Augmented Reality Experiences in 21st Century STEM Careers

该项目将推进学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划的努力，以更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学，技术，工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业生涯的动机和能力的实践。该项目将开发和研究一系列下一代增强现实（AR）数字学习实验室，并将实验室纳入现有课程STEM 21。AR已被提议作为一种有效的手段，激励以前脱离学生通过真实的经验。通过将干预重点放在学生人数不足的高中1，该项目解决了代表性不足的青年缺乏机会参与严格的STEM学习的问题，这些学习结合了新兴技术，符合21世纪的劳动力技能。AR是一种新兴技术，它将数字信息带入物理世界，将数字伪影叠加到物理环境上，然后可以通过移动的电话、平板电脑或可穿戴技术访问物理环境。STEM 21是一种基于项目的学习模式，已在具有不同学习主体的高中成功复制，并导致学生自我报告的STEM和STEM相关中学后学习兴趣的改善;科学成就;软技能;归属感和自我调节。STEM 21课程包括六个现有的基于项目的高中生物学，化学，工程，地球和能源以及制造课程。AR学习实验室将专门设计用于提高学生学习STEM的动机，增加对STEM相关教育和职业的兴趣，并加深协作技能。AR促进了基于项目的学习的许多组成部分：它为学生提供了多种类型和来源的信息来综合和评估，在真实的现实世界体验中建立学习过程，并为协作解决问题提供虚拟和面对面的沟通。AR学习实验室将在项目中托管？的网络学习平台，学生和教师将能够通过任何与互联网连接的移动终端访问。该项目将支持教师专业发展，包括暑期学院，现场和虚拟教练，以及专业学习社区。在项目结束时，该项目的AR学习实验室系列和课程资源将在开放教育资源（OER）许可证下发布，并在CT州教育部（CSDE）的支持下在全州范围内传播。该项目的研究将调查支持新技术整合的背景和条件，如AR，该项目将纳入STEM核心内容，并将有助于对有效教学法和教学环境的有限研究，以实现高中环境中的公平STEM学习。 在为期三年的项目中，AR学习实验室将在十所不同的高中环境（30个班级，共约900名学生）中进行测试，迭代和实施，以评估其有效性。这项研究将有助于AR与STEM教学方法整合的有限文献，同时提高中学生与STEM相关的非认知技能和技术AR技能。研究人员将评估学生在STEM动机和兴趣方面的成果，以及与参与项目模型相关的协作技能。此外，研究人员还将研究不同中学环境和代表性不足的学生之间学生经历的差异，从而为未来的扩展提供相关信息。其他研究领域包括学生的体验和成果如何与学习实验室中的一系列STEM科目和AR应用程序相关，以及参与AR实验室活动如何与STEM动机和兴趣相关。形成性评估结果，可行性和可用性数据，以及对实施结果和保真度的年度分析将用于设计，开发和测试AR学习实验室系列和课程资源。研究人员将使用已证明可靠性和有效性与类似的学生群体的措施。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). The project will develop and research a series of next generation augmented reality (AR) digital learning labs and incorporate the labs into an existing curriculum, STEM 21. AR has been proposed as an effective means of motivating previously disengaged students through authentic experiences. By focusing the intervention in high schools with a large proportion of underrepresented students1, the project addresses the lack of opportunities for underrepresented youth to be engaged in rigorous STEM learning that incorporates emerging technologies, aligned with 21st century workforce skills. AR is an emerging technology that brings digital information into the physical world, overlaying digital artifacts onto the physical environment that can then be accessed via a mobile phone, a tablet, or wearable technology. STEM21 is a project-based learning model which has been successfully replicated in high schools with diverse study bodies and has resulted in improvement in student self-reported interest in STEM and STEM-related postsecondary study; science achievement; soft skills; and sense of belonging and self-regulation. The STEM21 curriculum includes six existing project-based high school biology, chemistry, engineering, earth and energy, and manufacturing courses. The AR learning labs will be specifically designed to heighten student motivation for STEM learning, increase interest in STEM-related education and careers, and deepen collaboration skills. AR facilitates many of the components of project-based learning: it offers students multiple types and sources of information to synthesize and evaluate, grounds the learning process in authentic real-world experiences, and provides virtual and face-to-face communication for collaborative problem solving. The AR learning labs will be hosted on the project?s web-based learning platform and will be able to be accessed by students and teachers on any mobile device with an Internet connection. The project will support teacher professional development thru includes a summer Institute, onsite and virtual coaching, and professional learning communities. At project end, the project AR learning lab series and curricular resources will be published under an Open Education Resource (OER) license and disseminated statewide with the support of the CT State Department of Education (CSDE).The project's research will investigate the contexts and conditions that support the integration of new technologies, such as AR, into core STEM content and will contribute to the limited research on effective pedagogy and pedagogical environments to achieve equitable STEM learning in high school settings. The AR learning labs will be tested, iterated, and implemented in ten diverse high school settings (30 Classes with a total of approximately 900 students) over the three-year project to assess their effectiveness. The research will contribute to the limited literature on the integration of AR with STEM instructional methods to concurrently enhance STEM-related non-cognitive skills and technical AR skills among secondary students. Researchers will assess student outcomes in STEM motivation and interest, and in collaboration skills associated with participation in the project model. In addition, researchers will examine differences in student experiences in diverse secondary school settings and among underrepresented students, thereby providing information relevant to future scaling. Additional areas of study include how student experiences and outcomes vary in relation to a range of STEM subjects and AR applications present in the learning labs, and how engagement in AR lab activities relates to STEM motivation and interest. Formative assessment results, feasibility and usability data, and yearly analyses of the outcomes and fidelity of implementation will be used to design, develop, and test the AR learning Lab series and curricular resources iteratively. Researchers will use measures that have demonstrated reliability and validity with similar student populations.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.