This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating digital games programming assessment technology to fill the need for improving K-12 mathematics education. The project will result in a prototype of an online mathematics curriculum wherein students apply learned math concepts to create digital games as an authentic transfer of learning. This game-making-based instructional innovation, GameMath, has the following unique features: a) It is game-activity driven, i.e., math concepts necessary to achieve gaming effects are taught/applied together, b) it incorporates diagnostic/prescriptive software so that it addresses even deeply At-Risk students, and c) it collects/analyzes student programming interactions within the game-making context for the purpose of assessing a student?s ability to transfer principles of mathematics. These features provide the following advantages: They encourage practice/application of STEM skills mandated in new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards, they engage students with the creative process and introduce game coding, and they address the unique needs of At-Risk students to help them recover to grade level proficiency and encourage them to continue studies in the STEM disciplines. When compared to the leading competing technologies in this market space, including games that teach math, math tutoring systems, and hands-on engineering activities, GameMath encourages production, as opposed to consumption, of games and promises to be less expensive and easier to assess than robotics and other engineering based approaches to mathematics instruction. The GameMath prototype is important because the focus of the product will be to promote academic achievement in secondary mathematics. As fully envisioned, the system will support a wide range of pre-algebra and algebra lesson plans based on the Common Core State Standards. Student exploration and manipulation of math concepts within a computer-games-programming environment has the potential to lead to greater interest in computer science. The project engages computer science researchers at the University of Southern California (USC), CA, and education product specialists at N C Learning (NCL), NJ, who will collaborate to combine two technologies, both of which have been shown to improve mathematics learning for At-Risk students, to demonstrate and evaluate a prototype in this technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial reality. This project addresses the following technology gap(s) as it translates from research discovery toward commercial application: 1) Custom CCSS Grade Level Lesson Paths that Support GameMath activities, 2) Creation of game programming activities that apply CCSS grade level mathematics concepts, 3) Games programming assessments to evaluate activity-based learning , 4) Custom reporting that incorporates GameMath assessments into existing diagnostics, and 5) Run-time architecture-level integration. These gaps will be bridged via a new advance==>apply ==>assess concept pipeline that combines USC and NCL technologies. The potential economic impact is expected to be greater student preparedness for and interest in pursuing careers in technology and engineering in the next 5 to 10 years, which will contribute to the U.S. competitiveness in engineering and technology based industries.
