DIP: Game-based Assessment and Support of STEM-related Competencies

精心设计的教育游戏代表了一种很有前途的技术，可以提高学生对物理等STEM主题的兴趣和学习。本计画将研究如何将动态评估与适应性学习支援最佳地联合收割机结合并嵌入于一个引人入胜的游戏设计中，以建构有效的教育游戏。该项目将为一款名为Physics Playground的物理游戏添加增强功能。 本研究的总体目标是测试一种有效的方法，可用于下一代学习游戏的设计。物理游乐场的增强将利用视频游戏的普及来吸引和维持学生的注意力，并向比传统物理教室更广泛的受众教授物理。为了最有效，这种新的学习游戏类型不仅需要作为游戏高度参与，而且还需要为学生提供实时评估和反馈;支持对科学内容的理解（即，牛顿物理学）;对初学者开放;适应一系列的专业和兴趣;并支持公平。这项研究将通过提供有关学习支持和反馈的信息，为学生提供最有效的学习和学习参与，对开发其他科学游戏和模拟的设计师具有特别的意义。 该项目得到了网络学习和未来学习技术计划的支持，该计划为帮助设想下一代学习技术和推进我们对人们如何在技术丰富的环境中学习的了解提供资金。Cyberlearning Exploration（EXP）项目通过设计和构建新型学习技术，并研究其促进学习的可能性和有效使用它们的挑战，探索新型学习技术的可行性。该项目将系统地开发，测试和评估如何将引人入胜的动态学习支持融入物理游乐场，以教授正式的概念物理能力。更广泛地说，该项目旨在促进学习科学，特别是在教育技术的适应性和评估领域。研究团队将采用为期三年的设计研究方法：（1）在第一年开发和测试游戏中包含的各种学习支持功能的有效性;（2）在第二年开发和测试一种自适应算法，以管理游戏难度的进展;以及（3）在受控评估研究中测试学习支持和自适应排序。 本研究将提供证据的教学效果的教育游戏设计使用的原则，教学，游戏和评估设计。它将促进对不同类型学习支持的贡献的理解（例如，可视化和解释）和对基于游戏的学习的适应性，并有助于设计下一代学习游戏，成功地模糊了评估和学习之间的区别。该项目将产生研究成果，可以纳入其他类型的STEM学习游戏。

Well-designed educational games represent a promising technology for increasing students interest in and learning of STEM topics such as physics. This project will research how to optimally combine and embed dynamic assessment and adaptive learning supports within an engaging game design to build effective educational games. The project will add enhancements to a physics game called Physics Playground. The general goal of this research is to test a valid methodology that can be used in the design of next-generation learning games. The enhancement of Physics Playground will leverage the popularity of video games to capture and sustain student attention and teach physics to a much broader audience than is currently the case in traditional physics classrooms. To be most effective, this new genre of learning games needs to not only be highly engaging as a game but also to provide real-time assessment and feedback to students; support understanding of science content (i.e.,Newtonian physics); be accessible to beginners; accommodate a range of proficiencies and interests; and support equity. The research will have particular relevance to designers developing other science games and simulation by providing information about the kinds of learning supports and feedback to students are most effective in promoting engagement and learning. The project is supported by the Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies Program, which funds efforts that will help envision the next generation of learning technologies and advance what we know about how people learn in technology-rich environments. Cyberlearning Exploration (EXP) Projects explore the viability of new kinds of learning technologies by designing and building new kinds of learning technologies and studying their possibilities for fostering learning and challenges to using them effectively.The project will systematically develop, test, and evaluate ways to integrate engaging, dynamic learning supports in Physics Playground to teach formal conceptual physics competencies. More generally, the project aims to advance the learning sciences, particularly in the fields of adaptivity and assessment in educational technology. Using a design-based research approach spanning three years, the research team will: (1) develop and test the effectiveness of various learning support features included in the game in Year 1; (2) develop and test an adaptive algorithm to manage the progression of difficulty in game levels in Year 2; and (3) test learning supports and adaptive sequencing in a controlled evaluation study. This research will provide evidence of the instructional effectiveness of an educational game designed using principles of instructional, game, and assessment design. It will advance understanding of the contributions of different kinds of learning supports (e.g., visualizations and explanations) and adaptivity to game-based learning and contribute to the design of next-generation learning games that successfully blur the distinction between assessment and learning. The project will generate research findings that can be incorporated into other types of STEM learning games.