SBIR Phase I: STEM Finest Hour

SBIR 第一阶段：STEM 最佳时刻

• 批准号: 1648416
• 负责人: Daniel White
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Filament Games, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-12-01 至 2017-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1648416&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; STEM; Finest; Hour

This SBIR Phase I project will produce a Virtual Reality (VR)-based multiplayer game in which high school-aged players must collaboratively think through and solve complex, authentic Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM)-based problems. The United States faces a shortage of degreed STEM workers. More than half of high school students have indicated that they aren't pursuing STEM degrees or careers because they feel unprepared for or unaware of the opportunities available to them. Further, many students indicate they're interested in science and crave engaging, real-world experiences, but feel that they have limited authentic STEM opportunities in school. There is a need for experiences that engage students in authentic collaborative STEM thinking, and this project seeks to provide them with a compelling virtual problem space using VR. This project also seeks to provide educators with an accessible technology pathway to bring premium VR hardware into schools. Though VR has been heralded as a transformative technology, it currently faces expense and scalability hurdles for in-school use. By leveraging a mixture of technologies and role-based multiplayer, this project will create the virtual context to help players see problems as solvable through reason, experimentation, and collaboration - the heart of STEM philosophy. Players will work together, sharing their knowledge and expertise, running experiments, and solving difficult, compelling science problems.The core technical innovation of this project is the design and deployment methodology that will make premium Virtual Reality (VR) experiences a practical tool for schools. The project will result in a multiplayer experience in which one player uses the VR headset to act as the field agent, supported by 5-25 other students using traditional devices with role-based interfaces to act as mission control. By developing asymmetrical (but equally compelling) play experiences, the project will engage all students in collaborative Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM) problem-solving. There are three main problems that this project must solve for educators: the hardware problem (VR hardware is expensive, difficult to scale to more than one student at a time, and requires installation and maintenance); the ambitious pedagogy problem (providing hands-on discovery and inquiry experiences that allow for meaningful collaboration and problem-solving); and the embodiment problem (students need to feel personally invested in the problems we devise if the experience is to be meaningful and transformational). The research goals are 1) To determine whether STEM-based scenarios can be generated with sufficient depth to engage a group of high school-age students in collaborative, interdisciplinary thought and problem-solving across both field agent and mission control roles; and 2) To determine whether the multiplayer role-play experiences produce significant improvements in STEM content knowledge and disposition among players. In order to measure these goals, multiple usability and feasibility tests will be conducted in authentic formal educational environments. Each test will be accompanied by a pre- and post-test that measures both content knowledge and disposition.

这个SBIR第一阶段项目将制作一个基于虚拟现实（VR）的多人游戏，在这个游戏中，高中年龄的玩家必须协同思考并解决复杂的、真实的基于科学技术工程数学（STEM）的问题。美国面临着STEM专业人才短缺的问题。超过一半的高中生表示，他们没有追求STEM学位或职业，因为他们觉得没有准备好或没有意识到他们可以获得的机会。此外，许多学生表示他们对科学感兴趣，渴望参与真实世界的体验，但觉得他们在学校的真实STEM机会有限。需要让学生参与真正的协作STEM思维的体验，这个项目旨在为他们提供一个使用VR的引人注目的虚拟问题空间。该项目还旨在为教育工作者提供一个可访问的技术途径，将优质的VR硬件带入学校。尽管VR被誉为一项变革性技术，但目前它在校内使用时面临着费用和可扩展性方面的障碍。通过利用各种技术和基于角色的多人游戏，该项目将创建虚拟环境，帮助玩家通过理性、实验和协作（STEM哲学的核心）来解决问题。玩家们将一起工作，分享他们的知识和专业知识，进行实验，解决困难的，引人注目的科学问题。这个项目的核心技术创新是设计和部署方法，使优质的虚拟现实（VR）体验成为学校的实用工具。该项目将带来多人游戏体验，其中一名玩家使用VR头盔充当现场代理，由5-25名其他学生使用具有基于角色的界面的传统设备作为使命控制。通过开发不对称（但同样引人注目）的游戏体验，该项目将使所有学生参与协作科学-技术-工程-数学（STEM）问题解决。这个项目对教育工作者来说主要要解决三个问题：硬件问题（VR硬件价格昂贵，难以同时扩展到多个学生，并且需要安装和维护）;雄心勃勃的教学问题（提供动手发现和调查经验，允许有意义的合作和解决问题）;和具体化问题（如果要使体验有意义和具有变革性，学生需要亲自投入到我们设计的问题中）。研究目标是：1）确定基于STEM的场景是否可以生成足够的深度，以使一组高中年龄的学生在现场代理和使命控制角色之间进行协作，跨学科思考和解决问题; 2）确定多人角色扮演体验是否会显著改善玩家的STEM内容知识和处置。为了衡量这些目标，将在真实的正规教育环境中进行多项可用性和可行性测试。每个测试都将伴随着一个前和后测试，测量内容知识和处置。