SBIR Phase II: A Virtual-Reality Next-Generation Introductory STEM Platform

Not Suspicious, Llc, Pembroke Pines FL

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to improve middle school Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. The project will create a whole-classroom virtual reality (VR) experience for middle school students to be exposed to topics interactively as a supplement to the existing curriculum. While immersed in their very own 3D virtual treehouse lab, students will be able to join other student labs and collaboratively explore a variety of scientific concepts. This is facilitated by a teacher-oriented desktop and VR interface that makes it possible to manage an entire class of students simultaneously participating in VR activities. By leveraging the use of affordable standalone VR headsets, and elevating VR beyond its current one-student-at-a-time use case, the project will help launch virtual field trips for use in authentic learning environments. This SBIR Phase II project will develop an immersive multiplayer virtual reality (VR) learning game for authentic classroom usage. The project will apply the advantages of a modular game design built around self-directed goals to test a classroom-management system built to allow an entire class of students to collaborate in or outside virtual reality. While immersed in individual 3D virtual environments, students will be able to join virtual spaces belonging to other students in order to accomplish shared goals set by the teacher at a class level. The project also seeks to further the general field of learning games, by applying the Universal Design for Learning framework to its local goal of enhancing middle-schoolers' relationships to and content knowledge of STEM topics. This permits the project to be a test-bed for educational VR content design and interaction schemes. 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.