Incubating Infrastructure to Improve STEM Learning by Leveraging Data from Digital Educational Games

数字教育游戏为在情境中学习STEM提供了一个独特的机会。然而，需要基础设施来系统地收集、存储和处理来自数字教育游戏的数据，以便STEM研究人员能够利用这些数据。这个中等规模的研究基础设施孵化器正在开发一个数据和分发基础设施，使研究人员能够研究STEM学习是如何在这些环境中发生的，以及如何设计数字干预来服务于不同的受众和满足不同的学习目标。孵化器活动将包括异步讨论/调查、面对面研讨会活动以及面向基础设施规划的报告撰写工作组。六个重点研究领域将指导规划：(1)使用数字教育游戏作为开发和完善学习和认知科学的工具；(2)了解这些游戏如何支持STEM学习；(3)开发和评估数字评估；(4)了解这些游戏是如何以及可以在课堂上利用的；(5)开发支持教育数据挖掘的实践、工具和方法；以及(6)了解基于游戏的教育学习对不同受众的启示。通过利用数字教育游戏解决STEM教育研究中最重大的空白，该项目将允许开展全新的研究形式，并为新的研究人员提供参与机制。该项目通过与比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会、施密特期货公司和沃尔顿家庭基金会的合作伙伴关系得到支持。资金也由NSF的用于教学的新兴技术研究(RETTL)计划提供。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。

Digital educational games provide a unique opportunity to study STEM learning in context. However, infrastructure is needed to systematically collect, store, and process data from digital educational games so that it can be leveraged by STEM researchers. This Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure Incubator is developing a data and distribution infrastructure that will enable researchers to study how STEM learning occurs in these contexts and how digital interventions can be designed to serve different audiences and address different learning goals. The Incubator activities will include asynchronous discussion/surveys, in-person workshop events, and report-writing workgroups geared toward planning of the infrastructure. Six focal research areas will guide the planning: (1) using digital educational games as instruments for developing and refining learning and cognitive science; (2) understanding how these games support STEM learning; (3) developing and evaluating digital assessments; (4) understanding how these games are and can be leveraged in classrooms; (5) developing practices, tools, and methods to support educational data mining; and (6) understanding the affordances of educational game-based learning for diverse audiences. By addressing the most significant gaps in the conduct of STEM educational research with digital educational games, this project will allow for entirely new forms of research to be conducted and provide mechanisms for new researchers to participate. This project is supported through a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Walton Family Foundation. Funding is also provided by the Research on Emerging Technologies for Teaching and Learning (RETTL) program at NSF.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.