A Learning Environment to Support Comprehension Monitoring with Informational Science Text

这个教育和人力资源核心研究项目的目标是更好地了解基于技术的学习环境如何影响学生的科学素养。该项目将帮助学生掌握阅读和解释科学文本的技能，以促进解决现实世界的科学问题。学习环境将提供与五年级相关的三个基本课程单元相关的“任务”，这些课程建立在一个可能扩展到综合年级课程的框架中。通过教学代理Monty和一群互动角色，该计划将通过信息文本影响科学素养，以提高科学概念知识、理解监控技能和论证能力，鼓励掌握和成长心态方法，并更广泛地提高自我效能和对科学主题的兴趣。该项目还将测试学生将他们在游戏之外所学到的知识转移到基于项目的课堂活动中的有效性。学生样本将高度多样化，其中包括大量少数民族、国际学生、ESL（英语作为第二语言）学生和经济困难的学生。由此产生的系统将对所有学习者开放和包容，作为加强传统课堂教学的教学工具，其中包括用于监测和评估目的的教师仪表板。两个主要的计划目标包括：1)为五年级学生设计、开发和迭代改进学习环境，以提高理解监测和支持科学学习；2)增加当前对小学生如何参与和监测他们对信息科学文本的理解的理论和实践理解。该项目将在一个自我调节的学习框架内运作，包括与下一代科学标准一致的三个关键课程单元（生态系统、地球和人类活动，从分子到生物体）。从一年级和二年级的基于设计的研究开始，将进行系统的研究，以测试数字策略工具和基于游戏的元素，然后在二年级和三年级进行实验研究，以检查嵌入式理解监测工具和自适应脚手架的影响。将采用混合方法测量方法以及迭代程序开发模型。内容学习、元认知监测、迁移以及动机和影响变量（如自我效能感、兴趣）的测量将有针对性地为文献提供信息。设计研究将进一步研究环境对种族、性别、社会经济地位、ESL状态、之前的游戏经验和成就水平的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this Education and Human Resources Core Research project is to better understand how technology-based learning environments impact students' scientific literacy. The project will address the need to equip students with the skills to read and interpret scientific texts in a manner that facilitates solving real-world scientific problems. The learning environment will deliver "missions" related to three essential curricular units pertinent to 5th grade built in a framework potentially scalable for the comprehensive grade curriculum. Through a pedagogical agent, Monty, and a cast of interactive characters, the program will impact scientific literacy with informational texts to improve science conceptual knowledge, comprehension-monitoring skills, and argumentation, encourage mastery and growth mindset approaches, and increase self-efficacy and interest with science topics more broadly. The project will also test the efficacy for students to transfer what they have learned outside of the game on project-based classroom activities. A highly diverse sample of students will participate that includes large numbers of minority, international, ESL (English as a Second Language) status, and economically disadvantaged students. The resulting system will be accessible and inclusive for all learners as a pedagogical tool to enhance traditional classroom instruction that includes a teacher dashboard for monitoring and assessment purposes. Two primary programmatic goals include: 1) to design, develop, and iteratively refine the learning environment for 5th grade students that improves comprehension monitoring and supports science learning and 2) to increase current theoretical and practical understanding of how elementary students engage with and monitor their comprehension of informational science texts. The program will function within a self-regulated learning framework and include three key curricular units (ecosystems, Earth and human activity, from molecules to organisms) that align with Next Generation Science Standards. A systematic program of studies will be conducted starting from design-based studies in Years 1 & 2 to test digital strategy tools and game-based elements followed by experimental studies in Years 2 & 3 to examine the influence of both embedded comprehension monitoring tools and adaptive scaffolding. A mixed method measurement approach will be adopted along with an iterative program development model. Measures of content learning, metacognitive monitoring, transfer, and motivational and affect variables (e.g. self-efficacy, interest) will be targeted to inform the literature. Design studies will further examine the impact of the environment with regard to ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, ESL status, prior gaming experience, and achievement levels.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.