LOOP is a new multiplatform, environmental project designed to help young children, ages 6-8, explore ecosystems and understand the science and systems of the natural world. Built upon a curriculum that moves beyond the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), the goal is to help lay the foundation for a lifelong interest in the science of sustainability. Deliverables include: a 20-episode television series with animated stories and live-action segments which feature families and children; an online game to immerse players in the same ecosystems seen on television; Loop Live Missions (outdoor science activities); and an afterschool/camp curriculum designed to get children and families outside to explore natural systems. Promotion of LOOP's educational resources will be undertaken through a partner network including the U.S. Forest Service, Children & Nature Network, National Recreation and Park Association, American Camp Association, National Summer Learning Association, Girl Scouts of the USA, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. LOOP is produced by WGBH in Boston and intended for national distribution on PBS. The project design creates an "interactive learning loop" which cycles between the television series, the Website, and outdoor science activities. The intended impacts are to: (1) deliver educational media to the target audience that increases their understanding of science and sustainability issues; (2) model and teach science concepts and scientific habits of mind; and (3) connect children and their families to the natural world. Concord Evaluation Group will be responsible for conducting formative and summative evaluation of the project. The summative evaluation is designed to measure project impacts with respect to change in behavior and attitudes, as well as science learning. The results of the evaluation will inform the curriculum for the current and future seasons of LOOP and contribute to the growing knowledge base of how media can effectively promote and teach substantive science to the young.
MIT Education Arcade, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, designed and developed Vanished, an eight-week environmental science game as a new genre called the curated game, a hybrid of museum-going, social networking, and online gaming. Middle school aged participants engaged in Earth systems science to study a range of environmental issues associated with mass extinction. Though the game was structured around a fictional scenario--communication with visitors from the future--it posited a future affected by current environmental issues and conditions, and encouraged participants to apply systems thinking as a means to understand how these current conditions led to environmental disruptions. As part of the game play participants studied, applied, and integrated knowledge and skills from multiple sources, including Earth science, ecology, astronomy, and archaeology, and forensic anthropology. An Advisory Board and contributing scientists were be involved. The project team is currently analyzing data collected from the game to test the hypothesis that the game play would allow youth, ages 11-14, to increase their understanding of the scientific process and increase their motivation to learn more science. This summative evaluation is being conducted by TERC Inc. A Curated Game Handbook will be produced to disseminate project results as a model for new applications of game-based learning. Open source software created as part of the game has been made available, and should enable future developers in informal science education to build directly upon these foundational efforts.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Eric KlopferConrad LabandeiraScot OsterweilStephanie Norby
The Minnesota Zoo and Eduweb will design and develop "WolfQuest," an online, 3-D, multiplayer videogame based upon the behavior, biology and social structure of the gray wolf. This dynamic interactive experience will allow learners to become a virtual wolf (avatar) to explore gray wolves within an authentic virtual replication of wolf habitat and social structure. The scientifically accurate graphic representations of the virtual environment will afford rich and robust learning of wolf behavior, biology and habitat ecology. Participants are intended to emerge from the learning experience with a clear understanding of wolf conservation issues in the real world. "WolfQuest" is supported by a website that will function as a self-sustaining community of learners who will participate in discussion forums with wolf experts, and receive ongoing gameplay information and interaction with other participants. Additionally, the project website will provide educational guides for parents and teachers, interpretive materials, incentives to reward participants' achievements acquired through "WolfQuest" gameplay and provide a link to informal environmental organizations throughout the country. The national informal education network will afford regional customization of "WolfQuest," as well as provide social interaction among participants and organizations. The national participant network will disseminate and promote the "WolfQuest" game and wolf-related science programs. Two kiosk installations will be deployed at the Minnesota Zoo and the International Wolf Center for extended learning opportunities at those sites. Project assessment will aggregate data on learners' content acquisition, attitudinal change, game engagement and will yield guidelines for the field on effective practices in development of science education games, along with appropriate methodologies for evaluating game-based learning.
The University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies and the Museum of Science, Boston will create life-sized, 3-D Virtual Humans that will interact with visitors as interpretive guides and learning facilitators at science exhibits. Through the use of advanced artificial intelligence and intelligent tutoring techniques, Virtual Humans will provide a highly responsive functionality in their dialogue interpretation that will generate sophisticated interaction with visitors about the STEM content related to the exhibit. The project exemplifies how the confluence of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and education can creatively and collaboratively advance new tools and learning processes. The Virtual Human project will begin to present to the visitor a compelling, real life, interactive example of the future and of the related convergence of various interdisciplinary trends in technology, such as natural language voice recognition, mixed reality environments, para-holographic display, visitor recognition and prior activity recall, artificial intelligence, and other interdisciplinary trends. The 3-D, life-sized Virtual Humans will serve as museum educators in four capacities: 1) as a natural language dialogue-based interactive guide that can suggest exhibits to explore in specific galleries and answer questions about particular STEM content areas, such as computer science; 2) as a coach to help visitors understand and use particular interactive exhibits; 3) be the core focus of the Science behind the Virtual Humans exhibit; and 4) serve as an ongoing research effort to improve human and virtual human interactions at increasingly sophisticated levels of complexity. The deliverables will be designed to build upon visitor experiences and stimulate inquiry. A living lab enables visitors to become part of the research and development process. The project website will introduce visitors to the technologies used to build virtual humans and the research behind their implementation. The site will be augmented with videos and simulations and will generate user created content on virtual human characters. Project evaluation and research will collect language and behavioral data from visitors to inform the improvement of the virtual guide throughout the duration of the grant and to develop a database that directly supports other intelligent systems, and new interface design and development that will have broad impact across multiple fields.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William SwartoutDavid TraumJacquelyn MorieDiane PiepolH. Chad Lane
Cyberchase is the only mathematics series for children on U.S. television. Cyberchase is designed to engage children aged 8-11 in mathematics, help them develop knowledge and skill in math and problem-solving, and reinforce the usefulness of mathematics. The content of Cyberchase supports the 3rd-5th grade standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. While Cyberchase will continue to be broadcast nationally on PBS, this broad implementation proposal will expand access to Cyberchase's entire body of materials on a reconstructed online portal. This new digital portal will house all of Cyberchase's multi-media mathematics content including 94 episodes, over 50 online math games, and scores of activities. The portal will organize materials by math topic, allow for on-demand viewing and downloading, and create guided learning trajectories to make it easy and fun to explore a math concept more deeply. Ongoing outreach will sustain Cyberchase's PBS presence and its impact on communities. Multimedia Research will conduct front-end/formative evaluation to inform design decisions. MediaKidz Research and Consulting will help set up online tracking mechanisms in the prototype phase and will track and analyze data once the portal is launched. The project will partner with online content providers such as Yahoo Kids and NSDL's Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE) pathway, and Science Buddies to expand distribution and use. They will also work with existing partners, both in the formal and informal arenas, to introduce the new portal to a wider audience. These partners include the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM), Girl Scouts, Girls, Inc., National Engineering Week Foundation (EWeek), and VITAL (Video in Teaching and Learning). Cyberchase online currently attracts 500,000 unique visits a month. The proposed portal will continue to serve this audience in improved ways and serve new audiences who cannot or do not watch PBS stations. It will also provide a home for the material for the expanding numbers of young people who are spending increasing time online. Besides expanding access to Cyberchase materials, the new portal will be able to provide guided learning paths through which users will be prompted to navigate around themes or concepts. To test whether the new learning pathways succeed in encouraging children to use related media on the site, tracking mechanisms will be designed and the resulting data analyzed.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sandra SheppardFrances NankinMichael TempletonBarbara Flagg
This is a proposal for a 3 year, $1,297,456 project to be conducted as collaboration among 5 higher education institutions and one school system across the country, with St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA serving as the lead institution (other collaborators are from Colorado School of Mines, Ithaca College, Santa Clara University, Duke University, and Virginia Beach School System). The primary goal is to attract and retain students in computer science, especially women and underrepresented minorities (including two EPSCoR states). To this end, the project will use Alice, a software program that utilizes 3-D visualization methods, as a medium to create a high-level of interest in computer graphics, animation, and storytelling among high school students, hence to build understanding of object-based programming. Such an IT focus on media and animation is aligned with national computer science standards. The project will build a network of college and high school faculty, who will offer workshops and provide continuing support during the academic year. In each site, pairs of teachers from each participating school (total = 90) will learn with university faculty via a 3-week summer program in which an introduction to using Alice for teaching will be followed by teacher development of materials for students that will then be used to teach high school students. An experimental start at one site will be followed by implementation at four additional sites and culminated with revised implementation at the sixth site (1-4-1 design).
Cognitive research indicates that science experts commonly use diagrams as mediational tools for reasoning visually. But in science education materials and practices, visuals are typically "aids" rather than fundamental representations. This research will examine how students learn to comprehend, use, and construct diagrams as thinking tools. It will focus on the diagram-dense field of beginning optics. The project has two interacting phases: research on how students understand static optics diagrams, and development and refinement of prototype computer- based dynamic diagrams and diagramming tools. Specific tasks are: (1) Pilot research, and analysis of diagrams in optics texts, (2) research on instructional practices with these diagrams, (3) research on student understanding and use of diagrams, (4) design and develop interactive diagrams and a dynamic diagram-construction kit, (5) carry out research with prototypes, and (6) formulate and disseminate implications for creation and use of interactive diagrams in science education. Such research on visual education in science will help guide development of new curricula and software for science education. The project team of cognitive scientists, science educators, graphics specialists, and systems developers is devoted to promoting learning and reasoning in science with new data, theory, and innovative prototypes of dynamic diagrams. These interdisciplinary activities more directly link science education research, materials development, and classroom activities. Cost sharing is provided by the Institute for Research on Learning which is contributing indirect costs and APPEL which is contributing four MacIntosh II systems.
This planning grant will enable The Indiana State Museum (ISM) to develop "The Science Behind the History," a program of live interactive video distance learning that includes multiple components and state-wide partners. The project is based on "ISM Live!," which uses a satellite van with video broadcast system to deliver programs from diverse historic settings throughout Indiana. Intellectual Merit. This project will add scientific components to interpretations of settings that usually are presented from social or cultural perspectives, including hands-on experiments at the remote broadcast-receiving sites. Scientists and historians will both be involved in the activities along with the audience participants. Broader Impact. Diverse, multigenerational audiences throughout Indiana will be reached through this project. In addition, it will provide a new model for interactive distance learning, as well as help establish partnerships among educational and community organizations that may lead to other beneficial long-term outcomes.
IDSolutions, in partnership with the National Association of Health Education Centers (NAHEC) and eight NAHEC member organizations will develop an original project to provide informal science education experiences to children, families and the local community via visual communications' technology. This initiative includes building a technical infrastructure that will connect participating Health Education Centers. It will expand beyond the installation of a network and will focus the bulk of its energy on the technology's application -- generating inquiry-based science experiences through active engagement with content that originates from remote locations. Through the creation of an Interactive Videoconferencing Programming Collaborative (IVPC), IDSolutions, NAHEC, and NAHEC Members will produce and disseminate to our target audience of school-age children, families, community groups and teachers, a high volume of science-related programming. The core content of the initial set of programs will be extracted from one of the nation's most popular life science traveling exhibits called "Grossology." These distance-learning programs will originate from a central "studio" location and will be available during the day, after school, on weekends, during summer breaks and holidays. Supporting this effort will be Advanced Animations (designers of "Grossology" and "Experience Science!"), a science education consulting company.
This planning grant seeks funding for demonstrating proof of concept for the proposed traveling exhibition "Inside Phoebe's Field." It is an outgrowth of the prior NSF project (9979287) that resulted in an interactive book for middle-school age girls. This project extends the book through exploring the feasibility of using mixed reality in an exhibit format as well as virtual environments using the Internet. Intellectual Merit: The project will further the technology-enhanced three-dimensional storytelling approach by development of selected science exhibit prototypes. The project team combines academic, museum and professional expertise, as well as a partnership with the Girl Scouts of the USA. Broader Impact: This project will provide the ISE field valuable feedback about the use of metaphor in storytelling in a science-based exhibition, as well as about the application of new technologies (virtual reality, augmented reality technologies and interactive electromechanical events) for creating exhibit experiences. At the same time it will further the development of a national traveling science exhibition whose primary target audience will be girls from ages 10 to 13.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mitzi VernonKatherine CennamoIrene GoodmanMichael ErmannSteve HarrisonMargarita McGrath
The Educational Film Center will complete production of a science, engineering, and technology careers exhibit and informal science education project for use in science museums, libraries, schools, and community locations. The twelve additional interactive and linear career profiles to be produced under this grant will bring the total number of careers available in a fully interactive mode to thirty-two. Users will be able to explore each of these careers with first person video profiles of people in science and engineering and animated/reality video simulations of work experiences in these fields. The exhibit also with provide guidance to help users make decisions about education and career choices and will include a database of information about approximately 200 additional science and math-based professions. The project also will undertake the development and testing of eight permanent model Family Outreach Science Career Education Centers in eight cities. These centers will be based on and will expand upon the experience the project had in their earlier model Parent Outreach Science Career Program. Utilization support will be provided through special target leader guides, presentations and workshops at national and regional meetings of user organizations and groups, and a SETQuest bulletin board and e-mail network for the exchange of user science career programming. This project is a collaborative effort among four organizations: The Educational Film Center (EFC) is responsible for management of the project and for the development of production of the software and the documentary video profiles; COMAP is responsible for selecting and hiring content consultants, for formative and summative evaluation, and will jointly market and distribute the material with EFC; The New York Hall of Science is responsible for the exhibit kiosk and graphics, the design and development of the workbook and museum installation print components of the project, and will serve as principal test site for the exhibit; and the AAAS is coordinating the design, implementation, and testing of parent outreach program. All of the organizations will be involved in presentations and dissemination of project information to the informal and formal education communities.
The Computer Museum will develop two 2500 sq. ft. computer-based exhibits the "Virtual Fishtank: Splashing Into Complex Systems". One exhibit will be installed permanently in the Computer Museum and the other will travel nationally for three to five years. These exhibits will use computer modeling of fish to introduce the public to new ideas about complex systems science and demonstrate the central concept that complex behaviors and patterns can emerge from simple interactions among simple rules. Visitors will spend eight to ten minutes designing their own fish at one of the ten FishBuilder computer stations. As they make decisions, they will be able to observe the effects of their rule selections on a computer display. When satisfied with their design, visitors can then "tag" their fish by placing their initials on fish tails and launch them in the central "fishtank". Large projection screens will encircle visitors in a dramatic simulation of an underwater aquarium environment. Visitors will observe and analyze how the few simple rules imbedded in the design of individual fish give rise to complex behaviors and patterns in the entire ecosystem. This exhibit draws on research conducted at MIT's Media Lab, The Computer Museum, and the New England Aquarium and will be able to reach people with a variety of learning styles. It anticipated completion date is March, 1998 for the TCM's version and the traveling version will begin it's national tour in September, 1998.