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STEM主题(如物理)的兴趣和学习。这个项目将研究如何在一个引人入胜的游戏设计中最佳地结合和嵌入动态评估和适应性学习支持，以构建有效的教育游戏。该项目将对一款名为物理游乐场的物理游戏进行增强。这项研究的总体目标是测试一种可以用于设计下一代学习游戏的有效方法。物理操场的增强将利用视频游戏的受欢迎程度来吸引和维持学生的注意力，并向比目前传统物理教室更广泛的受众教授物理。为了达到最有效的效果，这种新类型的学习游戏不仅需要作为一种游戏非常吸引人，而且还需要向学生提供实时评估和反馈；支持对科学内容(即牛顿物理学)的理解；对初学者开放；适应各种熟练程度和兴趣；以及支持公平。这项研究将对开发其他科学游戏和模拟的设计者具有特别的相关性，通过向学生提供关于哪种学习支持和反馈在促进参与和学习方面最有效的信息。该项目得到了网络学习和未来学习技术计划的支持，该计划为有助于展望下一代学习技术的努力提供资金，并促进我们对人们在技术丰富的环境中如何学习的了解。网络学习探索(EXP)项目通过设计和构建新的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来探索新型学习技术的可行性。该项目将系统地开发、测试和评估在物理操场中整合参与的、动态的学习支持的方法，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。使用为期三年的基于设计的研究方法，研究团队将：(1)在第一年开发和测试游戏中包括的各种学习支持功能的有效性；(2)开发和测试一种自适应算法，以在第二年管理游戏级别的难度进展；以及(3)在受控评估研究中测试学习支持和自适应排序。本研究将提供依据教学、游戏和评估设计原则设计的教育游戏的教学效果的证据。它将促进对不同类型的学习支持(例如，可视化和解释)和适应性对基于游戏的学习的贡献的理解，并有助于设计成功模糊评估和学习之间区别的下一代学习游戏。该项目将产生可被纳入其他类型的STEM学习游戏的研究成果。

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.