Virtual Hall of Science (VHOS)

纽约科学馆（NYHS）将与大南方层级BOCES科学中心（Greater Southern Tier BOCES scientr）项目的开发者合作，让来自不同种族和经济背景的年轻人参与创建虚拟科学馆（VHOS）。这个青年群体将与科学和教育专业人士合作，设计、建造和配备虚拟科学中心的员工，同时获得STEM知识和一系列ICT能力。参与者将被培训为展览设计师、建设者、积极的展览向导和导师。作为指导/管理小组，参与者将为虚拟空间提供人员，并鼓励和支持新访客探索STEM活动。20名高中讲解员和20名中学生直接受到这个项目的影响，而数百名初中和高中青年通过在线虚拟世界平台参与进来。学生们接受70个小时的培训，负责开发和启动VHOS，培训中学生，并制定管理计划。学生组成团队，创建交互式科学展览，学习交互式设计，并为协作目的使用各种Web 2.0工具。最后，在向公众开放之前，学生们将与家人、其他解说员和项目工作人员一起测试原型。学生在国际技术教育协会（ISTE）确定的六个领域培养技能，包括创造力和创新、沟通和协作、研究和信息流畅性、批判性思维、解决问题和决策、数字公民和技术运营概念。VHOS将通过与州和地区合作服务专业发展计划的合作，实现长期可持续性。评估将由教育发展中心（EDC）的儿童与技术中心进行，重点是VHOS对讲解员和参观者的影响，对科学概念的理解，以及青少年对信息通信技术工作技能的发展和表达。将采用混合方法，包括观察、访谈、参与者博客、科学概念指南、访客调查和发布前问卷，以进行形成性和总结性评估。预计该项目将促进对虚拟环境在培养ICT技能方面的有效性的理解，以及学生对劳动力准备的理解。

The New York Hall of Science (NYHS), in partnership with the developers of Greater Southern Tier BOCES SciCentr program, will engage an ethnically and economically diverse group of young people in creating the Virtual Hall of Science (VHOS). This youth cohort will collaborate and work with science and education professionals to design, build, and staff a virtual science center while acquiring STEM knowledge and a range of ICT competencies. Participants will be trained as exhibit designers, builders, active exhibit guides, and mentors. Acting as a mentoring/governing group, participants will staff the virtual space and encourage and support new visitors to explore STEM activities. Two cohorts of 20 high school Explainers and 20 middle school students are directly impacted by this project, while hundreds of middle and high school youth are engaged through the online Virtual Worlds platform. Students receive 70 hours of training and are responsible for developing and launching the VHOS, training middle school youth, and creating a management plan. Students form teams, create interactive science exhibits, study interactive design, and use a variety of Web 2.0 tools for collaboration purposes. Finally, students beta test the prototype with families, other Explainers, and project staff before making it available to the public. Students build skills in six areas identified by International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) including creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, digital citizenship, and technology operations concepts. VHOS will be designed for long-term sustainability through collaboration with state and regional cooperative service professional development programs.The evaluation will be conducted by the Center for Children and Technology at the Education Development Center Inc. (EDC) and will focus on the impact of the VHOS on Explainers and visitors, understanding of science concepts, and the development and articulation of ICT workforce skills by youth. A mixed-methods approach will be employed and include observations, interviews, participant blogs, science concept rubrics, visitor surveys, and pre-post questionnaires for both the formative and summative evaluation. It is anticipated that this project will advance the understanding of the effectiveness of virtual environments in building ICT skills and student understanding of workforce preparation.