This project is improving students' understanding of what it means to do science by introducing inquiry-based learning modules into several courses offered within Washington State University's (WSU) atmospheric chemistry program and is part of a comprehensive strategic effort to improve WSU's atmospheric research and air quality engineering program. The specific objectives of the project include: 1) developing student-accessible modeling tools for atmospheric chemistry; 2) creating and implementing inquiry-based learning modules for using the new modeling tools throughout the atmospheric science program at WSU; 3) assessing the impact of this approach on student conceptual understanding of non-linear system dynamics in science and engineering; and 4) dissemination of these new learning tools to the broader community. Objectives 1 and 2 include producing new course materials to enhance student learning. High quality research models for atmospheric chemistry and aerosol processes already are available, but their interfaces often require more expertise than can be expected of undergraduates. New web-based interfaces for these models are being built to make the interfaces more accessible to students in introductory courses. Inquiry-based learning modules using these tools are being developed for seven other courses that span the atmospheric chemistry program, including courses taken by advance undergraduates and graduate students. The assessment of the effectiveness of the project activities on student learning uses a combination of approaches, including clinical demonstration interviews, in-class observations of students, analyses of student work, and pre- and post-testing. The combination of evaluation approaches should allow the learning modules to be iteratively improved to make them more effective classroom tools and yield useful data for increasing the STEM education knowledge base. It is anticipated that the framework for introducing inquiry-based learning modules will be adapted by other programs within and outside of WSU. The modeling tools and learning modules developed as part of this project are being distributed freely over the Internet. The proposed work also is supporting the student training goals of NSF by involving a graduate student in the educational research and learning outcomes assessment and the participation of two undergraduate summer researchers in the development and testing of the student-accessible modeling tools.
