SBIR Phase I: SimulNation - Creating and Testing a Multi-User Learning Simulation for the Web

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发一个基于网络的系统，使用真实和复杂系统的动态模型，与融合科学和社会问题的引人入胜的多媒体模拟相关联，提供初中和高中教学。该方法的核心是使用STELLA（用于创建系统动态模型的首要工具）作为服务器和基于客户端的模型的引擎。不同于以前在K-12教育中的应用，所提出的模型将为交互式多媒体模拟提供数据和结果。通过这个基于场景的模拟，学生将体验到STELLA模型的强大功能。Lexicon系统还将利用网络的连接性，允许多个学生在场景中互动、竞争和协作。当学生完成这个场景时，他们可以使用自己的在线作品集保存文件并报告发现。Lexicon Systems将利用这一技术基础设施创建一个名为SimulNation的跨学科系列，学生们在其中扮演国家的角色，应对增长、可持续发展以及其他科学和社会问题的内部挑战。这些学生还将在模仿联合国的多国机构中竞争和合作。在这个论坛上，他们必须解决诸如贸易、气候变化和资源分配等全球性问题。第一阶段原型的主题将是每个国家在国家和全球层面为减缓全球变暖所做的努力。除了处理诸如工业化和造林等二氧化碳的源和汇之外，用户还必须操纵和谈判其国内和国外的社会、政治和文化因素。提供的技术将使学习复杂问题的解决，这需要丰富和有趣的问题。提供的产品SimulNation代表了两个强大组件的融合；STELLA建模系统，通过基于场景的模拟进行解释，以及网络的点对点连接。这种产品和方法能够让学生参与到丰富而有趣的学习环境中，这些环境代表了科学调查和社会互动的协作性质。结合灵活的模型，有趣的模拟，以及点对点的合作和竞争，打开了网络所承诺的各种学习机会，但到目前为止，还没有实现

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a web-based system to deliver middle and high school instruction using dynamic models of real and complex systems, linked to engaging, multimedia simulations that meld science and social issues. At the core, the approach is to use STELLA, the premier tool for creating system dynamic models, as the engine for a server and client-based models. Unlike previous applications of STELLA in K-12 education, the proposed models will provide data and outcomes to an interactive multimedia simulation. Students will experience the power of the STELLA model through this scenario-based simulation. Lexicon Systems will also leverage the connectivity of the web by allowing multiple students to interact, compete, and collaborate within the scenario. As students work through the scenario, they can keep files and report findings using their own online portfolio. Lexicon Systems will use this technical infrastructure to create an interdisciplinary series called SimulNation where students assume the roles of countries dealing with internal challenges of growth, sustainable development, and other scientific and social issues. These students will also compete and collaborate in a multinational body modeled after the United Nations. In this forum they must address such global issues as trade, climate change, and distribution of resources. The topic of the Phase I prototype will be each country's national and global level efforts to slow global warming. In addition to dealing with the sources and sinks for CO2 such as industrialization and forestation, users will have to manipulate and negotiate the social, political, and cultural factors within and outside their country. The proffered technology will enable learning of complex problem solving, which requires rich and interesting problems. The proffered product, SimulNation, represents the melding of two powerful components; the STELLA modeling system, interpreted through a scenario based simulation, and the peer-to-peer connectivity of the web. This product and approach has the capacity to involve students in rich and interesting learning environments that represent the collaborative nature of scientific investigation and social interaction. Combining flexible models, interesting simulations, and peer-to-peer collaboration and competition opens up the kinds of learning opportunities that the web has promised but, so far, has failed to deliver