his or her ability to participate in the process of science. This study was conducted in five 10th-grade biology classes. Students were divided into two groups: one group conducted the laboratory using traditional methods that rendered qualitative data and the other group conducted the laboratory experiment using the computer probeware technology which produced quantitative data. Student understanding was measured with a wide variety of data sources that included: a pre and posttest, student designed laboratory procedures, lab reports, and student interviews. Students' ability to use the discourse of science as well as their proficiency in engaging in the process of science was investigated through the analysis of videos of students performing the laboratory exercise as well as student interviews. The study showed that students who used the probeware scored slightly higher on the posttests, lab designs, and reports. The laboratory videos and student interviews revealed that in both groups students experienced trouble with the discourse of science and the process of science regardless of the method used. The computer probeware's greatest benefit was its ability to bridge the disconnection that exists between the laboratory process and the conclusions draw from laboratory data. The computer probeware graphically displayed the data in a manner that enabled students to form a connection between the process and the phenomenon. As a result, students who used the probeware were better able to interpret the data they obtained, drawing stronger connections between the data and the phenomenon.

Probeware and Handhelds in Elementary and Middle School Science
Shari J. Metcalf and Robert F. Tinker
Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2004
http://teemss.concord.org/publications/Metcalf_Tinker.pdf

This paper reports a test on the feasibility and educational value of probeware and associated instructional materials in middle school science education. We addressed feasibility through consideration of costs, teacher professional development, and instructional design. In order to test our approach, we developed 2 middle school science curriculum units, 6 low-cost probes that interface between handheld Palm computers, and CCLabBook software for the Palms that presents the curriculum, interfaces with the probes for data collection and visualization, and supports guided exploration. The materials were tested by 30 teachers in the first year, and in a follow-up study by 8 of those teachers the second year. We found that teachers were able to conduct the investigations successfully in their classrooms, and that student learning was enhanced through the use of the probes and handhelds. Specifically, students experienced the physical correlation between phenomenon and modeling, which helped them to develop understanding and to confront misconceptions.

NSF Releases "Sensors for Environmental Observatories" Report (January 17, 2006)
http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=105708&org=ERE

Devices will enable a deeper and broader understanding of Earth's environment.

Probeware and the XO: Ubiquitous computers are coming and probes are close behind
Andy Zucker, Alvaro Galvis, and Robert Tinker
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2007-spring/probeware.html

Imagine what a revolutionary impact a computer like the XO could have in the hands of children worldwide. It is an encyclopedia, library, language tutor, multimedia communicator, and music maker. It is a powerful tool for science inquiry, too, particularly if it has probeware—software and hardware for real-time data acquisition and analysis.

Using Sensors and Models to Answer Discovery Questions
Carolyn Staudt and Stephen Bannasch
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2006-fall/sensors.html

Science is a social construction of knowledge and practices based on observation, analysis, modeling, experimentation, and theorizing about the physical world around us. The National Science Education Standards states, "From the earliest grades, students should experience science in a form that engages them in the active construction of ideas and explanations that enhance their opportunities to develop the abilities of doing science." Too often, however, science is treated only cursorily, if at all, in elementary grades and in a passive format: reading from a textbook. But even very young students can do much more, particularly when the science classroom includes probes and models. And that's just what the Technology Enhanced Elementary and Middle School Science (TEEMSS2) project has been doing: designing activities with probes and models for students in grades 3-8.

Monday’s Lesson: Investigating Sound
Ed Hazzard
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2005-fall/monday.html

Displaying sounds is relatively easy on a computer. Indeed, most laptops have a built-in microphone. With this basic equipment, students have a ready-made sophisticated scientific instrument. All they need is some simple software and ideas about how to use it.  The Concord Consortium has developed a cross-platform Sound Grapher for the Technology Enhanced Elementary and Middle School Science (TEEMSS) project, which creates sensor-based investigations for students in grades 3-8.

Any Computer, Any Interface, Any Curriculum
Carolyn Staudt
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2005-spring/anycomputer.html

Science teaching with sensor vendors has always been awkward due to the number of platforms, sensors, and software packages that are available within a school building. It is not uncommon to find schools with cabinets filled with sensors from multiple vendors that are no longer used. What if standards-based materials were developed using cross-platform software that could be interfaced by many different sensor vendors? Technology Enhanced Elementary and Middle School Science (TEEMSS) does just that.

Monday's Lesson: Handheld Computers in the Field
Carolyn Staudt
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2004-fall/monday.html

When students do projects in their own backyards, neighborhoods, and playgrounds, they make real-life discoveries. And when handheld computers team up with database and spreadsheet software, students can turn the collection of real-life data into actual fieldwork, and become math and science experts about phenomena in their local community.

Integrating Instructional Technology into Elementary Science Methods Course
Brenda M. Capobianco, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Purdue University, and James D. Lehman, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Purdue University
http://p3t3.soe.purdue.edu/SITE_2004_Capobianco.pdf

Prospective teachers and teacher educators both confront practical and philosophical issues in attempting to integrate technology into their practice. This paper reports on a case study of a first-year science teacher educator, a novice with instructional technology, who integrated technology in an elementary science methods course, with the support of a PT3 implementation project, to further her own knowledge and practice while simultaneously helping her students, pre-service teachers, develop their own practice. Qualitative analysis of classroom observations, field notes, student feedback forms, and other documents revealed themes related to technology’s role in inquiry, factors affecting the faculty member’s development, and pre-service teachers’ development of expertise and willingness to use technology themselves. Pre-service teachers’ growth and development related to technology integration parallels that of teacher educators.

Probing the Unseen World: Advanced Probe Captures Subtle Changes in Temperature
Stephen Bannasch
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2002-fall/probeware.html

When students use both sensor- and model-based computer visualizations, will they gain a deeper understanding of the difficult concepts of heat and temperature? Can we extend that learning experience to the investigation of conductivity and thermal gradients in different materials? Can we go even further to include the concepts of radiation and convection, the subtleties of which are far more difficult to grasp? These are some of the questions driving our research with middle school students as we work with them to conduct hands-on experiments in temperature and heat flow.

Probeware Takes a Seat in the Classroom: Educational Impact of Probes Improves with Time and Innovation
Stephen Bannasch and Robert Tinker
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/2002winter/probeware.html

For many years we have been developing probeware—probes, sensors, interfaces, supporting software, and related curricula for classroom lab activities. However, we have never seen anything like the burst of creativity that is currently driving innovation in this area. Eventually, these new developments will drive down the costs, increase the usability, and greatly improve the educational impact of probeware.

Wireless Computers and Probeware Support a New Science Curriculum Using iPAQ Pocket PCs to study science fundamentals
Stephen Bannasch
http://www.concord.org/newsletter/2001spring/newscience.html

The Data and Models project at the Concord Consortium is developing innovative probeware running on powerful wireless handheld computer systems that support student explorations into various forms of heat energy transfer.

Monday’s Lesson: Force and Acceleration
Robert Tinker and Carolyn Staudt
http://www.concord.org/publications/newsletter/1999fall/mondayslesson.html

It is now easy to take probeware out of the lab. To demonstrate the flexibility of this we took a handheld computer with probes to a playground. We were looking for a real-life situation where we could easily demonstrate the relationship between the force on an object and its acceleration. Using probes it is possible to record force and acceleration at the same time, and so we looked for such a situation.

Using the Results of Research in Science Education to Improve Science Learning
Ron Thornton, Tuffs University, Keynote address to the International Conference on Science Education, Nicosia, Cypress, January 1999
http://probesight.concord.org/what/articles/thornton.htm

Traditional science instruction in the United States, refined by decades of work, has been shown to be largely ineffective in altering student understandings of the physical world. Even at the university level, students who take physics courses, whether they be science majors or not, enter and leave the courses with fundamental misunderstandings of the world about them essentially intact: their learning of facts about science remains within the classroom and has no effect on their thinking about the larger physical world. There is evidence that listening to someone talk about scientific facts and results is not an effective means of developing concepts. The evidence shows that students of all ages learn science better by actively participating in the investigation and the interpretation of physical phenomena and that well-designed computer-based pedagogical tools that allow students to gather, analyze, visualize, model and communicate data can aid students who are actively working to understand science.

Science Investigations Handbook Volume III: High School Science Investigations with Data Loggers - Chapter 2: What is a DataLogger
Bill G. Aldridge, Airborne Research and Services, Inc.
http://probesight.concord.org/what/articles/datalogger.htm

When you look at something and then describe what you see by writing or drawing on a sheet of paper, you are recording data. When you do this at various times, you are keeping a log. So when a ship's captain enters the position of the ship every hour onto a ship's log, he is a data logger.

The Encoder, The Newsletter of the Seattle Robotics Society
Kevin Ross, The Seattle Robotics Society
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/encoder/jul97/basics.html

An important part of building a robot is the incorporation of sensors. Sensors translate between the physical world and the abstract world of Microcontrollers. This month in Basics, I will explain the common types of sensors used in personal robotics.