CI-TEAM Demonstration: Interactive and Collaborative Learning Environment using Virtual Reality Games Promoting Metacognition for Science and Engineering Design in Context

这项提议是罗文大学(公立机构)、田纳西州立大学(TSU)(HBCU)、教育信息和资源中心(EIRC)(非营利性教育组织)和四所学生人数众多的当地职业/高中(新泽西州的伯灵顿县理工学院、卡姆登县技术学校和布里奇顿高中，以及田纳西州的珀尔科恩商学院)之间雄心勃勃的合作。重点是设计和实施一个虚拟现实(VR)游戏系统，将网络基础设施(CI)的学习经验注入到工程预科/基于技术的课堂和工程课堂，以促进对科学和工程设计的元认知。未来可持续城市设计的游戏以城市基础设施为主题，以工程师解决现实生活中的问题为场景，吸引学生，特别是未来的和初学的理工科学生，参与到CI增强和启用的科学和工程发现中。更重要的是，这些游戏融入了可视化、模拟、建模和协作工具，为学生创造了一个互动和协作的学习环境，通过虚拟分析、设计和生产来数字化地探索科学和工程概念。游戏系统的CI功能使学习不仅可以在课堂上进行，而且可以在任何地点和时间进行，培养终身学习是学习者适应不断变化的社会性质的关键。此外，游戏中涉及的显性元认知策略和语境导向方法提高了学生的学习能力，并为他们成为一名更好的设计师做好了准备，从长远来看，这对整个社会都有好处。不需要额外的软件和硬件，游戏系统可以安装和配置在任何网络服务器上，然后在任何联网的个人计算机上运行，使我们的开发具有成本效益和易于移植。考虑到教师在提高学生表现方面的重要性，该项目还将设计和运营一个为期4天的CI专业发展研讨会，向教师干部传播具体的项目信息。此外，EIRC将为研讨会提供在线内容管理系统(CMS)，供教师全天候反映、共享和访问信息，确保我们的创新快速、成功地过渡，造福于广大学生。智力优势：这项提议的重点是将21世纪的技能与CI促进相结合，并特别建立一条涉及高中和本科生的管道，这是培养未来劳动力成为终身学习者的重要一步，拥有网络工具和有效战略的技能，使他们为快速变化和高度竞争的市场做好准备。系统和连贯的实验内容使学生能够引出他们对科学和工程基础的理解，将事实信息转化为有用的知识，并通过集成的现实生活设计应用程序巩固他们对信息的感知-基于当前研究结果的最佳学习实践。这一“概念验证”方法的成功实施将促进我们对支持CI的VR游戏在促进学生学习和保持方面所起的作用、在上下文中涉及科学和工程设计的协作学习和交互式视觉探索的具体过程，以及元认知策略、解决问题的策略、知识和动机之间的复杂相互作用。这项提议的资金将使一个由合格教师组成的多学科团队能够实现这种教育创新。广泛的影响：教育材料储存库的交付内容丰富：(A)以纸笔形式无法直观地表达科学和工程概念；(B)与虚拟环境和其他内容学习者进行充分的互动；以及(C)前所未有地获得不受时间和空间限制的学习资源。这些功能融合了非正式和正式的学习，增强了，但更重要的是，使终身科学和工程发现成为可能，这在过去可能是不可能的。两所大学(公立大学和HBCU)是一家非营利性教育组织，四所职业/高中有大量代表不足的群体，它们之间的合作自然导致了多样化的环境，从而扩大了参与传播与信息支持的STEM活动的个人人数。我们的项目Facebook与位于罗文、德克萨斯州立大学和EIRC的项目网站一起创建了一个充满活力的在线社区，他们可以通过可执行程序、实验室和游戏设置说明以及开发的开放源代码的形式访问我们的游戏。这对于希望采用我们的原型的其他学校的推广尤为重要，并进一步扩大了我们的学习网络和交流，允许对这一教育研究和创新感兴趣的人从任何地点对话新的发现/问题，以便继续发展。罗文大学、德克萨斯州立大学和EIRC针对K-12教育工作者和学生的成熟和成功的外展计划将进一步允许积极的传播。

This proposal is an ambitious collaboration between Rowan University - a public institution, Tennessee State University (TSU) - a HBCU, the Educational Information and Resource Center (EIRC) - a non-profit educational organization, and four local vocational/high schools with a large population of underserved students (Burlington County Institute of Technology, Camden County Technological School and Bridgeton High School in New Jersey, and Pearl Cohn Business Magnet School in Tennessee). The focus is to design and implement a virtual reality (VR) game system that infuses cyberinfrastructure (CI) learning experiences into the pre-engineering/technology-based and engineering classrooms to promote metacognition for science and engineering design in context. Using city infrastructure as the theme and engineers solving real-life problems as the scenes, the games of future sustainable city design engage students, particularly prospective and beginning science and engineering students, in CI-enhanced and -enabled science and engineering discovery. More importantly, the games incorporate the access to visualization, simulation, modeling and collaboration tools, creating an interactive and collaborating learning environment for students to digitally explore science and engineering concepts via virtual analysis, design and production. The CI capabilities of the game system make it possible for learning to occur not limited to a classroom but in any place and at any time, fostering life-long learning that is a key for learners to adapt to the continuously changing nature of society. In addition, the explicit metacognitive strategies and context-oriented approaches addressed in the game improve students learning and prepare them to be a better designer, benefiting the society as a whole in the long run. With no additional software and hardware required, the game system can be installed and configured in any network server, and then run in any network-enabled personal computer, making our development cost effective and easily transportable. Considering the importance of teachers in raising student performance, the project will also design and run a 4-day CI professional development workshop to disseminate specific project information to the cadre of teachers. Additionally, an online Content Management System (CMS) will be provided by the EIRC for the workshop to deliver content and for teachers to reflect, share, and access information 24/7, ensuring a rapid, successful transition of our innovation to the benefit of broad students.Intellectual Merit: The focus of this proposal on the integration of 21st Century skills and CI facilitation and the particular setup of a pipeline involving high school and undergraduate students is a significant step in training future workforce to be life-long learners with a repertoire of cyber-tools and effective strategies that will prepare them for a rapidly changing and highly competitive marketplace. The systematic and coherent experimental content allows students to draw out their understanding of science and engineering fundamentals, transform factual information into usable knowledge, and consolidate their perceptions of information through integrated real-life design applications --- the best learning practice based on current research findings. Successful implementation of this "proof-of-concept" approach will advance our understanding of the roles that the CI-enabled VR games play in fostering student learning and retention, the specific processes involved with collaborative learning and interactive visual exploration for science and engineering design in context, and the complex interplay of metacognitive strategies, problem-solving tactics, knowledge and motivation. Funding of this proposal will allow a multidisciplinary team of qualified faculty to materialize such educational innovation.Broader Impact: The deliverable of a repository of educational materials is rich in (a) visual representation of science and engineering concepts that are not possible in pencil-and-paper formats; (b) ample interactions with the virtual environment as well as other content learners; and (c) unprecedented access to learning resources that are not limited in time and space. Those features blend informal and formal learning, enhancing, but more importantly enabling life-long science and engineering discovery that might not be possible in the past. The collaboration among two universities (public and HBCU), a non-profit educational organization, and four vocational/high schools with a large population of underrepresented groups naturally leads to a diverse setting that broadens the population of individuals participating in CI-enabled STEM activities. Our project Facebook, together with the project website hosted at Rowan, TSU, and EIRC creates a vibrant online community who can access our games in form of executable programs, the laboratory and game setup descriptions, and open source code of the development. This is particularly significant for outreach to other schools who wish to adopt our prototype, and further expands our learning network and communications, allowing people who are interested in this educational research and innovation to dialog new findings/problems from any venue for continued development. The well-established and successful outreach programs for K-12 educators and students at Rowan, TSU, and EIRC will further allow aggressive dissemination.