SBIR Phase I: Blending Real and Virtual Worlds in Chemistry Education

Is3d Llc, Athens GA

Investigators

Abstract

This SBIR Phase I project will determine the feasibility of an innovation aimed at enhancing student learning in hands-on science experiments. Currently, US students' poor performance in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines is limiting their career options. The aim of this project is to provide students the best possible opportunity to succeed in high school science courses so that they may pursue rewarding, well-paid, careers in STEM fields. To that end, this project will develop technologies that will seamlessly blend hands-on experiments with virtual worlds that engage students by giving laboratory activities a real world context. These virtual worlds will immerse students in environments wherein they can develop and hone critical thinking skills. The design of this blended reality approach is based on foundational theories of learning and engagement. By testing the innovation in high schools, this project will determine whether a blended reality approach is a feasible way to meet the growing demand that schools move from content-based to skills-based instruction. In doing so, this product will improve student learning and deliver a skilled workforce to industries that require STEM expertise and are vital components of the US economy. The project will develop technologies that will transform traditional hands-on science experiments through integration of virtual worlds that place science concepts of experiments in real-world context. By engaging students in authentic inquiry and enabling students to act like real scientists, the new technologies will scaffold the learning experience such that students can practice critical thinking skills. As students progress, their performance at each stage will be sent to their teachers in real time. This allows teachers to immediately identify difficulty students may have with a specific science concept or skill. The feasibility of the product will be tested in high schools to determine whether this new approach engages students in their learning, and whether the new technologies help teachers meet their goals of increasing critical thinking during hands-on experiments. Critical thinking will be increased by emphasizing the scientific method where the product will enable students to acquire requisite knowledge, collect data, analyze and interpret data, form and test a hypothesis, refine the hypothesis, if needed, according to collected data, and communicate their findings. By blending real and virtual worlds, students will be able to visualize the inner-workings of an experiment so as to engender more accurate and sophisticated understanding.