SBIR Phase I: Virtual Gorilla Construction Kit - Virtual Modeling for Learning

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目提供了一个开发、部署和评估基于虚拟现实的建模工具包的计划，该工具包将使学生能够在基于网络的查询框架内构建大猩猩运动和社会互动的虚拟模型。使用虚拟大猩猩构建工具包，学生将在回答有关大猩猩行为的问题的背景下建立虚拟模型。研究者提出的虚拟环境的建模，在其基本操作中是定量的/逻辑的，可以帮助学生超越纯粹的描述性，理解相关变量之间的关系。虚拟现实是一个独特的环境，适合三维大猩猩运动的动态性质。研究表明，学生不能有效地将讲座、二维静态图像和科学现象的文字描述结合起来。建立虚拟现实模型为内容提供了合适的匹配，并建立了对科学概念的三维本质和基于模型的科学探究技能的深刻理解。因此，研究者将开发虚拟大猩猩构建工具包，作为一个令人兴奋的学习环境，它利用网络空间的力量来了解大猩猩的空间。该软件的即时版本的项目市场将是其他动物园教育课程、中学生命科学、高中生物和大学新生动物行为调查课程。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project provides a plan to develop, deploy, and evaluate a virtual reality-based modeling kit that will enable students to build virtual models of gorilla motion and social interaction within a web-based inquiry framework. Using the Virtual Gorilla Construction Kit, students will build virtual models within the context of answering questions about gorilla behavior. The modeling possible with the virtual environment the investigator is proposing, which is quantitative/logical in its underlying operation, can help students move beyond the purely descriptive to an understanding of the relationships between relevant variables. Virtual reality is an environment that is uniquely suited for the dynamic nature of 3-D gorilla motion. Research has shown that students do not effectively blend lectures, 2-D static images, and textual descriptions of scientific phenomena. Building virtual reality models provides the right match for the content and builds deep understanding of the 3-D nature of science concepts and the inquiry skills of model-based science. Thus, the investigator will develop the Virtual Gorilla Construction Kit as representing an exciting learning environment, which uses the power of cyberspace to learn about gorilla space.The market for the project for this immediate version of the software will be other zoo educational programs, middle school life science, high school biology, and university freshman-level animal behavior survey courses.