9454825 Heeter The Digital Learning Center for Microbial Ecology will bring together scientists, educators and multimedia designers to develop interactive, computer-based active learning tools that motivate learners to explore, discover, manipulate and interact with the microscopic world of organisms that exist throughout our environment. Our intent is to spark an awareness of microbes in nature for K-12 science education and to provide teachers and students with credible and effective learning tools which focus on themes pursued by the Center for Microbial Ecology which have broad public interest, including biodegradation, microbial evolution and biodiversity. Microbes have traditionally been portrayed in their role as disease-causing "germs," but they also play many beneficial roles as essential agents in food production, waste disposal, and other processes critical to the continuation of life on Earth. The Digital Learning Center will be accessible to K-12 teachers and students over the Internet and on CD-ROM, taking advantage of the ease of transporting large interactive multimedia content with elegant user interfaces via CD-ROM and the ease of updatable text and multimedia information access and electronic mail communication available over the Internet. Components of the Center will include: The Microbe Zoo - an ever-growing collection of microbes on digital video on photos which can be explored through a multimedia "zoo ' interface or searched and sorted as a multimedia database which links text, data, images and digital video; Interactive Learning Experiences - multimedia interactive software modules that provide teachers with learning experiences that can engage students with various aspects of the science of microbial ecology; Meet the Scientists - digital video clips of center scientists explaining in lay terms their research and aspects of science they find fascinating, plus a moderated bulletin board for communication among students, teachers and scientists; Microbes In The News - digitized print and electronic stories in the news, combined with commentary from scientists and topical lessons plans for teaching about science in contexts that relates to students' lives; Digital Teaching Assistant - suggestions and electronic lesson plans for using the Digital Learning Center for teaching and learning; Hands-On Laboratory Resources - lesson plans for teachers on conducting real world experiments where students experience kinesthetic, olefactory and real time process of scientific inquiry in their local environment; Digital Points of Interest - pointers to print, electronic and software information resources related to microbial ecology. The Digital Learning Center will serve as a pilot program for collaborative development and delivery of K-12 interactive science learning experiences by scientists, educators and multimedia designers that could ultimately be applied to all of the NSF Science and Technology Centers' Education Outreach Programs.
