MISO: Maximizing the Impact of STEM Outreach through Data-driven Decision-Making
The project’s goal is to creatively integrate longitudinal evaluation with innovation within NC State’s K-12 STEM outreach programs, particularly those funded by NSF, to help ensure the breadth and depth of the future U.S. STEM workforce. The vision for MISO is an integrated institutional structure that will allow pre-college programs to think and act strategically to meet their goals to enhance the STEM pipeline.
The Leonardo Project: An Intelligent Cyberlearning System for Interactive Scientific Modeling in Elementary Science Education
Central to elementary science education is the development of conceptual understanding through the modeling of scientific phenomena. The process of inquiry, focused on observed and described phenomena, requires students be equipped with epistemic tools that allow them to construct extended discursive threads—synthesizing concrete observations and abstract concepts through multiple modes of representation. Students need scaffolded support in this process from sophisticated and powerful modeling tools applied along a learning progression of scientific understanding. The objective of the Leonardo project is to develop and evaluate an intelligent cyberlearning system for interactive scientific modeling in elementary science education. Students in Grades 4 and 5 will use Leonardo’s intelligent virtual science notebooks to create and experiment with interactive models of physical phenomena.
ENGAGE: Immersive Game-Based Learning for Middle Grade Computational Fluency
This project will develop, implement, and evaluate a middle grades version of the CS Principles course that is fully situated within an immersive game-based learning environment. The team will research and evaluate the effectiveness of the game-based learning framework on student learning, computing interest, and self-efficacy, particularly for underrepresented groups.
AIM: Adapting to Affect in Multimodal Dialogue-Rich Interaction with Middle School Students
This project will address the question: “How can we design learning environments that adaptively respond to students’ affect to create the most effective, engaging learning experiences while simultaneously promoting improved attitudes toward learning?” Through a series of basic and applied research studies, this project will design, develop, and iteratively refine an integrated affect and dialogue management model that adaptively responds to students’ affective states in the course of their learning interactions.