Abstract
Abstract. Using digital educational resources (DERs) in science education is an effective way of promoting students' content knowledge of complex natural processes. This work presents the usage of the digital educational resource CreativeLab_Sci&Math | Plate Tectonics, designed for exploring the PhET™ Plate Tectonics simulator, in the context of the education of pre-service teachers (PSTs) in Portugal. The performance of the PSTs was analysed based on the five tasks into which the DER was organized. Results show that the DER contributed to the successful achievement of the following learning outcomes for PSTs: describing the differences between the oceanic crust and continental crust regarding temperature, density, composition and thickness, associating the plate tectonic movements with their geological consequences, and identifying the plate tectonic movements that cause the formation of some geological structures. Results also show that PSTs considered the PhET™ Plate Tectonics simulator a contributor to their learning about plate tectonics.
Highlights
This work presents the implementation of the digital educational resource (DER) of CreativeLab_Sci&Math | Plate Tectonics, designed under the CreativeLab_Sci&Math project (Cavadas et al, 2019)
That exercise could allow them to perceive that the oceanic crust density is higher than the continental crust
Concerning statement A1.2., i.e. “The temperature of oceanic crust is higher than continental crust at 5 km depth”, pre-service teachers (PSTs) were expected to use the thermometer and the ruler in the toolbox
Summary
This work presents the implementation of the digital educational resource (DER) of CreativeLab_Sci&Math | Plate Tectonics, designed under the CreativeLab_Sci&Math project (Cavadas et al, 2019). This resource is a structure guide with several tasks that explore the PhETTM Plate Tectonics simulator from the PhET Interactive SimulationsTM of the University of Colorado Boulder. This simulator aims to allow users to explore the plate tectonic dynamics on the Earth’s surface through the manipulation of different variables, such as temperature and density and crust types (oceanic crust and continental crust). LO 3: Identify the tectonic plate movements that cause the formation of certain geological structures
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