CI-TEAM Demonstration: Interactive and Collaborative Learning Environment using Virtual Reality Games

Overview

Political, social, and economic advances in the United States during the 21st century will only be possible if the intellectual potential of America’s youth is developed now. However, pre-college education is lagging behind in preparing students for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This has the potential to exclude some of the best and brightest kids from the ranks of future scientist and engineers either not having the desire to enter the fields or being unprepared when finally entering the fields. The emergence of transformative technological advances in science and engineering practice has necessitated the integration of these advances in engineering classrooms. This project designs and implements a virtual reality game system that infuses cyberinfrastructure (CI) learning experiences into the Project-Lead-The-Way (PLTW) pre-engineering classrooms to promote metacognition for science and engineering design in context. Two key CI technologies used in the design are 1) networked computing technologies and 2) virtual learning games with simulations and modeling. The collaboration project involves Rowan University - a public institution; Tennessee State University (TSU) – a HBCU, the Educational Information and Resource Center (EIRC) – a non-profit organization committed to continuously improvement of children education, and several local vocational/high schools in New Jersey and Tennessee (i.e., Burlington County Institute of Technology (BCIT), Camden County Technical School (CCTS), and Bridgeton High School (BHS), etc., who serve a large population of underrepresented and minority groups. Considering the importance of teachers in raising student performance, the project also designs and runs a CI professional development workshop to disseminate specific project information to the cadre of teachers.

Objectives

• Increase students’ CI knowledge and skills of using games, simulation, modeling and collaborative learning tools.
• Improve students’ strategic thinking and learning of science and engineering concepts.
• Strengthen the ability of students to apply general principles to solve multi-step problems and to contemplate their solutions in a larger context.
• Promote recruitment and retention of science and engineering students.
• Increase the diversity in CI workforce.
• Enhance faculty and high school teacher expertise.