Generalized Embodied Modeling to support Science through Technology Enhanced Play

该项目将开发和研究一种新的混合现实环境（MR），称为GEM-STEP，它利用游戏和具体化作为资源，将计算建模集成到建模周期中，作为小学生科学教学的一部分。GEM代表广义具身建模。通过这些具体的、游戏即建模的活动，学生将学习科学的核心概念，以及建模和系统测量的概念技能。MR环境使用新的传感技术来帮助将幼儿在假装游戏中的身体动作转化为科学模拟中的一组符号表示和参数。当学生们在教室里移动时，计算机将跟踪他们的动作和与选定物体的互动，并将他们的身体活动转化为共享显示。例如，学生们假装自己是水粒子，一起模拟物质的不同状态。孩子们看到他们的活动被投射到计算机模拟中，其中一个水粒子的模型显示在他们自己的视频上。当学生们集体思考水分子的本质时，他们对水是冰、液体还是气体的理解会更加完善。提出的创新允许学生编程和修改他们自己的混合现实模拟，作为他们建模周期的一部分。具体和计算建模将帮助学生以一种独特的方式反思他们的模型，这将使他们的模型在计算上更加准确，并增强他们对潜在概念的理解。该项目将研究如何使用身体作为建模周期的一个组成部分，通过更结构化的计算手段与科学模型的衔接不同，并与之相互作用。该项目将通过研究学生可以以这种方式学习的概念范围，调查将GEM:STEP中的体现与计算元素结合的好处。课程将针对不同的学科核心思想进行开发，例如物质状态、作为复杂系统的授粉或分解，以及系统思维和能量/物质流的交叉概念，所有这些都与小学高年级科学课程直接相关。项目研究将收集数据，以了解学生开发的模型类型，GEM:STEP支持哪些学习过程，以及学习结果。数据将包括：(1)记录和分析学生建模的内容以及模型的准确性；(2)使用音频和语音记录学生的活动，对他们的活动进行编码，以记录学习过程，并观察不同形式的建模如何相互作用以促进学习；(3)评价学习的岗前内容措施。所有为GEM:STEP开发的软件都将作为开源项目提供，允许其他研究人员在此基础上构建和扩展这项工作。研究结果将在学术会议和同行评议期刊上发表。运动跟踪软件已经在Github上可用，Github是一个流行的开源存储库。一旦开发出来，目标是在广泛的课堂环境中实施GEM:STEP，并辅以用户友好的界面、教师指导和专业发展。探索研究K-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高pre -12学生和教师对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和实证依据。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。

The project will develop and research a new Mixed Reality environment (MR), called GEM-STEP, that leverages play and embodiment as resources for integrating computational modeling into the modeling cycle as part of science instruction for elementary students. GEM stands for Generalized Embodied Modeling. Through these embodied, play-as-modeling activities, students will learn the core concepts of science, and the conceptual skills of modeling and systematic measurement. MR environments use new sensing technologies to help transform young children's physical actions during pretend play into a set of symbolic representations and parameters in a science simulation. As students physically move around the classroom, the computer will track their motion and interactions with selected objects and translate their physical activity into a shared display. For example, students pretend they are water particles and work together to model different states of matter. The children see their activity projected onto a computer simulation where a model of a water particle is displayed over the video of themselves. As students collectively reflect upon the nature of a water molecule, they refine their understanding of water as ice, a liquid or a gas. The proposed innovation allows the students to program and revise their own mixed reality simulations as part of their modeling cycle. Embodied and computational modeling will help students to reflect on their models in a unique way that will make their models more computationally accurate and enhance their understanding of the underlying concepts. The project will research how using the body as a component of the modeling cycle differs from and interacts with the articulation of a scientific model through more structured computational means. The project will investigate the benefits of combining embodiment with computational elements in GEM:STEP by studying the range of concepts that students can learn in this manner. Lessons will be developed to address different disciplinary core ideas, such as states of matter, pollination as a complex system, or decomposition, as well as cross-cutting concepts of systems thinking, and energy/matter flow, all of which link directly to upper elementary science curriculum. Project research will gather data to understand what kinds of models students develop, what learning processes are supported using GEM:STEP, and what learning results. The data will include: (1) documenting and analyzing what students modeled and how accurate the models are; (2) recording student activity using audio and voice to code their activity to document learning processes and to look at how different forms of modeling interact with one another to promote learning; and (3) pre-post content measures to assess learning. All of the software that is developed for GEM:STEP will be made available as Open Source projects, allowing other researchers to build upon and extend this work. The results of the research will be disseminated in academic conferences and peer reviewed journals. The motion tracking software is already available on Github, a popular open-source repository. Once developed, the aim is to implement GEM:STEP in a wide range of classroom contexts, supported by a user-friendly interface, teacher guides, and professional development.The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.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.