IU School of Education receives NSF grant to study learning via specialized video game
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University School of Education’s Center for Research on Learning and Technology has received a $1.23 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will fund use of a specially designed video game to help students working in small groups learn to create solutions collaboratively.
The game’s artificial intelligence technologies will use big data generated by student group users to help teachers provide adaptable support and to foster collaboration.
The project, "Collaborative Research: Big Data From Small Groups: Learning Analytics and Adaptive Support in Game-Based Collaborative Learning,” is directed by Cindy Hmelo-Silver, director of the Center for Research on Learning and Technology and the Barbara B. Jacobs Chair in Education and Technology. The team will use a video game titled "Crystal Island: Ecosystems" to teach environmental science to middle school students.
Students will work together using the video game to find solutions to complex science problems while receiving support from their teachers. Researchers will then analyze the data to gain insight into how the support affects collaboration and learning, as well as how the teachers use the data to help them improve small-group instruction.
“This project will bring together game-based learning featuring engaging activities and learning environments that focus on collaborative problem-solving,” Hmelo-Silver said. “Our goal is to encourage the creation of solutions to complex problems of varying scope and structure. We are particularly excited about the potential of this project to support use of problem-based learning on a larger scale in K-12 classrooms.”
The National Science Foundation will fund the award over the next five years. The grant is one of several the School of Education has received from the NSF this year.
For over 100 years, the Indiana University School of Education has been dedicated to preparing future leaders in education. The school’s mission is to improve teaching, learning and human development in a global, diverse, rapidly changing and increasingly technological society. It has more than 68,000 alumni, including more than 20 Indiana Teachers of the Year. U.S. News and World Report ranks the school 25th overall and 15th among education schools at public universities. Seven programs within the school are in the top 25 for specialty programs.
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