U.S.-Chile Planning Visit for a Virtual Interactive Science Museum

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

This US-Brazil award will support a planning visit by Drs. R. Bowen Loftin and Elizabeth Bollinger of the University of Houston to travel to Concepcion, Chile, in order to plan a collaborative research project with Arquitecto Emilio Armstrong Delpin. The topic of this research is the development of a prototype computing/interactive display system for a Virtual Interactive Science Museum. The system would be made available to students via the Education 2000 Internet Enlaces project of the Ministry of Education in Chile. Studying the development and impact of the Virtual Interactive Science Museum on Chilean children in public schools should offer insights on culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogies for informal education. Other likely benefits are the diffusion of results for use in U.S. public schools and museums, culturally and linguistically relevant pedagogies for U.S. Latino populations, drivers for research in the computer and information sciences and engineering, and advances in learning science and technologies. One compelling indirect benefit of the collaboration is the development of new strategies for international collaboration regarding the intersection of technology- and education-related topics.