Interconnections: Revisting the Future

中佛罗里达大学媒体融合实验室、纽约科学馆和皇后区艺术博物馆正在开发1964/65年纽约世界博览会的3-D、多用户虚拟环境(MUVE)。所有年龄段的虚拟参观者都将沉浸在一个精确建模的历史世界中，那里有140多个科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学科的展馆，以及一系列艺术和人文展品。虚拟世界可以通过自己设计的化身和化身导游来自由探索。虚拟环境中的发现点将提供深入参与STEM主题的机会，使参与者能够探索技术创新的更广泛后果。用户生成内容的核心是FutureFair，在线用户可以在这个区域创建和分享他们对未来的个人愿景。InterConnections通过与纽约科学馆和皇后区艺术博物馆的合作，超越了它的虚拟组成部分。这两个博物馆都位于皇后区法拉盛草场日冕公园的心脏地带，这是一个占地1255英亩的城市公园，曾举办1939/1940和1964/65年的博览会。纽约科学馆将提供面对面的青年讲习班，采用以问题为基础的学习。单节和多节节目将通过虚拟世界环境将青少年与博览会上展示的STEM内容联系起来。参与者将创建多媒体内容，以纳入该项目的网站。皇后区艺术博物馆的多点触控互动站将增强其纽约世博会展厅，使参观者能够单独或集体探索各种STEM主题以及STEM与人文之间的共生关系，并成为在线博览会探索的参观者的吸引者。该项目将在1964年世博会50周年庆祝活动前完工。在先前关于在虚拟世界中学习的研究的基础上，项目组将调查STEM概念如何在模拟的多用户虚拟环境中得到发展，并研究使用虚拟文件作为非正式学习过程的强化的有效性。研究和开发成果对促进非正规科学教育、虚拟世界发展中的建模和仿真研究以及教育研究具有很强的潜力。密歇根理工大学将对该项目进行形成性和终结性评估。

The University of Central Florida Media Convergence Laboratory, New York Hall of Science, and the Queens Museum of Art are developing a 3-D, multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) of the 1964/65 New York World's Fair. Virtual fairgoers of all ages will be immersed in an accurately modeled historical world with more than 140 pavilions on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and an array arts and humanities exhibits. The virtual world can be freely explored through self-designed avatars, and avatar-led guided tours. Discovery Points throughout the virtual environment will afford opportunities for in-depth engagement in STEM topics that will empower participants to explore the broader consequences of technological innovations. The centerpiece of user-generated content is FutureFair, an area where online users can create and share their personal visions of the future. Interconnections reaches beyond its virtual component through its partnership with the New York Hall of Science and the Queens Museum of Art, which are both situated in the heart of Queens in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a 1255 acre urban park that hosted the 1939/1940 and 1964/65 Fairs. The New York Hall of Science will provide face-to-face youth workshops that employ problem-based learning. Single and multi-session programs will connect adolescents to STEM content presented at the Fair through the virtual world environment. Participants will create multimedia content for inclusion in the project's website. Multi-touch interactive stations at the Queens Museum of Art will enhance their NY World's Fair Exhibit Hall by empowering visitors to individually or collectively explore various STEM topics and the symbiotic relationships between STEM and the humanities, and by serving as an attractor for visitors to the online Fair exploration. The project will be completed in time for the 50th Anniversary celebration of the 1964 World's Fair. Building upon prior research on learning in virtual worlds, the project team will investigate how STEM concepts are advanced in a simulated multi-user virtual environment and studying the effectiveness of using Virtual Docents as enhancements to the informal learning process. The research and development deliverables have strong potential to advance the state of informal science education, research on modeling and simulation in virtual world development, and education research. Michigan Technological University will conduct the project formative and summative evaluations.