VenomSquad: Building skills and interest in STEM with collaborative augmented reality

与其他国家的学生相比，美国学生的表现水平较低，对STEM的兴趣也较低 （Fayer等人，2017年）。此外，妇女、黑人、土著人和有色人种（BIPOC）以及残疾人 在STEM领域，学生和专业人士的代表性都不足（Rotermund & Burke，2021; Hamrick，2021）。到 解决迫切需要培养学生的关键技能，如沟通和协作，并提高兴趣， 健康和医学职业，特别是在BIPOC，杀手蜗牛，一个以科学为重点的教育技术公司， VenomSquad是一款面向6- 8年级学生的增强现实（AR）学习体验。 我们将通过使用移动的手机创建AR体验，培养对STEM和未来职业的兴趣 学生们扮演科学家的角色，在团队中合作了解如何使用毒液 来制造治疗药物。VenomSquad将是一个为期5天的课程补充，结合了AR游戏， 互动的基于网络的数字科学期刊，反映学生的互动，以及创新的评估仪表板， 强调学生跨平台协作的教育工作者。在VenomSquad中，学生将扮演科学家的角色。 协作解决现实世界的问题：基于极端毒液寻找新的非成瘾性疼痛疗法 像蛇和锥螺这样的生物。虽然我们为VenomSquad提出的内容是独一无二的，但其基础技术 多媒体学习设计的原则可以推广到其他内容领域。 VenomSquad有三个创新功能：（1）协作式移动的AR的技术进步。的 创建VenomSquad将需要新的技术进步（解决带宽，延迟，连接丢失）， 确保使用AR的学生团队的高水平协作。（2）多人游戏设计引擎。专有设计 为数字科学期刊提供动力的引擎实现了通信和共享资源等协作行为 学生之间的不同信息基于他们的角色，同时保持组内的共同点。 （3）教育者仪表板针对及时的上下文反馈进行了优化。我们将创建一个教育者仪表板来显示 可操作的学习分析，从有关学生个人工作的定性和定量信息中提取， 学生在数字科学期刊和AR场景之间的协作互动。此显示将突出显示 成功合作的证据或需要教育者的支持。仪表板的此功能将有助于 教育工作者评估每个学生和小组的AR和数字体验，解决教育工作者使用 课堂环境中的协作活动。综合考虑，这些功能确保VenomSquad将不同于现有的 生命/物理科学材料在市场上，并将创造一个利基，杀手蜗牛可以成长。 我们对VenomSquad的设计和测试的迭代方法将研究这些功能如何有助于 学生的学习经验。我们的评估合作伙伴WestEd将进行一项随机对照试验， VenomSquad会影响学生对科学和工程实践的使用，特别是有效合作的能力， 对STEM职业的兴趣，以及教育工作者在合作活动中监控和支持学生的能力。

American students perform at a lower level and express less interest in STEM than students in other countries (Fayer et al., 2017). Additionally, Women, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and people with disabilities are underrepresented as both students and professionals in STEM fields (Rotermund & Burke, 2021; Hamrick, 2021). To address the dire need to prepare students with key skills like communication and collaboration, and increase interest in health and medicine careers especially among BIPOC, Killer Snails, a science-focused educational technology company, will create VenomSquad, an augmented reality (AR) learning experience for 6-8th grade. We will foster an interest in STEM and future careers by creating an AR experience using mobile phones where students take on roles as scientists working collaboratively in teams to understand how venom can be used to make therapeutic drugs. VenomSquad will be a 5-day curriculum supplement that combines AR game play, an interactive web-based digital science journal that reflects student interactions, and an innovative assessment dashboard for educators which highlights student collaboration across platforms. In VenomSquad students will take on roles of scientists collaboratively solving a real-world problem: finding new, non-addictive pain therapies based on the venom of extreme creatures like snakes and cone snails. While the content we propose for VenomSquad is unique, the underlying technology and principles of multimedia design for learning are generalizable to other content areas. VenomSquad has three innovative features: (1)Technical advancements in collaborative mobile AR. The creation of VenomSquad will require new technical advancements (addressing bandwidth, latency, loss of connection) to ensure a high level of collaboration for the student teams using AR. (2)Multiplayer design engine. The proprietary design engine powering the digital science journal enables collaborative behaviors like communication and sharing resources between students with different information based on their roles, while maintaining common ground within the group. (3)Educator dashboard optimized for timely, contextual feedback. We will create an educator dashboard to display actionable learning analytics drawn from qualitative and quantitative information about individual student work and collaborative interactions between students in the digital science journal and the AR scenes. This display will highlight evidence of successful collaboration or the need for support from the educator. This feature of the dashboard will help educators assess each student and group’s AR and digital experience, addressing pain points for educators using collaborative activities in classroom settings. Taken together, these features ensure VenomSquad will be unlike existing Life/Physical Science materials on the market and will create a niche in which Killer Snails can grow. Our iterative approach to the design and testing of VenomSquad will examine how these features contribute to students’ learning experiences. Our evaluation partner WestEd will conduct an RCT examining the extent to which VenomSquad can affect students’ use of science and engineering practices, especially ability to effectively collaborate, and interest in STEM careers, and educators’ ability to monitor and support students during collaborative activities.