Pilot Project: Research on Serious Games for Geoscience Education

试点项目：地球科学教育的严肃游戏研究该奖项将通过地质探索者扩大可用的教育资源，地质探索者是北达科他州州立大学为教授地球科学而开发的交互式虚拟环境（IVE）。 “地质探索者”计划，其中学生模拟降落在一个新发现的行星上，以识别岩石和矿物，并模拟地质关系和结构，起源于大学水平的课程，现在在多所大学使用。该软件最近经过修改，适合6至12年级使用。 在这个项目中，正在设计和实施两个新的地球科学模块，可以纳入中学地球科学，化学或数学教室。 第一个是一个概率模块，使用黄金勘探作为激励故事。 第二个单元正在与当地化学教师合作开发。 目前还在制定支持这些新单元的基于标准的课程和评估。 正在评估这些新模块对学生将地球科学中使用的技能与其他职业机会和科学学科中使用的技能联系起来的能力以及学生对高中以后数学和科学的相关性的态度的影响。 在学院层面，严格的评估一直显示，香港专业教育学院的学生在评估中的表现，较接受较传统教育的学生为佳。

Pilot Project: Research on Serious Games for Geoscience EducationThis award will expand the educational resources available through The Geology Explorer, an interactive virtual environment (IVE) developed at North Dakota State University for the purpose of teaching geoscience. The "Geology Explorer" program, in which students simulate landing on a newly discovered planet to identify rocks and minerals and model geologic relationships and structures, originated as a college level course now used at multiple universities. The software has been recently modified so as to be age appropriate for use in grades 6 through 12. During this project, two new geoscience modules that can be incorporated into secondary grade level Earth science, chemistry, or math classrooms are being designed and implemented. The first is a probability module using gold exploration as the motivating story. The second module is being developed in collaboration with local chemistry teachers. Standards-based curricula and assessments to support these new modules are also being developed. The effect these new modules have on students' ability to connect skills used in geoscience to those used in other career opportunities and science disciplines and students' attitudes regarding perceived relevance of math and science beyond high school is being evaluated. At the college level, rigorous evaluation has consistently demonstrated that IVE students perform higher on assessments than those exposed to more traditional instruction.