Collaborative Research: Collaboration in the Future of Work: Developing Playable Case Studies to Improve STEM Career Pathways

该项目旨在通过实施教育模拟来改善STEM学生的职业准备，从而服务于国家利益。在包括网络安全和数据科学在内的许多STEM职业中，都缺乏合格的工人。尽管本科教育是职业发展道路上的关键一步，但实习等深入经历往往来得太晚，很难扩大到大量技能仍在发展的学生手中。需要真实的、可扩展的学习体验，让本科生接触到专业的STEM实践。这个项目将考察教育模拟如何帮助本科生在现实和跨学科的背景下理解和参与STEM职业。该项目旨在提高学生在两个涉及国家利益的领域的职业意识和技能：网络安全和危机应对。该项目还旨在产生关于如何将模拟与传统课程协同使用的知识。该项目的成果对整个高等教育领域和K-12环境都有潜在的影响。该项目将使用一种新的教育模拟形式，称为可播放案例研究(PCS)。在PCS中，玩家使用聊天机器人、视频会议和交互式STEM工具支持的多媒体界面，在真实的场景中相互协作和虚拟角色。玩家的行动和决定影响着展开的叙事。PCS将催生课堂讨论，帮助学生反思并从他们的经历中获得更多的纪律理解。与其他教育模拟一样，PCS为本科生提供了一个低风险的机会来体验专业的STEM工作，这些工作可以通过技术扩大到更多的学生。该项目将创建和评估两个PCS，重点是以人为中心的网络安全和危机应对。它将使用一种社会认知方法，称为扩张性框架。学生将有机会通过用自己的语言框定问题来掌握自己的学习。该项目将结合基于设计的研究和准实验来回答三个研究问题：1)PCS如何支持STEM学习、参与度、职业意识和职业意向；对于不同类型的学生，这一点有何不同？2)如何通过扩展框架来增强情景学习模拟(例如PCS)，以增加STEM知识的近距离和远距离传输？3)带有分析引擎和嵌入式评估的模拟如何向学生提供关于他们跨学科、基于团队的STEM工作的有意义的反馈？该项目的结果有可能改善STEM的职业道路，并将加强对如何在教育环境中有效地使用模拟的理解。这一参与式学生学习项目得到了NSF改善本科STEM教育计划：教育和人力资源(IUSE：EHR)的支持，该计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有本科生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest by implementing educational simulations to improve career preparation among STEM students. There is a shortage of qualified workers in many STEM careers, including cybersecurity and data science. Although undergraduate education is a key step along the career pipeline, in-depth experiences such as internships often come too late and are challenging to scale up to large numbers of students whose skills are still developing. There is a need for authentic, scalable learning experiences that expose undergraduates to professional STEM practices. This project will examine how educational simulations can help undergraduate students understand and engage with STEM careers in a realistic and interdisciplinary context. The project aims to enhance the career awareness and skills of students in two areas of national interest: cybersecurity and crisis response. The project also aims to generate knowledge about how simulations can be used synergistically with traditional courses. The outcomes of the project have potential impact across the higher education spectrum and the K-12 environment. This project will use a new form of educational simulation called a Playable Case Study (PCS). In a PCS, players collaborate with each other and fictional characters in an authentic scenario using a multimedia interface supported by chatbots, videoconferencing, and interactive STEM tools. Players' actions and decisions influence the unfolding narrative. The PCS will spawn in-class discussions to help students reflect on and gain more disciplinary understanding from their experience. Like other educational simulations, PCSs provide undergraduate students with a low-risk opportunity to experience professional STEM work that can be scaled up through technology to reach more students. The project will create and evaluate two PCSs focused on human-centered cybersecurity and crisis response. It will use a socio-cognitive approach, called expansive framing. Students will have the opportunity take ownership of their learning by framing problems in their own words. The project will combine design-based research and quasi-experimentation to answer three research questions: 1) How do PCSs support STEM learning, engagement, career awareness, and career intent; and how does this vary for different kinds of students? 2) How can a situated learning simulation (e.g., PCSs) be augmented by expansive framing to increase near and far transfer of STEM knowledge? 3) How can a simulation with an analytics engine and embedded assessments present meaningful student feedback about their interdisciplinary, team-based STEM work? The results of this project have the potential to improve STEM career pathways and will enhance understanding of how simulation can be effectively used in educational environments. This Engaged Student Learning project is supported by the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR), which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all undergraduate students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.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.