Interactions Affording Distance Science Education

Introduction Teaching and learning of science concepts and practice has traditionally been an interactive process. That interaction most often takes place in classrooms and includes the passive consumption of lectures, intermingled with hands-on work in laboratories or field locations. These activities are interspersed with student interaction with textbooks, computers and the completion of learning activities such as problem sets. Distance and distributed education affords new possibilities (especially related to increasing access) at the same time as it reduces capacity for traditional science instructional models and activities. In this chapter, I overview the value of interaction, briefly discuss the literature on definitions and types and conclude with implications and suggestions for creating interaction designs and mixes that together create exciting and engaging ways for science students who are distributed across time, space, and cultures. Interaction has become synonymous with engagement, activity, and fun as illustrated by the deluge of advertising for everything from interactive toys to interactive clothing, books, music,