This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project proposes to design, develop and conduct usability and feasibility testing on Astro-Engineer, a problem-based, commercial quality serious game module with embedded scaffolds to interest and engage middle school (7th and 8th grade) students in engineering design challenges related to colonizing space. The overall Phase I and II components of this SBIR project will be to design, develop and evaluate the full suite of five serious game modules with embedded mini games that serve as learning scaffolds, as well as a Teachers Guide, to interest and engage middle school students in learning engineering problem-solving approaches applied to authentic engineering design challenges, applying science and math to solve these challenges, and increasing student interest in engineering, engineering technology and related STEM topics, courses, and careers.
By engaging middle school students in problem-based serious game modules based on authentic engineering challenges that are mapped to academic engineering standards and tied to the Project Lead the Way curriculum, middle school students will demonstrate a significant increase in: 1) learning outcomes related to specific engineering design concepts, tasks and problem solving approaches based on challenges related to colonizing space; 2) learning outcomes related to the ability to apply specific math and science skills to solve these engineering challenges; 3) interest in engineering, engineering technology and related STEM topics, courses and/or careers. While the focus for these gains is on all students, there is a particular emphasis on reaching under-represented populations (women, minorities, and persons with abilities). This project will help improve the knowledge base on how to effectively design serious games for STEM education, and specifically to teach the engineering design process, in such a way as to support student interest and learning, and to attract underrepresented populations in engineering. The project will test the usability and feasibility of Astro-Engineer with two classes of middle school students using a pre-post test, observation, surveys and interviews, and data will be analyzed to assess impact on specific populations of interest.
for AstroEngineer: Moon Rover In this NSF Phase I SBIR, WisdomTools, Inc. (formerly Information in Place, Inc. (IIPI)) — in partnership with Project Lead The Way (PLTW) — has designed, developed, and tested AstroEngineer: Moon Rover™, a serious game and curriculum unit designed to engage and teach middle school students key concepts in engineering design, lunar science, and overall STEM. Intellectual Merit & Broad Impact Since serious games hold much promise for engaging students, the intellectual merit of AstroEngineer: Moon Rover is supporting evidence that serious games can be designed and used to effectively engage and teach students about engineering and STEM. The outcomes of this educational innovation provides further understanding to our field on how to design, use and research the effectiveness of inquiry-based serious games to support engineering and STEM education – and to potentially broaden participation in STEM learning for a wide range of students. The broad impact of this effort is that an increased number of middle school students and teachers have access to a serious game that engages and teaches concepts related to engineering design and overall STEM. This broadens access to engineering and STEM education. Outcomes and Findings: The products that have resulted from this NSF award are: 1) AstroEngineer: Moon Rover game (MAC/PC); 2) AstroEngineer Teacher Guide; and 3) AstroEngineer Student Guide. 1) AstroEngineer: Moon Rover™ (PC/MAC) is a single player game with 5 missions and 21 mission legs that engage students to apply the engineering design process to design, test, and redesign lunar rovers based on specific mission criteria and constraints. (See the attached images for more information on the missions and rover design challenges.) 2) AstroEngineer Teacher’s Guide provides pedagogical and technical support for using the game into the classroom. The guide provides a one-week inquiry-based teaching unit for using the game in the classroom. It also provides information on the game’s content, objectives, and academic standards (i.e., ITEA, NSES). In addition, classroom debriefing questions, supplemental learning activities and technical specifications are also provided. (The guide is available in two versions, one for formal education and the other for informal education.) 3) AstroEngineer Student Guide provides information on the game, lunar geography and minerals, and key terms in engineering and lunar science. Research Outcomes: To test the effectiveness of student learning with AstroEngineer: Moon Rover, we conducted a pre/post quasi-experimental study with middle school students and their teachers who used the AstroEngineer: Moon Rover™ game and its curriculum. We obtained data from 341 7th and 8th grade middle school students using the game within intact classrooms over one week. Besides pre and post test data, we also obtained in game-play data and survey data with student ratings on various aspects of the game and activities. Based on game play data, students played the game for approximately two hours (113 minutes) total, or approximately 45.2% of their overall class time. (Note: This time did not include the AstroEngineer class discussions or other activities.) An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted in order to examine whether there were gains in learning from pre- to post-test. Results indicated there were statistically significant differences in learning between the pre- and post-test (F [1, 681] = 475.135, p < .001, partial eta-squared = .411), such that students scored higher on post-test. Various subgroups were analyzed (e.g., by gender and ethnicity) to determine if there were significant differences between genders or among students representative of diverse race/ethnicity backgrounds. Results indicated that there were no differences between genders (e.g., males and females scored similarly) or between genders over time (e.g., males and females had similar learning gains from pre- to post-test). Product Release: In fall 2010, AstroEngineer was released as part of Project Lead the Way’s Gateway to Technology (GTT) curriculum, which is taught at middle schools in all 50 states. AstroEngineer is part of PLTW’s GTT’s Flight and Space Unit. (PLTW’s network consists of approximately 4000 schools, with over 60,000 middle and high school students. Starting in spring 2011, AstroEngineer was released to over 2500 middle school students participating in Indiana’s NASA IGNITE STEM summer and after school education program. Many students in this program are part of Indiana’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which serve primarily underrepresented students. Over the next three years, the NASA IGNITE program plans to expand to reach 10,000 students, with a continued focus on underrepresented students. AstroEngineer has also been used in various summer engineering camps in Indiana. The AstroEngineer game and guides are available for download at: http://space.wisdomtools.com . Licenses for both individual and groups are provided. Ongoing user support is provided via astro_support@infoinplace.com.
