SBIR Phase I: STEM Finest Hour

这个SBIR第一阶段项目将制作一个基于虚拟现实(VR)的多人游戏，在游戏中，高中年龄的玩家必须协作思考并解决基于科学-技术-工程-数学(STEM)的复杂、可信的问题。美国面临着STEM学位工人的短缺。超过一半的高中生表示，他们没有攻读STEM学位或职业，因为他们觉得自己没有准备好或没有意识到自己面临的机会。此外，许多学生表示他们对科学感兴趣，渴望获得引人入胜的真实世界体验，但他们觉得自己在学校真正的STEM机会有限。需要让学生参与真实的协作STEM思维的体验，该项目寻求使用VR为他们提供一个引人注目的虚拟问题空间。该项目还寻求为教育工作者提供一条可访问的技术途径，将优质的VR硬件带入学校。尽管虚拟现实被誉为一项变革性的技术，但它目前面临着在学校使用的费用和可扩展性障碍。通过利用混合技术和基于角色的多人游戏，该项目将创建虚拟环境，帮助玩家通过推理、实验和协作-STEM哲学的核心-看到问题是可以解决的。参与者将一起工作，分享他们的知识和专业知识，进行实验，并解决困难的、引人注目的科学问题。该项目的核心技术创新是设计和部署方法，将使优质的虚拟现实(VR)体验成为学校的实用工具。该项目将带来多人体验，其中一名玩家使用VR耳机充当现场代理，其他5-25名学生支持使用具有基于角色的界面的传统设备作为任务控制。通过开发非对称(但同样引人注目)的游戏体验，该项目将使所有学生参与协作的科学-技术-工程-数学(STEM)问题解决。对于教育工作者来说，这个项目必须解决三个主要问题：硬件问题(虚拟现实硬件昂贵，很难同时扩展到多个学生，并且需要安装和维护)；雄心勃勃的教学问题(提供动手发现和探究体验，允许进行有意义的协作和解决问题)；以及体现问题(学生需要亲自投入到我们设计的问题中，才能使体验具有意义和变革性)。研究目标是1)确定是否可以以足够的深度产生基于STEM的情景，以使一组高中生参与跨外勤特工和任务控制角色的协作、跨学科思维和问题解决；以及2)确定多人角色扮演体验是否能显著改善STEM内容知识和玩家之间的处置。为了衡量这些目标，将在真实的正规教育环境中进行多项可用性和可行性测试。每一次测试都将伴随着前后测试，以衡量内容、知识和性格。

This SBIR Phase I project will produce a Virtual Reality (VR)-based multiplayer game in which high school-aged players must collaboratively think through and solve complex, authentic Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM)-based problems. The United States faces a shortage of degreed STEM workers. More than half of high school students have indicated that they aren't pursuing STEM degrees or careers because they feel unprepared for or unaware of the opportunities available to them. Further, many students indicate they're interested in science and crave engaging, real-world experiences, but feel that they have limited authentic STEM opportunities in school. There is a need for experiences that engage students in authentic collaborative STEM thinking, and this project seeks to provide them with a compelling virtual problem space using VR. This project also seeks to provide educators with an accessible technology pathway to bring premium VR hardware into schools. Though VR has been heralded as a transformative technology, it currently faces expense and scalability hurdles for in-school use. By leveraging a mixture of technologies and role-based multiplayer, this project will create the virtual context to help players see problems as solvable through reason, experimentation, and collaboration - the heart of STEM philosophy. Players will work together, sharing their knowledge and expertise, running experiments, and solving difficult, compelling science problems.The core technical innovation of this project is the design and deployment methodology that will make premium Virtual Reality (VR) experiences a practical tool for schools. The project will result in a multiplayer experience in which one player uses the VR headset to act as the field agent, supported by 5-25 other students using traditional devices with role-based interfaces to act as mission control. By developing asymmetrical (but equally compelling) play experiences, the project will engage all students in collaborative Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics (STEM) problem-solving. There are three main problems that this project must solve for educators: the hardware problem (VR hardware is expensive, difficult to scale to more than one student at a time, and requires installation and maintenance); the ambitious pedagogy problem (providing hands-on discovery and inquiry experiences that allow for meaningful collaboration and problem-solving); and the embodiment problem (students need to feel personally invested in the problems we devise if the experience is to be meaningful and transformational). The research goals are 1) To determine whether STEM-based scenarios can be generated with sufficient depth to engage a group of high school-age students in collaborative, interdisciplinary thought and problem-solving across both field agent and mission control roles; and 2) To determine whether the multiplayer role-play experiences produce significant improvements in STEM content knowledge and disposition among players. In order to measure these goals, multiple usability and feasibility tests will be conducted in authentic formal educational environments. Each test will be accompanied by a pre- and post-test that measures both content knowledge and disposition.