IERI: Tuple Spaces as a Foundation for Collaborative Learning

一个多学科小组将研究核心分布式系统技术在社会关注的一个重要领域的应用：教育活动中多个学习者的协调。越来越多的学习者将移动计算设备带到课堂上。同样重要的是，科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)课程的现代教育活动要求学习者扮演角色、贡献想法、解决更大问题的各个方面，并作为一个团队合作。这些活动意味着系统地协调学习者的参与。然而，今天的课堂技术只为协调问题提供了临时解决方案。三个互补机构的研究人员将合作确定元组空间的分布式计算概念是否可以提供稳健、灵活和可持续的解决方案。该项目团队将开发方法和知识，在其基础上更好地协调社会需求和分布式计算技术，从而解决“信息系统和社会系统的相互作用和复杂的相互依存关系”。调查人员将在最近将元组空间的分布式计算概念扩展到移动设备和社交用途的基础上，使用Java语言和手持或笔记本设备。因此，他们将利用数据结构、网络和算法方面的长期和最新进展来加强分布式系统的设计，以支持STEM教育的创新，寻求最大限度地提高教育效益。这项研究将调查这种一致性的可靠性，考虑表现力和性能特征，调查程序员的认知，并评估教育环境中的样本应用程序。这项技术工作将与成熟的、累积的关于小组有效学习的研究机构捆绑在一起。这项研究的更广泛影响在于改善所有学生的数学和科学教育的潜力。

A multidisciplinary team will examine the application of core distributed system techniques to an important area of social concern: the coordination of multiple learners in educational activities. Increasingly, learners are bringing mobile computing devices to class. Equally importantly, modern educational activities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula require learners to take roles, contribute ideas, solve aspects of a larger problem, and work together as a team. These activities imply systematic coordination of learner participation. Yet today's classroom technologies provide only ad hoc solutions to the problem of coordination. Investigators at three complementary institutions will collaborate to determine if the distributed computing concept of tuple spaces can provide a robust, flexible, sustainable solution. This project team will develop methods and knowledge that better align social needs and distributed computational techniques at their foundations, thus addressing "the interactions and complex interdependencies of information systems and social systems". The investigators will build on the recent expansion of the distributed computing concept of tuple spaces to mobile devices and social uses, employing the Java language and handheld or laptop devices. Thus, they will exploit both long-standing and recent advances in data structures, networking, and algorithms to enhance the design of distributed systems that support innovation in STEM education, seeking to maximize educational benefits. This research will investigate the soundness of this alignment, consider expressiveness and performance characteristics, investigate programmer cognition, and evaluate sample applications in educational settings. The technical work will tie to a maturing, cumulative body of research on effective learning in groups. The broader impact of this research lies in the potential for improving math and science education for all students.