Promoting Students' Writing Skills in Science through an Educational Simulation: The GlobalEd 2 Project

摘要

Using a problem-based learning (PBL) approach, GlobalEd 2 (GE2) utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to learning writing, science, and social studies. Leveraging technologies commonly available in most middle grade classrooms (computers with Internet connections), GE2 engages classrooms of students as teams in simulated negotiations of international agreements on issues of global concern such as water resources and climate change. The impact of student interactions within the simulation on the writing self-efficacy and the ability to author evidenced-based arguments in science of 420 7th and 8th grade students across two states is presented. Results indicate that after participation in a GE2 simulation, students not only increased their writing self-efficacy, but also significantly increased the quality of their written scientific arguments.