Conference Program
 
VISUALIZATION IN SCIENCE & EDUCATION

July 3-8, 2005
The Queen's College
Oxford, United Kingdom

Chairs:
Peter Mahaffy & George C. Lisensky

Vice Chairs:
Christopher D. Watters & Roy Tasker

A virtual revolution in visualization has contributed to dramatic advances in fields such as chemistry, nanotechnology, genomics and systems biology, medicine, and earth and space science. New tools to create stunning visual images have given frontier researchers the perspective needed to set new research directions. Interactive, computer based animations and visualizations have also equipped students and teachers to see and understand complex science concepts.

Yet tools alone do not shape research or create educational change. Communities of learning must be created and brought together to develop a collective vision for how to best use these powerful tools for the advancement of science and improvement of education in and outside of the classroom. The technologies and use of visualizations are advancing much more rapidly than our knowledge of the perceptual and cognitive processes that they engage. Seeing does not always lead to understanding. Better theories and practices require sustained interaction among disciplinary specialists, visualization practitioners, and researchers in vision science, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, assessment, and education. The 2005 visualization conference brings together this interdisciplinary community to develop that collective vision for using these tools in research in science and education.

Visit the Chair's Conference Page for more information.

SUNDAY
4:00 pm - 8:00 pmArrival and Check-in
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmSEEING AND UNDERSTANDING: AN OVERVIEW
Welcome and Announcements: Peter Mahaffy, Conference Co-Chair (The King's University College, Canada), Harry Ungar (Program Manager, NSF) and GRC Staff
Discussion Leader: Mary Shultz (Tufts University, USA)
Michael King (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, USA)
"Visions of our Planet's Atmosphere, Land and Oceans"
Mary Hegarty (University of California Santa Barbara, USA)
"Visualizations in the mind and in the world: Relations between internal and external representations"
MONDAY
7:45 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmHAPTICS AND VISUALIZATION AT THE MICRO- AND NANO-SCALE
Discussion Leader: Barbara Tversky (Stanford University, USA)
Tim Herman (Milwaukee School of Engineering, USA)
"Physical Models Function as 'Thinking Tools' in the Molecular Biosciences"
10:00 am - 10:30 amCoffee Break
Miriam Reiner (Technion - Israel Institute of Technology)
"Seeing With the Fingers: Evidence from Neuro-Imaging on the Role of Touch in Scientific Visualization"
Gail Jones (North Carolina State University, USA)
"'I see it better when I feel it:' Haptics and Visualization at the Nano and Microscales"
Insights from Pre-Conference Workshops
(Chris Watters, Conference Vice-Chair; Mary Shultz, Tools Workshop; Mike Stieff, Assessment Workshop)
12:45 pmGroup Photo, followed by Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session I (Coordinated by Roy Tasker, Conference Vice-Chair)
NB: This poster session will be held in the Chemistry Department IT Suite
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmBETTER WAYS OF SEEING AND UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE
Discussion Leader: Peter Atkins (Oxford University, UK)
Shaaron Ainsworth (University of Nottingham, UK)
"A Visualization is Never Alone: The Impact of Interacting with Multiple Representations"
George Whitesides (Harvard University, USA)
"Better Ways of Understanding Science: What Are Some of the Problems?"
TUESDAY
7:45 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmVISUALIZING BIOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY
Discussion Leader: Chris Watters (Middlebury College, USA)
Benno Schwikowski (Pasteur Institute, France)
"Exploring the context space of molecular systems biology"
10:00 am - 10:30 amCoffee Break
Malcolm Campbell (Davidson College, USA)
"Seeing Genomics Education as Researchers"
Kathy Takayama (University of New South Wales, Australia)
"Learning from 2D vs. 3D representations in microbiology: Report of work-in-progress from 2003 NSF Mini-grant"
George Lisensky (2005 Co-Chair), Mary Shultz (2003 Co-Chair), Loretta Jones (2001 Chair)
"NSF Mini-Grant Program: Best Practices and the 2005 Competition"
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pmFree Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pmPoster Session II (Coordinated by Roy Tasker, Conference Vice-Chair)
NB: This poster session will be held at Queen's College
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmVISUALIZATION AT THE MICRO- AND NANO-SCALE: RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Discussion Leader: Zafra Lerman (Columbia College, USA)
Arthur Olson (Scripps Research Institute, USA)
"Tangible Interfaces for Molecular Biology"
Patti Schank (SRI Center for Technology & Learning, USA)
"'That's What Happens': Students Explain Chemistry Through Drawing and Animation"
WEDNESDAY
7:45 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmSEEING AND UNDERSTANDING WITH NEW TOOLS AND ENVIRONMENTS
Discussion Leader: Michael Vollmer (University of Applied Sciences Brandenburg, Germany)
Pat Hanrahan (Stanford University, USA)
"Teaching Visualization to Scientists and Engineers"
Lena Tibell (Linkoping University, Sweden)
"VR and haptics for multi-sensory insights into the molecular world of life science"
10:20 am - 10:50 amCoffee Break
Ruth Chabay and Bruce Sherwood (North Carolina State University, USA)
"3D Visualization and Computation in Introductory Physics"
Niescja Turner (Florida Institute of Technology, USA)
"Effectiveness of Geowall Technology in Facilitating Student Conceptualization of Lunar Phases and Planetary Motion"
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 6:00 pmFree Time
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 8:00 pmBUSINESS MEETING
Meeting Chair: George Lisensky, Conference Co-Chair (Beloit College, USA)
8:00 pm - 9:30 pmPANEL DISCUSSION: WHAT MIGHT VISUALIZATIONS OF 2025 LOOK LIKE?
John Chalice (Oxford University Press, USA)
Pat Hanrahan (Stanford University, USA)
Stella Hurtley (Science Magazine, UK)
George Whitesides (Harvard University, USA)
THURSDAY
7:45 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pmBEST PRACTICES IN VISUALIZATION: PEDAGOGICAL AND COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVES
Discussion Leader: Loretta Jones (University of Northern Colorado, USA)
Roy Tasker (University of Western Sydney, Australia)
"Research into Practice: Molecular-Level Visualisation Using Simulations and Animations"
Liliana Mammino (University of Venda, South Africa)
"The Visualization of Chemical Concepts in Disadvantaged Contexts: Difficulties and Strategies"
10:20 am - 10:50 amCoffee Break
John Moore (University of Wisconsin, USA)
"Using Visualizations from the Journal of Chemical Education in Chemistry Courses"
John Gilbert (University of Reading, UK)
"Towards a Programme of Research and Development on Visualization in Science Education"
12:30 pmLunch
1:30 pm - 6:00 pmFree Time
6:00 pmDinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pmSEEING AND UNDERSTANDING OUR WORLD AND UNIVERSE
Discussion Leader: Henny Kramers-Pals (University of Twente, NL)
David Uttal (Northwestern University, USA)
"Seeing through Visualizations: Visualizations as Symbolic and Cognitive Representations"
Rosalind Grymes (NASA Astrobiology Institute, USA)
"Life on Earth and the Living Universe: Astrobiology Explorations Break Ground with Digital Visualization Tools"
Conference Closing: Chris Watters, Conference Vice-Chair
FRIDAY
7:45 am - 8:30 amBreakfast
9:00 amDepart

The 2005 Gordon Conference on Visualization in Science & Education, the pre-Conference Workshops on Visualization Tools and Assessment of Visualization Projects, and the Mini-Grants program have received invaluable funding from the National Science Foundation (USA). We are also very grateful to Springer for their support of the conference.
Last Updated: August 14, 2006