RAPID: Virtual Epidemics for Promoting Upper Elementary and Middle School Students’ Immersion and Inquiry into Pandemic Outbreaks

这份快速报告是对美国国家科学基金会关于新冠肺炎大流行的亲爱同事的信的回应。流行病学家长期以来一直使用流行病的模拟来更好地了解其复杂的动态。最近，模拟已被用作公共卫生预防和保护措施的教学工具。研究表明，通过虚拟模拟，学生可以更好地了解疾病传播和社会互动的基础。该项目侧重于虚拟流行病如何使教师和学生(10-14岁)成为参与者和流行病学家，以体验和调查流行病的关键方面，包括突出新冠肺炎疫情媒介的特征。该项目将使用一个名为Whyville.net的在线虚拟世界，拥有超过840万注册玩家(8-16岁；平均年龄13岁；78%是女性)，这是免费的和商业广告。在Whyville虚拟世界中，该项目将推出一种名为WhyCough的虚拟流行病。WhyCough将为学生提供通过沉浸了解疫情爆发的机会。沉浸在虚拟世界中包括体验疫情，参与预防，促进社会行动和收集有关疫情的数据，使用虚拟疾控中心的模拟器，以及撰写经验。学生和教师将可以访问在线讨论和活动的补充材料。项目活动将为教师和学生提供学习感染、预防、免疫和社会互动的机会。此外，参与者还将了解社会对感知到的健康风险的反应，以促进在个人和社区层面上更好地了解传染病。该项目的目标是提供一种新的方法来了解传染病，利用虚拟世界的突出特征，包括持久性、实时和个人表现。虚拟世界提供了大量的玩家，允许学生体验和调查虚拟的疫情爆发。该项目将招聘至少50名教师和1500名学生。利用调查和观察相结合的方法，这项研究将为设计大型在线活动提供进一步的见解，以促进对疫情爆发的更好了解，以及与个人对这些疫情的反应有关的问题。研究问题包括：1.学生认为虚拟病毒设计和相关活动最吸引人的属性是什么？2.教师认为虚拟疫情体验对学生的学习和参与有什么价值？他们在课堂上开展了哪些活动和创新？3.青少年将虚拟疫情的经历与现实生活建立了什么样的联系？该项目将使其他有兴趣了解大规模社区参与模式的研究人员和设计师可以访问来自这项研究的数据集。为惠维尔的虚拟流行病提出的活动将可供其他虚拟世界和联网游戏采用。该项目将通过多种渠道，跨越广泛的学科和受众，包括研究人员、从业者和普通公众，交流成果。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解的项目，这些项目有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)以及信息和通信技术(ICT)职业的知识和兴趣。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 RAPID was submitted in response to the NSF Dear Colleague letter related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Epidemiologists have long used simulations of epidemics to better understand their complex dynamics. More recently, simulations have been used as a teaching tool for public health prevention and protection measures. Research has shown that through virtual simulations students can better understand the underpinnings of disease spread and social interactions. This project focuses on how virtual epidemics can engage teachers and students (10-14 years old) as participants and epidemiologists to experience and investigate critical aspects of epidemics, including characteristics that highlight vectors of a COVID-19 outbreak. The project will use an online virtual world called Whyville.net with over 8.4 million registered players (ages 8-16; average age 13; 78% female) which is free of charge and commercial advertisements. In the Whyville virtual world the project will launch a virtual epidemic called WhyCough. WhyCough will provide students opportunities to learn about epidemic outbreaks through immersion. Immersion in the virtual world includes experiencing outbreaks, engaging in prevention, and promoting social action and collecting data about outbreak, using simulators in a virtual CDC, and writing about experiences. Students and teachers will have access to supplemental materials for online discussions and activities. The project activities will provide teachers and students with opportunities for learning about infection, prevention, immunity and social interactions. Additionally, participants will learn about societal reactions to perceived health risks in order to promote a better understanding of infectious diseases on individual and community levels.The goal of the project is to offer a novel approach to learning about infectious disease, utilizing prominent features of virtual worlds that include; persistence, real time, and personal representation. The virtual world offers massive numbers of players allowing students to experience and investigate a virtual epidemic outbreak. The project will recruit at least 50 teachers and 1,500 students. Using a combination of survey and observational methods, the research will provide further insights into the design of large-scale online activities that promote a better understanding of epidemic outbreaks and issues related to individual reactions to those outbreaks. The research questions include: 1. What attributes of virtual virus design and associated activities do students find most engaging? 2. What do teachers find valuable about the virtual epidemic experience for student learning and engagement? What activities and innovations do they implement in their classrooms? 3. What kinds of connections do youth make from their experiences of a virtual epidemic to real life? The project will make data sets from the study accessible to other researchers and designers interested in understanding patterns of participation in massive communities. Activities proposed for virtual epidemics in Whyville will be available for adoption by other virtual worlds and networked games. The project will communicate results via multiple channels across a wide range of disciplines and audiences, including researchers, practitioners, and the general public. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.