SBIR Phase I: Immersive Video Game Platform for Helping Students Learn in Statistics.

这个SBIR第一阶段的项目将开发一个引人入胜的视频游戏学习计划，对服务不足的高中生有用，以增长他们在数据科学和统计方面的知识、技能和性格，并为他们在STEM相关领域的大学和职业生涯做好准备。这个项目解决了目前大多数教育类游戏在质量、参与度和有效性方面的严重缺陷。最重要的是，这个项目旨在防止美国学生在STEM教育方面进一步落后，并失去进入未来几十年不断扩大的技术和数据科学经济的机会，这将影响到我们公共生活的战略部门，包括科学研究、技术、工程、医学、金融和人工智能。科学的进步和这个国家的繁荣需要美国公民，根据NSF的法定使命，找到解决数据科学人力资源短缺的办法。该项目旨在利用该国视频游戏产业的工程和设计优势，重新夺回并保持在统计和数据科学研究和教育方面的全球领先地位。学习游戏和底层平台的完整构建预计每年将创造就业机会和大量税收。该项目使用集线器和辐条模式开发核心视频游戏客户端和服务器基础设施，从而最大限度地提高整个游戏创建的效率。未来的游戏将基于这一既定的核心系统框架，即只需要生成一小部分内容便能够创造出一款新游戏。该项目的沉浸式3D数字游戏将与现代行业标准相媲美。根据统计推理的原理，游戏活动不是要求学生应用教师提供的公式和数据，而是让学生参与到统计公式的创建、原始数据和对自己游戏数据的分析中。本研究的目标是建立游戏的技术可行性和可用性，并采用混合方法研究设计和迭代的最终用户测试试验，收集游戏干预对学生成绩和统计兴趣的有效性的初步证据。将博弈干预的影响与传统统计学学习的影响进行比较。在干预期间，将进行总结性和形成性评估以及实施研究的保真度。学生、教师和专家的反馈和观察结果将用于开发视频游戏。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 I project will develop an engaging video game learning program useful for underserved high school students to grow their knowledge, skills, and disposition in data science and statistics, and to prepare them for college and careers in STEM related fields. This project addresses the serious shortcomings in the quality, and hence engagement and effectiveness of most of educational games in use today. Above all this project seeks to prevent American students from falling further behind in STEM education and losing access to the expanding technology and data science economy of the next several decades, where strategic sectors of our public life are affected, including scientific research, technology, engineering, medicine, finance, and artificial intelligence. The progress of science and the prosperity of this nation require U.S. citizens, in line with the statutory mission of the NSF, to find solutions to this shortage of human resources in data science. This project seeks to capitalize on the engineering and design superiority of this country's video game industry to recapture and retain global leadership in statistics and data science research and education. The full build of the learning game and the underlying platform is expected to generate jobs and the high amount of tax revenue annually. This project develops the core video game client and server infrastructure using a hub and spoke paradigm, which maximizes efficiency across the entire creation of the game. Future games will be built upon this established core skeleton of systems, whereby only a fraction of content will need to be generated to produce a new game. The immersive 3D digital game of this project would be comparable to modern industry standards. With the principle of statistical inference, instead of asking the student to apply formulas and data that a teacher provides, the game activities will engage the student in the creation of statistical formulas, raw data and analysis on their own game data. The goals of this study are to establish technical feasibility and usability of the game and gather preliminary evidence of effectiveness of the game intervention on student performance and interest in statistic employing a mixed methods research design with iterative end-user testing trials. The impact of the game intervention will be compared with that of the traditional learning in statistics. During the intervention, summative and formative assessments and fidelity of implementation study will be conducted. Student, teacher, and expert feedback and observation findings will be used to develop the video game.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.