I-Corps: Interactive digital book series to provide world history for middle school to college students

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an interactive digital book series focused on history education. The proposed technology is aimed at middle and high school students, as well as first-year college students, preparing them for the AP World History: Modern exam covering 1200 CE to present, and for success across a broad swathe of standards-aligned history assessments. Informed by research on digital youth culture, such as the work of Mizuko Ito, the proposed series recognizes the importance of informal, interest-driven learning and the role of technology in shaping modern education. Thomas and Brown's "A New Culture of Learning" highlights the significance of play, innovation, and imagination, all of which are embodied in the proposed series. By immersing and engaging students through meaningful choice, multimodal interaction design, and systems-based interpretations, the series emphasizes complexity, interdependencies, and causal connections in historical events. This interactive approach encourages students to perceive connections between past and present, making history more tangible and real. Ultimately, this approach takes history out of the textbook, placing students into the world of history itself, igniting their enthusiasm for learning about the past. The project has the potential to improve historical literacy and critical thinking skills, fostering cultural awareness, empathy, and global citizenship. This I-Corps project is based on the development of an educational technology that combines digital technology, multimedia, and game-based learning principles. It employs the "Psychosocial Moratorium," "Identity," and "Multimodal" principles, which allow learners to take risks in a low-stakes environment, explore different identities, and engage with multiple modalities for a deeper understanding of history. The technology used involves mobile media, narrative design, and interaction design, providing a unique and immersive learning experience. The research informing this project comes from applied educational research and digital youth culture studies, underpinning the interactive and engaging nature of the technology. The technical results include a digital learning series that brings history alive, making it tangible, memorable, and enriching for students. 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.