Transforming Outdoor Places into Learning Spaces

该项目为农村家庭开发和研究使用移动增强现实体验的基于地点的学习，这些家庭的博物馆和科学中心很少，但自然资源丰富，有户外小径、公园和林地。这个合作研究团队的成员来自乡村图书馆、户外学习中心、宾夕法尼亚州农村社区和宾夕法尼亚州州立大学的学习科学家，他们将为4至12岁的家庭和儿童开发增强现实和移动学习资源。目标是帮助人们实时看到看不到的东西，以便根据当地分水岭、树木和农村社区熟悉和相关的季节周期来了解生命和地球科学。为了实现这一目标，项目组将通过三次迭代的研究和设计，为农村家庭和儿童在校外时间创造有科学意义的体验。尽管有证据表明，增强现实可以支持学习，但很少有实证研究来确定是什么让一种类型的增强学习体验在户外学习空间中比其他类型的体验更有效。该项目将产生关于增强现实在家庭和青少年户外科学学习中的效用的研究成果。这一发展创新项目由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划资助，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和发展的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径，推进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对更深层次学习的理解通过为期四年的基于设计的研究研究，研究人员将调查三个研究问题。(1)如何通过增强现实和数字资源增强户外学习体验，使科学更可见和更有趣？(2)小径和花园中不同形式的增强如何支持科学学习？3)孩子和父母在支持彼此的科学学习和与农村社区的联系方面扮演什么社会角色？数据收集包括对户外儿童和家庭的录像，学习对人们行为的分析，以及对农村家庭的采访。该项目的研究设计将允许理论的发展，支持农村家庭在他们的社区内和关于他们的社区学习科学。在项目结束时，该团队将为户外展示、花园和步道的技术增强型非正式学习提供可概括的设计原则。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project develops and examines place-based learning using mobile augmented reality experiences for rural families where museums and science centers are scarce yet where natural resources are rich with outdoor trails, parks, and forestlands. The collaborative research team, with members from rural libraries, outdoor learning centers, learning scientists at Penn State University, and rural communities in Pennsylvania, will develop augmented reality and mobile learning resources for families and children aged from 4 to 12. The goal is to help people see what is not visible in real-time in order to learn about life and earth sciences based on local watersheds, trees, and seasonal cycles that are familiar and relevant to rural communities. To accomplish this goal, the project team will create scientifically meaningful experiences for rural families and children in their out-of-school time through three iterations of research and design. Although there is evidence that augmented reality can support learning, little empirical research has been conducted to determine what makes one type of augmented learning experience more effective than others in outdoor learning spaces. This project will produce research findings on the utility of augmented reality for science learning with families and youths outdoors. This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participantsThrough a four-year design-based research study, researchers will investigate three research questions. (1) How can outdoor learning experiences be enhanced with augmented reality and digital resources in ways that make science more visible and interesting?; (2) How do different forms of augmentations on trails and in gardens support science learning? 3) What social roles do children and parents play in supporting each other's science learning and connections to rural communities? Data collection includes video-recordings of children and families in the outdoors, learning analytics of people's behavior, and interviews with rural families. The project's research design will allow for the development of theory, which supports rural families learning science within and about their communities. At the end of the project, the team will offer generalizable design principles for technologically-enhanced informal learning for outdoor displays, gardens, and trails.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.