| Problem Solving This
page includes examples of Web-enabled problem solving from the fields of
 Biology
The Farmer's Bones
Robyn Lewis, Natural History of Genes Project, University of Utah
This activity is part of a research project on how to teach anatomy using problem-based
learning. Students are asked to put themselves in the role of osteologists and use certain
identifying characteristics to analyze bones found by a farmer. They are shown photographs
of bones accompanied by descriptive information and are asked to assess the bones' age,
sex, race, and stature and perform disease and abnormality analyses.
While intended for second-level students, the ideas and methods contained in this
assignment might easily be adopted to the needs of undergraduates. The assignment offers a
relatively simple and low-cost way to use new media to promote a problem-solving approach.
This activity resides at the Genetic
Science Learning Center, University of Utah School of Medicine, which is involved
creating a range of interactive online resources for second-level biology teachers and
students.
This example features the use of text and images.
History Research
Methods
Who
Killed William Robinson?
Ruth Sandwell and John Lutz, University of Victoria
William Robinson was an African American murdered on Salt Spring Island in the British
colony of British Columbia in 1868. He had arrived in the colony a decade before as part
of a contingent of African Americans fleeing persecution and slavery in the years leading
up to the U.S. Civil War.
This site assembles an online archive of contemporary historical reports of the murder,
documents, images, newspapers, journals, biographies, legal information, and profiles of
individuals, and asks students to become historians and use these resources to find out
more about the circumstances of Robinson's death.
The site is subtitled "Race Justice, and Settling the Land: A Historical
Whodunit," and Sandwell and Lutz anticipate that students will interpret the primary
sources at their disposal and move beyond answering who killed Robinson to asking other
questions, such as "How did he live?" The site authors also note that legal
historians, social historians, labor historians, and political historians all interpreted
the evidence presented by the site in different ways and came to different conclusions;
thus the site's resources also serve to develop historical understanding and to answer the
question "How do we know what happened in the past?"
This site demonstrates how the massing of sources used in traditional archival research
may be used in an online environment to stimulate historical interpretation, problem
solving, and the formulation of questions about evidence and context.
This example features the use of repositories,
text, and images.
Environmental
Studies
HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program): A Case Study in
Ultra-Modern Warfare
Norman Chance, Arctic Circle Virtual Classroom, Anthropology Department, University
of Connecticut
This assignment, undertaken as part of an Arctic Circle series on social equity and
environmental justice, asks students to form teams and analyze a U.S. Army and Navy
project using radio waves to enhance military communications and surveillance systems.
More specifically, the assignment asks students to understand the range of problems raised
by HAARP by breaking them first into smaller, manageable units, then viewing all the
issues with greater understanding, and finally writing a position paper.
The assignment refers students to a wide variety of information on the Web, such as
official information from the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Defense Department; position
statements and resources by environmental organizations; Web sites of individuals; and
books, journals, magazines, and newspaper articles. Students teams are required to give
summary presentations of their findings once the available information has been obtained
and position papers written and distributed.
The assignment suggests ways for students to find and evaluate Web-based information in
formulating an understanding of specific issues.
The Arctic Circle Virtual Classroom is housed on the University of Connecticut's Borealis server, which also acts
as a gateway for combined online resources in anthropology, archaeology, and environmental
studies.
This example features the use of Web sites.
World Literature
Where in the Hell Is Dante Alighieri?
Steven Hale, English 2303 (World Literature I), Georgia Perimeter College
This assignment presents students with a map of Dante's Inferno and asks them to
find where Dante has located himself in Hell. Students click on the map and are led to
explanations of the sections of Hell in which they find themselves. In the process, they
learn through images and text about the structure and character assigned to Hell by Dante.
This is one of several interactive problem-solving assignments adopted by Hale for this
class. Another exercise, A Guided Web Tour of Dante's Florence, guides students through
illustrations, information, and links to external sites, and then asks them a series of questions.
Hale's assignments suggest simple ways of using Web site visits and online visual
materials to bring subject matter to life and to familiarize students with content.
This example features the use of text and images.
This project is a joint initiative of the Center for the Virtual University and the Center for Teaching and Learning
at UMUC.
© 1996-2005 University of Maryland University College
3501 University Blvd. East
Adelphi, Maryland 20783 USA
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