SBIR Phase II: Testing and Optimizing Digital Tools Aimed at Promoting Parent/Caregiver-Mediated Dialogic Reading from Infancy to Kindergarten Entry and through First Grade

SBIR第二阶段项目将在第一阶段研发工作的基础上进行扩展，构建、测试和优化基于网络的课堂软件系统，以补充第一阶段开发的家庭数字图书馆应用程序。这一具有成本效益的系统将进一步促进0-7岁儿童的成人对话阅读习惯。早期接触对话阅读已被证明可以促进几乎所有的学校和阅读准备指标——从认知和社会情感发展到词汇掌握和关于印刷品的概念。新系统还引入了基础科学知识和习惯，如观察、实验和解决问题的能力。不断扩大的受教育程度和贫富之间的机会差距导致人类潜力的减少，公民无法满足信息化劳动力市场的需求。对幼儿期的投资可以防止教育赤字，因此，一个具有成本效益的系统，指导成年人让儿童参与对话式阅读过程，可以为结束入学准备差距（持续的成绩差距的前兆）及其长期存在的经济和社会不利循环做出重大贡献。该项目还解决了早期教育教师加强高阶思维技能教学的迫切需要。早期教育数字产品的市场规模庞大，而且还在不断增长。这个市场的购买者包括幼儿园、幼儿园、学前教育、社会服务机构、图书馆以及个人家庭。该项目将建立技术能力，以扩大和衡量成人主导的0-7岁儿童对话阅读的增长。系统架构和专有算法将产生一个系统，通过使用图书馆中嵌入的受版权保护的文本特定指导，提高成人对话提问和探索的能力。指标、儿童工作成果和在线成人学习模块旨在激励和建立教师/护理人员的信心，告知学校领导，并使他们专注于将对话过程继续应用于其他书籍和科目。在第一阶段开发的内容管理系统的增强功能将使所有产品形式因素的销售、分发、管理和评估成为可能。通过该项目构建的安全数据共享门户和仪表板将允许机构客户监控和评估其程序。研发将包括参与指标的收集，包括使用数据（可访问的数据被内置到数字图书馆中）和在线调查。要研究的核心创新是，这个产品是否能让不同教育背景的成年人和他们的孩子一起实践一种智力上雄心勃勃的阅读和思考方法。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This SBIR Phase II project will expand on Phase I R&D work to build, test, and optimize a web-based software system for the classroom setting to complement the digital library app for home use developed in Phase I. This cost-effective system will further promote adult-mediated dialogic reading routines with children 0-7 years in age. Early exposure to dialogic reading has been shown to foster virtually all school and reading-readiness indicators - from cognitive and social-emotional development to vocabulary attainment and concepts about print. The new system also introduces foundational science knowledge and habits, such as the capacity to observe, experiment, and problem solve. The ever-widening education attainment and opportunity gaps between rich and poor result in diminished human potential and citizens unequipped for the demands of an information-based labor market. Investments in early childhood can prevent educational deficits, so a cost-effective system that coaches adults to engage children in a dialogic reading process can make a substantial contribution to ending school-readiness gaps - the precursor to persistent achievement gaps - and the cycle of economic and societal disadvantages they perpetuate. This project also addresses the urgent need to bolster the teaching of higher-order thinking skills by early education teachers. The market for early-education digital products is sizable and growing. Purchasers in this market are K-3 schools, preschools, Head Start, social- service agencies, and libraries, as well as individual families.This project will build the technical capacity to augment and measure the growth of adult-led dialogic reading with children 0-7 years in age. The systems architecture and proprietary algorithms will produce a system that increases adult capacity for dialogic questioning and exploration by using the copyrighted, text-specific guidance embedded in the library. Metrics, children's work product, and online adult-learning modules aim to incentivize and build teacher/caregiver confidence, inform school leaders, and focus them on continued application of the dialogic process to other books and subjects. Augmentations to the content management system developed in Phase I will enable the sales, distribution, management, and evaluation of all product form factors. The secure data-sharing portal and dashboard built through this project will allow institutional clients to monitor and evaluate their programs. R&D will include collection of engagement metrics, including usage data (access to which is built into the digital library) and online surveys. The core innovation to be studied is whether this product enables adults of varying educational backgrounds to practice an intellectually ambitious reading and thinking method with their children.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.