Funding

  Project Proposal:   
  Integrating Reflection and Immersive Learning in Science Education

  Participants:
  UCB, UCLA, UCSC, UCSB

  Principal Investigators:
  Barry Sinervo (UCSC)

We request funds for a feasibility grant to support the integration of two science-education technologies: WISE (Web-based Inquiry Science Environment), which is coordinated by Dr. James Slotta at UC Berkeley, and BioGames (role-play and simulation games for science education), which was developed by Dr. Barry Sinervo at UC Santa Cruz and Jean Vogelzang of BioGames. Development of both projects was supported through grants from the Education Directorate at the National Science Foundation. The target population for both projects has historically been K-12. However, WISE and BioGames can be adapted to undergraduate instruction. For example, a BioGames project called THE HIVE (see below) has been used for the past 4 years in a biology class with 80-140 undergraduates. By integrating WISE and BioGames projects, immersive and interactive content would be delivered and assessed over the Internet, thereby augmenting regular class instruction. In this proposal we outline short- and long-term goals, introduce the collaborators, describe each project, and finally, discuss strategies for how integration might be achieved.

Short-term goals for this feasibility grant proposal (November) include:
• Testing feasibility of software to determine whether we can integrate WISE and BioGames
• Coordinating the instructional objectives of WISE and BioGames and determining how to best measure the instructional objectives in an online environment
• Developing the beginning stages of a process by which other UC faculty can build interactive educational content through resources available on their campuses, such as Digital Art and New Media programs

Long-term goals for the full-implementation grant (April) include:
• Developing rich multimedia content that achieves the intended instructional objectives
• Developing online assessment tools in the context of immersive simulation environments
• Testing content in other courses, across the range of target audience, and across educational disciplines
• Developing a full-scale process by which other UC faculty can begin to build rich interactive educational content and gain access to the resources available on their campuses.

  Principal Collaborators and Synergistic Activities Addressing Project Goals

Dr. Jim Slotta will coordinate planning of the WISE group. Jean Vogelzang, an instructional designer who worked on prototypes of the BioGames project, will coordinate instructional objectives of WISE and BioGames with Dr. Slotta. Dr. Jim Bierman of the Theater Arts Department at UCSC will coordinate planning associated with the Digital Art and New Media program (DANM). DANM will train graduate students at UCSC in Digital Media. In our long-range plans we will identify mechanisms by which students in DANM might develop projects that provide educational content that instructors could post in WISE-BioGames simulations on the Internet. In addition to coordinating planning of the DANM program, Bierman and Sinervo will explore the suitability of two authoring environments, Macromedia Director, and Revolution. Sinervo developed the software for BioGames projects using Lingo and Macromedia Director. Sinervo, Bierman, and Vogelzang will outline a process for developing multimedia in integrated WISE-BioGames projects.

  The WISE science curriculum and BioGames natural history simulators

WISE uses simulations, visualizations, and Internet materials to promote inquiry about science. WISE projects are capstone activities that science teachers can incorporate into their current curriculum. WISE projects are designed to support students as they explore current science controversies and design solutions to scientific problems. Students learn about and respond to contemporary scientific controversies through designing, debating, and critiquing solutions -- all on the World Wide Web. Interaction is key to using WISE successfully. Students work on WISE projects in pairs; close collaboration encourages them to share their ideas and support each other.

WISE also offers a project authoring environment in which teachers can customize projects to their own needs, or even create their own projects. Once teachers register they can use any of these projects with their own students for free. WISE is built on a theory of learning as knowledge integration: making connections between new knowledge and students' previous experiences.

The WISE learning environment is built on research that explores (a) how to design science curriculum that helps students achieve a deep understanding of the dynamic nature of science, and (b) how computer technology can scaffold students as they perform such activities. The WISE learning environment also promotes autonomy with reflection, critique, argument, comparison, and design activities. To do this, WISE presents students with accessible, independent activities that require sustained reasoning.

BioGames develops role-play simulation games that allow students to assume the role of an animal in an ecosystem. Through exploration of a simulation environment students gain an understanding of behavior, and the scientific method that scientists use in collecting data. For example, in order to complete successive levels of role-play simulation The Hive, the learner must forage as a bumble bee and communicate with other members of The Hive (e.g., scouts communicate locations of flowers via the waggle dance). Learners must also avoid predators such as lizards, dragonflies, wasps, and spiders.

Target age groups for BioGames projects range from K-12 to Undergraduate. The Hive has been extensively tested in an undergraduate UCSC course on Behavioral Ecology (80-140 students). High school students in COSMOS, a summer camp for science and mathematics instruction, have also tested The Hive. The Hive develops the scientific method by having students collect data on the character that they are role-playing, the foraging bumble bee.

  Integrated WISE and BioGames Projects

WISE has excellent tools that facilitate reflection, critique and collaboration. BioGames has developed a complete simulation environment that facilitates a high-level of interactivity, comparable to commercial video games. Immersive simulation environments can play a crucial role in understanding fields of study such as Biology, Geology, Astronomy, Psychology, and Sociology. However, BioGames simulators do not yet have built-in tools that facilitate collaboration and reflection without interrupting game-play. Tools such as the structured logbook of WISE, which is saved on an online server, not only allow for student reflection, but also allow educators to access student work and determine whether students have assimilated the material. Online posting of results allow instructional designers to readily assess whether instructional objectives have been achieved. We will synthesize WISE and BioGames projects in a full-scale implementation grant. This feasibility grant will allow us to develop some multimedia, purchase software, and enlist the help of an instructional designer (Vogelzang) who is familiar with Web-based instruction and immersive technologies, as well as the BioGames project.

  The integration of WISE and BioGames is a natural collaboration.

* WISE and BioGames share similar pedagogical philosophies. Both projects place importance on making science accessible to all types of learners; viewing and analyzing data in a visual format; connecting current learning to the learner's prior knowledge; providing students with opportunities to collaborate, reflect, and think critically; and providing real-world projects that are relevant to students.

* A long-term goal is to make a networked version of BioGames projects. WISE has existing tools for collaboration (tools for discussion, chat, and note-taking), and already has successful projects that facilitate groups of students working together to solve scientific problems. BioGames has non-standard ways of communicating such as through animal behaviors, which can be integrated with WISE tools.

* WISE identifies a clear process for defining instructional objectives. BioGames and WISE can work together to clarify learning objectives in the context of immersive media technology.

* BioGames is skilled in developing rich educational multimedia. Undergraduate testing provides ideas for WISE regarding the content that motivates learners. BioGames will do the testing and summarize results.

* WISE provides powerful tools for student assessment and teacher support that will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of our new designs.

  Budget Justification

Funds from the planning grant will be used to explore the emerging technologies and plan for a full-scale implementation grant. One of the key pieces of technology involves an integration of the authoring environments, which are used to develop multimedia, with web-based browser technologies, which allow us to connect with the WISE web-based software. We will test Macromedia Director, which was used to author the Hive and Revolution, which is a new authoring environment that has specific tools for developing web-browser technology. Finally, support is requested for Vogelzang, the Instructional Design consultant, who has collaborated on all BioGames development.

  Summary

We fully expect to apply for a Full-scale Implementation Grant in one year or less. Our project will reach beyond the single biology course in which it is currently used in four distinct ways: a) Technology will provide a "shell" enabling other professors at UC campuses to design their own "learning objects." b) There will be a clear and systematic process by which learning objectives will be determined. c) Assessment of learning goals will by systematized for all of the projects. d) "Tools" for the creation of rich, interactive learning material will allow professors in any discipline to create learning material for the Internet. Collaboration between our projects will bring together the pedagogical framework and technology scaffolding of WISE with the rich science context and multimedia innovations of BioGames.