Supporting Teacher development in Enacting the RiverWeb Water Quality Simulator

High-school teachers’ evaluations of RiverWeb Water Quality Simulator (WQS), a Web-based water quality management simulation, and the curriculum and pedagogy into which it is incorporated are described. Seven teachers participated in a two-day workshop, in which they took on the parts of students in using the WQS to explore the impacts of land use on water quality. As part of ongoing design and research collaboration, they participated in focus groups to consider the effectiveness of WQS activities. The teachers judged the RiverWeb WQS as potentially effective in fostering student engagement in sustained, inquiry-based activities focused on watershed processes that determine water quality. Teachers suggested improvements to the functionality and learner interface of the simulator, and requested that additional resources be added to help them scaffold student learning. Teacher feedback indicated that such supporting materials should be restricted to teachers and include pedagogy and content pages as well as links to external, online informational and data resources. These findings, together with data gathered from classroom observations with students, will be used to develop and embed content, pedagogy, and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) support for teachers within the WQS environment.