| NSF Org: |
IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | September 17, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | September 17, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 2008028 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Dan Cosley
dcosley@nsf.gov (703)292-8832 IIS Division of Information & Intelligent Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2024 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $149,999.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $149,999.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
70 WASHINGTON SQ S NEW YORK NY US 10012-1019 (212)998-2121 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
82 Washington Square East New York NY US 10012-1019 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | HCC-Human-Centered Computing |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
Fabrication devices, such as laser cutters and 3D printers, enable ordinary people to fabricate their own physical objects. These tools are driving innovation and entrepreneurship. However, rising availability of fabrication devices does not correlate to a rise in education. Many designs that makers are creating suffer from practicality, durability, and reliability issues. One promising group for addressing this problem is young learners who have the potential to become the next generation of engineers and innovators. This project explores teaching skills for fabrication to high school and undergraduate learners through games. Recent advances in virtual-physical game play enable players to use physical props in a game. For instance, a physical fishing rod made from cardboard and sensors is cast by the player to acquire virtual fish in the game. While today these physical props are used to increase immersion, they are not yet used for teaching. With the funding from this award, the team of researchers investigate how the act of building a physical game prop can be used to teach players fabrication, electronics, and programming skills. This research will provide insights into what skills can be effectively taught through games and how designers can leverage game mechanisms to create immersive game play to facilitate learning. The project will develop and release as open source a suite of games for acquiring fabrication skills. It will engage diverse high school students, undergraduate students, and fabrication lab and makerspace communities as co-developers and users of the educational games. As games are developed, the researchers will use their network within the fabrication and educational communities to publicize and integrate the games into additional environments, from schools to summer camps to community organizations.
By combining methods from the learning sciences, educational game design, human-computer interaction, and design-based research literature, this research will conduct an iterative design process to investigate: (1) knowledge maps connecting skills and concepts that can be integrated with game mechanics to teach new fabrication tasks, through conducting interviews, contextual inquiries, and landscape analyses; (2) theory and principles for designing and evaluating maker-learning games, including mechanisms for recording user interaction with the game, such as click analysis, time between tasks, and in-game user feedback; (3) implications for evaluating learners? increases in knowledge and experiences, through mixed methods user studies that compare pre- and post-training learning gain and result in qualitative and quantitative findings; and (4) a game-fabrication infrastructure to facilitate the transfer of activities from one game to another and broaden the applicability of the maker-learning concept.
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.
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The grant explored how the design of educational technology can support maker and fabrication skill learning through playful, game-based, and creative learning experiences. Through a series of research studies with educators and learners, we developed our understanding of how to create meaningful learning experiences that align with educators’ goals and support youth in their development of fabrication skills. Initially, we analyzed syllabi and interviewed maker educators to develop a framework of fabrication competencies (e.g., technical skills, communication, agency, creativity), strategies (e.g., encouraging failure, building relationships), and challenges (e.g., adapting content across learners, instilling confidence).
We developed and studied four tools to further investigate how educational technology could support in relation to the findings in this framework. First, we explored FabO, a system linking video game content to fabrication events for technical skill development. We found we could increase motivation and engagement when fabrication aligned with gameplay without disruption. We extended a game design framework to guide designers to integrate fabrication with game mechanics effectively. Second, we developed a modular physical computing kit with Bluetooth, which enhanced prior kits by supporting higher power, voltage shifting, and a wider range of inputs/outputs, including sensors and motors. When tested in a summer residency, we found that enabling learners to quickly construct with electronic components allowed more time for integrating them into physical designs. This helped students compare electronic components to design needs and contexts more dynamically. Third, we developed touchBase, a Tangible Programming Language, to support fabrication through playful prompts while addressing common learning challenges in electronic sensor prototyping. Through working with 10 physical computing educators, we demonstrated how Gestalt design principles could enhance learning design to support conceptual understanding of computing concepts. Last, we explored automated scaffolding for self-reflection in maker activities to enhance learning, especially in self-directed settings. Using GPT-4, we generated reflection prompts from existing tutorials aligned with maker skill-learning goals. We evaluated them on seven attributes, including clarity, personalization, and timeliness. Our analysis highlights benefits for the dynamic creation of scaffolds using existing tutorials, but highlights challenges with developing appropriate level and scope that applies to the learner’s context.
In terms of the intellectual merit, (1) we facilitated a mapping of competencies for fabrication education driven by educators, (2) we identified how existing video games can support meaningful fabrication learning events and developed a framework guide integration of fabrication with game-mechanics, (3) we contributed an understanding of how modular electronic kits can promote criticality in engineering design, (4) we documented how design theory could apply to the design of computing tools to support understanding of engineering concepts, and (5) we identified opportunities and challenges with how reflective prompting could be dynamically integrated into scaffolds within existing tutorials.
In terms of broader impacts, we studied and refined the technologies with approximately 20 maker educators and 50 learners, developing the educators' pedagogical approaches to creative physical computing and developing the learners’ opportunities to engage in engineering design. The work expands the opportunities for how maker education can be situated within game-based, artistic, and playful learning experiences leveraging existing game content and tutorials expanding the number of learners that have access to this kind of learning experience. Additionally, the work supported the research mentorship of a postdoc, 7 PhD students, 8 masters students, and 15 undergraduate students.
Last Modified: 02/26/2025
Modified by: Kayla DesPortes
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