This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project seeks to build a system called CyberCollage as a Social Cyberlearning tool to support computational thinking in STEM education. CyberCollage will enable collective programming of educational games and STEM simulations through a unique combination of networked real-time collaboration mechanisms and Web-based social end-user programming. For example, multiple students can work together on a Frogger game. While one student may be programming the frog, a different student might be working on the turtles. Similarly, students can collaborate on science simulations that explore STEM related questions such as "can your frog live in my pond"? Phase I established technical feasibility, and showed that complex science simulations with tens of thousands of agents can both run efficiently and be created collaboratively by students working together, locally, in the same classroom, or separated by hundreds of miles. Phase II will establish CyberCollage as a scalable cloud-based implementation of a Social Cyberlearning tool, and will integrate embedded assessment mechanisms that make learning outcomes in computational thinking both measurable and predictable. These assessment mechanisms enable the investigation and study of computational thinking transfer evidence between game and STEM applications.
The 2010 PCAST report asserts that computational thinking is one of the fundamental concepts of networking and information technology. Fluency in computational thinking is needed to prepare today?s students to be the next generation of innovators and professionals. The proposed combination of high accessibility through Web interfaces, increased motivational prospective through social interfaces, and tested curriculum integrated into required computer education middle school courses is likely to reach a vast audience and attract both women and underrepresented communities to information technology courses and fields. This reach is enhanced by the participation of the National Center of Women in Technology (NCWIT) and Google in the Phase II advisory board. Both organizations are already disseminating AgentSheets Inc. computational thinking resources, which is an extremely positive indicator of a high probability of broad impact and commercial success. The CyberCollage project has established access to disadvantaged communities that include inner city, remote rural, and Native American schools in Alaska, Colorado, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. These and other schools will serve as testbeds. A pledged investment by a third-party organization should establish a consumer-oriented extension of CyberCollage, making Social Cyberlearning of computational thinking relevant beyond its original scope of educational applications.
Federal Award ID: 1127398 Report Submission Period: 08/01/2011 to 07/31/2013 Project Outcomes addressing intellectual merits and broader impacts This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project developed and implemented a system called CyberCollage as a Social Cyberlearning tool to support computational thinking in STEM education. Over the course of Phase II, extensive classroom testing and student learning assessment clearly established that CyberCollage enables collective programming of educational games and STEM simulations through its unique combination of networked real-time collaboration mechanisms and Web-based social end-user programming. For example, multiple students were easily able to work together on a Frogger game. While one student could be programming the frog, a different student could be working on the turtles. Similarly, students collaborated on science simulations that explore STEM related questions such as "can your frog live in my pond." Our results showed that complex science simulations with tens of thousands of agents both ran efficiently and could be created collaboratively by students working together—locally, in the same classroom, or separated by hundreds of miles. Phase II established CyberCollage as a scalable cloud-based implementation of a Social Cyberlearning tool, and integrated embedded assessment mechanisms that made learning outcomes in computational thinking both measurable and predictable. These assessment mechanisms enable the investigation and study of computational thinking transfer evidence between game and STEM applications. Project Outcomes The 2010 PCAST report asserts that computational thinking is one of the fundamental concepts of networking and information technology. Fluency in computational thinking is needed to prepare today’s students to be the next generation of innovators and professionals. CyberCollage combined high accessibility through Web interfaces, increased motivational prospective through social interfaces, and tested curriculum integrated into required computer education middle school courses. The resulting learning technology proved able to reach a vast audience and attracted both women and underrepresented communities to information technology courses and fields. This reach was enhanced by the participation of the National Center of Women in Technology (NCWIT) and Google in the Phase II advisory board. Both organizations are actively disseminating AgentSheets Inc. computational thinking resources, which both broadens impact and provides a base for commercial success. Figure 1 illustrates the basic CyberCollage concept. The CyberCollage project has established access to disadvantaged communities that include inner city, remote rural, and Native American schools in Alaska, Colorado, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. These and other schools served as Phase II test beds. Specific project outcomes include the following: CyberCollage implemented as a fully 3D web-based system allowing even kids as young as 6 years old to create 3D shapes and to program them. This goes well beyond the 2D concept originally proposed. CyberCollage implemented to be compatible with AgentCubes, an established desktop 3D authoring tool. This gives CyberCollage users instant access to thousands of existing AgentCubes simulations and games. This project outcome also goes well beyond the scope of the original proposed project. CyberCollage implemented to be compatible with large-scale nationwide utilization. CyberCollage social end-user programming includes games, simulations and social applications. CyberCollage runs well on even the cheapest Chromebooks ($199 laptops), making this a great platform for schools. CyberCollage has been tested in large school systems, with over 100 high school students simultaneously running scientific simulations in CyberCollage. CyberCollage includes project management tools for classroom control. CyberCollage is compatible with outcome analysis tools for computational thinking. CyberCollage includes social learning curriculum and support features. The figure below shows a CyberCollage 3D screen dump.
