Museum-Related Multimedia and Virtual Environments for Teaching and Learning Science

本研究项目是创建和评估多用户虚拟环境（MUVEs），使用数字化博物馆资源，以提高中学生的动机和学习科学及其对社会的影响。MUVE使多个同时参与者能够访问为学习而配置的虚拟架构，与数字工件交互，通过图形“化身”表示自己，与其他参与者和基于计算机的代理进行通信，以及制定各种类型的协作活动。该项目的教育环境正在扩展当前的MUVE功能，以研究交互式虚拟博物馆展品的科学学习潜力，并使用NSF资助的多媒体和思维技能（MMTS）计划（一个以探究为中心的课程引擎）在科学单位参与历史情况。乔治梅森大学（GMU）的虚拟环境实验室，信息技术和社会在史密森美国历史国家博物馆（NMAH）的部门，以及试点教师从冈斯顿中学在阿灵顿，弗吉尼亚州正在共同设计这些MUVE和实施它们在各种中学设置。特别是，该项目正在研究这些学习体验的设计特点如何影响学生的动机和教育成果，以及数字化博物馆在多大程度上可以帮助学生在与国家科学标准相关的评估中表现。这项研究还研究了在典型的课堂环境中成功实施基于MMTS的MUVE所需的过程，以及在广泛的学生个体特征中实现强大学习成果的方法。

This research project is creating and evaluating multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) that use digitized museum resources to enhance middle school students' motivation and learning about science and its impacts on society. MUVEs enable multiple simultaneous participants to access virtual architectures configured for learning, to interact with digital artifacts, to represent themselves through graphical "avatars," to communicate both with other participants and with computer-based agents, and to enact collaborative activities of various types. The project's educational environments are extending current MUVE capabilities in order to study the science learning potential of interactive virtual museum exhibits and participatory historical situations in science units using the NSF-funded Multimedia and Thinking Skills (MMTS) program, an inquiry-centered curriculum engine. George Mason University's (GMU) Virtual Environments Lab, the Division of Information Technology and Society in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History (NMAH), and pilot teachers from the Gunston Middle School in Arlington, Virginia are co-designing these MUVEs and implementing them in a variety of middle school settings. In particular, this project is studying how the design characteristics of these learning experiences affect students' motivation and educational outcomes, as well as the extent to which digitized museum can aid pupils' performance on assessments related to national science standards. This research also is examining both the process needed to successfully implement MMTS-based MUVEs in typical classroom settings and ways to enable strong learning outcomes across a wide range of individual student characteristics.