Interconnections: Revisting the Future

中佛罗里达大学媒体融合实验室、纽约科学馆和皇后艺术博物馆正在为1964/65年纽约世界博览会开发一个三维多用户虚拟环境（MUVE）。所有年龄段的虚拟观众将沉浸在一个精确建模的历史世界中，其中有140多个科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学科展馆以及一系列艺术和人文展品。虚拟世界可以通过自行设计的化身和化身带领的导游图尔斯自由探索。整个虚拟环境中的发现点将为深入参与STEM主题提供机会，使参与者能够探索技术创新的更广泛后果。 用户生成内容的核心是FutureFair，这是一个在线用户可以创建和分享他们对未来的个人愿景的区域。通过与纽约科学馆和皇后区艺术博物馆的合作，互联网超越了其虚拟组成部分，这两个博物馆都位于皇后区法拉盛草地电晕公园的中心，这是一个占地1255英亩的城市公园，举办了1939/1940年和1964/65年博览会。纽约科学馆将提供面对面的青年讲习班，采用基于问题的学习。单次和多次课程将通过虚拟世界环境将青少年与展会上展示的STEM内容联系起来。 参与者将创建多媒体内容，以纳入该项目的网站。皇后区艺术博物馆的多点触控互动站将增强其纽约世界博览会展厅的功能，使参观者能够单独或集体探索各种STEM主题以及STEM与人文学科之间的共生关系，并吸引参观者在线探索博览会。该项目将在1964年世界博览会50周年庆祝活动之前完成。 基于之前对虚拟世界学习的研究，项目团队将研究如何在模拟的多用户虚拟环境中推进STEM概念，并研究使用虚拟讲师作为非正式学习过程增强的有效性。研究和开发成果具有很强的潜力，以促进非正式科学教育的状态，研究建模和模拟在虚拟世界的发展，教育研究。密歇根理工大学将对项目进行形成性和总结性评估。

The University of Central Florida Media Convergence Laboratory, New York Hall of Science, and the Queens Museum of Art are developing a 3-D, multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) of the 1964/65 New York World's Fair. Virtual fairgoers of all ages will be immersed in an accurately modeled historical world with more than 140 pavilions on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and an array arts and humanities exhibits. The virtual world can be freely explored through self-designed avatars, and avatar-led guided tours. Discovery Points throughout the virtual environment will afford opportunities for in-depth engagement in STEM topics that will empower participants to explore the broader consequences of technological innovations. The centerpiece of user-generated content is FutureFair, an area where online users can create and share their personal visions of the future. Interconnections reaches beyond its virtual component through its partnership with the New York Hall of Science and the Queens Museum of Art, which are both situated in the heart of Queens in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a 1255 acre urban park that hosted the 1939/1940 and 1964/65 Fairs. The New York Hall of Science will provide face-to-face youth workshops that employ problem-based learning. Single and multi-session programs will connect adolescents to STEM content presented at the Fair through the virtual world environment. Participants will create multimedia content for inclusion in the project's website. Multi-touch interactive stations at the Queens Museum of Art will enhance their NY World's Fair Exhibit Hall by empowering visitors to individually or collectively explore various STEM topics and the symbiotic relationships between STEM and the humanities, and by serving as an attractor for visitors to the online Fair exploration. The project will be completed in time for the 50th Anniversary celebration of the 1964 World's Fair. Building upon prior research on learning in virtual worlds, the project team will investigate how STEM concepts are advanced in a simulated multi-user virtual environment and studying the effectiveness of using Virtual Docents as enhancements to the informal learning process. The research and development deliverables have strong potential to advance the state of informal science education, research on modeling and simulation in virtual world development, and education research. Michigan Technological University will conduct the project formative and summative evaluations.