SBIR Phase I: Virtual Reality Based Curriculum for Increased STEM Engagement

这个SBIR第一阶段项目将为大学一年级理科课程开发基于虚拟现实（VR）的课程。VR有可能改变STEM教育的教学方式，并最终改变学生的学习方式。该项目旨在构建VR科学课程，使科学教育更容易获得、更有吸引力和更有效，并将传统的STEM毕业生转变为留校生，这将对STEM的留校产生积极影响，以满足美国的劳动力需求。虚拟现实科学课程将与大学现有课程一起使用，学生每周参加一次30分钟的虚拟课程。这些课程对学生表现的影响将被测量，以验证虚拟现实对学习成果的积极影响。该项目通过推进教育科学、开发使用科学方法的教育工具和测量有效性来支持美国国家科学基金会的使命。此外，把重点放在改善大学科学教育上，将改善劳动力渠道，创造更多、更有准备的科学家。拟议工作产生的产品将使科学更容易获得，使今天的学生成为明天的发明家、问题解决者和下一个伟大的思想家。这个项目的智力价值在于开发VR课程的方法，并通过使用数据科学将学生在课堂上的表现与他们在课堂上的表现联系起来，不断验证每个课程。每节课都结合了阐述、主动学习、基于问题的探究和评估，形成了可以添加到任何现有课程中的独立模块。每节课都会跟踪学生的动作和概念掌握情况；最终，将学生在虚拟现实课程中所做的事情与他们的学习结果实时联系起来。这使项目团队能够验证每节课的哪些组成部分能够改善学生的学习成果，并不断完善VR教学法。这种开发每个课程和细化周期的方法是项目团队的关键创新。拟议研究的目标是评估将VR课程添加到现有课程时所取得的学习成果改善的程度，通过课堂评估将VR课程中的学生行为与他们的学习成果相关联，并评估教师使用VR的感知实施障碍。这将通过将虚拟现实课程整合到大学课程中，并与对照组比较结果来实现。教师的反馈将通过混合方法研究收集。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。

This SBIR Phase I project will develop Virtual Reality (VR) based curriculum for first year university science courses. VR has the potential to create a step change in the way STEM education is taught and ultimately the way students learn. This project aims to build VR science curriculum to make science education more accessible, engaging and effective, and turn traditional STEM leavers into stayers which will positively impact STEM retention to meet the U.S. workforce demand. The VR science curriculum will be used alongside the existing curriculum at universities, with students participating in one 30-minute virtual lesson a week. The effect of these lessons on the students' performance will be measured to validate the ability of VR to positively impact learning outcomes. This project supports the NSF mission by progressing the science of education, by developing education tools using the scientific method, and measuring effectiveness. Moreover, the focus on improving university science education will improve the workforce pipeline, creating more and better prepared scientists. The products resulting from the proposed work will make science more accessible preparing today's students to be tomorrow's inventors, problem solvers and next great minds.The intellectual merit of this project is in the approach to developing VR curricula, and continually validating each curriculum by using data science to correlate student performance in the lesson to their performance in the classroom. Each lesson combines exposition, active learning, problem-based inquiry and assessment into self-contained modules which can be added to any existing curriculum. Student actions, and concept mastery are tracked within each lesson; ultimately, to correlate what the student is doing in a VR lesson to their learning outcome in real time. This enables the project team to validate which components of each lesson are working to improve student learning outcomes, and continually refine the VR pedagogy. This approach to developing each lesson and the cycle of refinement is the key innovation of the project team. The goal of the proposed research is to evaluate the magnitude of learning outcome improvement achieved when VR lessons are added to existing curricula, correlate the student actions in the VR lesson to their learning outcome as measured through in-class assessments, and evaluate perceived implementation hurdles for use of VR by instructors. This will be accomplished by integrating VR lessons in university curriculum and measuring the results against a control group. Instructor feedback will be gathered through a mixed methods study.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.