“Assessment of Online Research Co-op Course” Research Report

Science and innovation is key for economic success. The changing world requires new skills, new ideas, new knowledge, but also new ways of teaching. Education is no longer about rote learning within school walls – it is extending to contexts where landmass knowledge is deployed, improved and adds value to the people’s lives. What can schools do to increase society’s capacity to advance knowledge? The most promising approach is learning by participation—i.e., learning to create knowledge by actually engaging with others in doing it (Scardamalia, Bransford, Kozma and Quellmalz, 2012). The present project – the Ontario On-line Research Co-op Program contributes to the development of the next generation of Canadian scientists who would like to gain early exposure to careers in science and technology. The program goes beyond the traditional teaching practices focusing on rote learning and memorization. Instead, it puts emphasis on dynamic knowledge development by stimulating students’ needs for information, needs for understanding the phenomena and needs for knowledge growth. It follows principles of sustainable development in education by helping students develop attitudes and skills necessary for responsible decisionmaking in the future career. The Ontario On-line Research Co-op Program calls for change in the role of the teacher, who gradually evolves from the main source of information into a navigator guiding students in the ocean of the online information. The teacher (or, in this case, rather “mentor”) helps students to understand their own interests so they can pursue them by actively participating in on-line courses, wiki-publications, forums and etc. Thus, students are no longer viewed as passive “consumers” of facts but active players of the learning process.