SBIR Phase I: A personalizable e-reading app that supports science learning

这个SBIR第一阶段项目将产生一个创新的阅读应用程序，以支持科学学习。虽然科学教科书是一种核心课程资源，但这种资源往往难以获取，难以阅读。理科教材在句法(语法)和语义(词义)上都比较复杂。具体地说，初级和中级科学课本的撰写时间往往比发展阶段合适的时间晚了3到5年。由于这些复杂性，科学教科书经常淹没学生的工作记忆，阻止他们构建目标概念的准确心理表征。因此，该项目将开发和测试一款具有嵌入式阅读和语言支持的个性化电子阅读器。这种努力的智力价值在于它有能力通过个性化和适应性的内容来提高科学理解能力。该项目将针对全球气候变化下一代科学标准编制内容和评估。这些可定制的功能将使学生更容易获得和感兴趣的基础科学知识，从而使普通公众。鉴于这些好处，它有很强的潜力支持未来几代STEM专业人员和更有科学素养的公民。该项目将开发一款创新的iOS阅读应用程序，以支持科学学习。关键的创新将是使科学内容对学习者具有适应性和可调性。第一阶段项目有五个技术目标：(A)创建与NGSS一致的内容；(B)使用项目反应理论编写和测试评估；(C)开发和测试应用程序的后端，以包括基于云的SQL数据库、内容交付网络和应用程序编程接口；(D)开发和测试应用程序的前端，以包括用户界面设计和模型视图控制器架构；(E)与学生和教师一起进行用户测试，以评估SquidBooks的可用性和初步可行性。在第一阶段，SquidBooks团队将解决将这项创新推向市场的一些技术挑战。IOS应用程序的关键功能可能会造成不必要的内存负载。这一技术挑战将通过设计高度预处理和模块化的程序来克服。第二个挑战是让科学内容更具可读性和可读性。这需要在使用精确的科学语言和通用语言之间取得平衡，同时保持核心的科学思想。

This SBIR Phase I project will produce an innovative reading application, to support science learning. Although the science textbook is a central curricular resource, this resource is often inaccessible and difficult to read. Science textbooks are syntactically (grammatically) and semantically (word meaning) complex. Specifically, elementary and secondary science texts are often written 3 to 5 years beyond what is developmentally appropriate. Because of these complexities, science textbooks often overwhelm students' working memory, preventing them from constructing accurate mental representations of the target concepts. Thus, this project will develop and test a personalizable e-reader with embedded reading and language support. The intellectual merit of the effort resides in its ability to improve science comprehension through personalized and adaptive content. This project will produce content and assessments targeting the Next Generation Science Standards on Global Climate Change. The customizable features will make fundamental science knowledge more accessible and interesting to students -- and thus the general public. Given these benefits, it has strong potential to support future generations of STEM professionals and a more scientifically literate citizenry. This project will produce an innovative iOS reading app to support science learning. The key innovation will be to make science content adaptable and adjustable for learners. This Phase I project has five technical goals: (a) create NGSS-aligned content; (b) write and test assessments using item response theory; (c) develop and test the back-end for the app, to include cloud-based SQL databases, content delivery network, and the application programming interface; (d) develop and test
the front-end for the app, to include the user interface design and the model view controller architecture; (e) conduct user testing with students and teachers to evaluate the usabilityand initial feasibility of SquidBooks. During Phase I, the SquidBooks team will address some technological challenges in bringing this innovation to market. The key features of the iOS app create a potential for unnecessary memory load. This technological challenge will be overcome by architecting the program to be highly preprocessed and modular. A second challenge is making scientific content more readable and accessible. This requires a balance between using precise scientific language and common language, while maintaining core scientific ideas.