DIP: Collaborative Research: Interactive Science Through Technology Enhanced Play (iSTEP)

iSTEP项目通过设计一种适合幼儿发展的新型学习技术，探索身体和身体活动在学习中的作用，解决了一个基本的研究问题。越来越多的人认识到，身体在认知中起着重要作用：人类，尤其是幼儿，在一定程度上是通过将复杂的概念与我们如何移动自己的身体联系起来来理解的。在扩展这些想法的同时，iSTEP项目还旨在开发可在不久的将来用于实际课堂的教学技术和技术工具。iSTEP项目不像当前许多技术进步所试图做的那样，支持单个学生的学习，而是为整个教室的学生创造机会，让他们共同参与，用他们的身体来模拟科学现象。例如，教室里的学生可以用自己的身体来模拟液体等物质的状态是如何由许多运动的粒子组成的，并从技术上增强这种活动来提高学习效果。iSTEP项目建立在已经成功的STEP混合现实平台（IIS-1323767）上，通过添加新的交互形式-使用手势和物理道具来控制STEP计算机模拟。添加这些新的互动形式使我们能够检查它们在支持学习方面的作用。现有的开源STEP平台使用商用的基于视觉的传感器来跟踪8米x 8米空间内多达12名儿童的运动。孩子们只是走进空间，被分配一个角色（例如，他们变成一个水粒子），当他们在房间里移动时，这个角色跟着他们。然后，孩子们的化身会沉浸在一个虚拟的模拟环境中，这个虚拟环境会模仿他们正在学习的科学概念。在这种情况下，水的状态（如固体、液体或气体）是由孩子们移动的速度和他们之间的相对距离决定的。这使学生们能够通过他们的合作活动发现管理国家变化的规律。学生还可以使用PLAE接口（IIS-1522945）来注释模拟并创建同伴活动的表示，帮助他们都反映系统中固有的基本原则。在iSTEP中，学生现在还可以通过手势控制模拟，用他们的整个身体摆姿势，并通过操纵物理对象，除了以前的模型与他们的整个身体互动。此外，通过使用智能手表，该项目将探索其他形式的反馈给学生，因为他们可以感受到振动，听到声音，甚至看到简单的图像，以帮助他们探索模拟。在第一轮实验中，这个项目将对比手势（和姿势）界面和一个使用物理道具的新界面，看看它们对学生学习的贡献。在最后一年，这些将被整合在一起，以深入了解如何最好地使用它们来支持基于混合现实系统的学习环境的设计。

The iSTEP project addresses a basic research question by exploring the role of the body and physical activity in learning through the design of a new genre of developmentally appropriate learning technologies for young children. There is increasing recognition that the body plays a role in cognition: human beings, especially young children, understand complex concepts in part by relating them to how we move our own bodies. In extending these ideas, the iSTEP project also aims to develop teaching techniques and technological tools that can be used in real classrooms in the near future. Instead of supporting the learning of individual students as many current technological advances attempt to do, the iSTEP project creates opportunities for entire classrooms of students to engage together to model scientific phenomena using their bodies. For instance, a classroom of students can use their own bodies to model how a state of matter such as liquid is made up of many moving particles and technologically enhance this activity to improve learning. The iSTEP project builds upon the already successful STEP mixed reality platform (IIS-1323767) by adding new forms of interaction - the use of gestures and physical props to control the STEP computer simulation. Adding these new forms of interaction allows us to examine their role in supporting learning.The existing open source STEP platform uses commercially available vision-based sensors to track the motion of up to 12 children in an 8m x 8m space. The children simply walk into the space, are assigned an avatar (i.e., they become a water particle), and that avatar follows them as they move around the room. The children's avatars are then immersed in a virtual simulation that is programed to mimic the scientific concept they are learning. In this case, the state of matter of water (e.g., solid, liquid, or gas) is determined by how fast the children move and the relative distance between them. This allows the students to discover the laws that govern state changes through their collaborative activity. Students can also use the PLAE interface (IIS-1522945) to annotate the simulation and create representations of their peers' activity, helping them all to reflect on the underlying principles inherent in the system. In iSTEP, students will now also be able to control the simulation by gesturing, posing with their whole body, and by manipulating physical objects in addition to the previous model of interacting with their entire body. In addition, by using smart watches, the project will explore alternative forms of feedback to the students as they can feel vibrations, hear sounds, and even see simple images that are targeted to help them explore the simulation. In the first round of experiments this project will contrast the gesture (and pose) interface with a new interface that uses physical props to see how each contributes to student learning. In the final year, these will be integrated to develop deeper insights into how they can best be used to support the design of learning environments that build on mixed reality systems.