With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources (IUSE:EHR), this project aims to serve the national interest by laying a foundation for developing adaptive physical environments that promote student learning. In addition to the teaching, social, and cultural factors that can influence students' learning, the physical learning environment can also significantly affect student performance and engagement. The physical learning environment includes lighting and air temperature, quality, and movement. A major challenge for creating a physical learning environment that promotes engagement for all learners is that students in the same set of conditions can feel different levels of comfort. Unfortunately, current indoor environmental design has limited flexibility because the physical environment is typically treated as a static building feature. For example, in contemporary building design and smart building control, the systems work to maintain a fixed temperature, regardless of variations in occupants' perceptions. Thus, the current approach represents a missed opportunity to leverage personal environmental variations to improve human performance, including learning. The research that will be conducted in this project will begin the process of leveraging personal environmental variations. Specifically, the project will examine levels of student engagement and variations in engagement that may be associated with features of physical learning environments. As conceived, the proposed work has potential to advance knowledge and impact education by informing the design of learning spaces to increase students' engagement and learning.

Building on preliminary data, the major goal of the project is to more fully understand the relationship between student engagement and the physical learning environment. To achieve this goal, the research team will vary conditions such as air temperature, lighting, and air movement in simulated learning settings. Students will self-report their comfort, and the team will investigate correlations of these data with student performance on assessments and self-reports of their engagement. The team will also employ existing, validated instruments to measure student engagement and mood states. This aspect of the study is designed to validate the preliminary data, which suggests that student engagement correlates to student comfort in the physical environment. It will also provide data to assess the sensitivity of student engagement to multiple physical environmental factors. Next, again building on preliminary data, the team aims to use computer vision to collect data and develop algorithms using facial characteristics, posture, and gestural behaviors for real-time engagement prediction. Lastly, the project will assess the effectiveness of applying personal short-term environmental stimuli, such as increased air flow and thermal changes, as interventions to enhance student engagement. Executed in three phases, this project aims to advance knowledge and understanding of the complex relationship between the built environment and student engagement. Findings will seek to describe the role environmental stimuli play in improving student engagement to inform the design of next-generation smart classrooms. The NSF IUSE:EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This is an Engaged Student Learning project in the Exploration and Design tier. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising tools and practices.

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.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1931077
Program Officer
John Jackman
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2019-10-01
Budget End
2022-09-30
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
$299,991
Indirect Cost
Name
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Worcester
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
01609