| NSF Org: |
DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | May 27, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 27, 2025 |
| Award Number: | 2021460 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Jennifer Lewis
jenlewis@nsf.gov (703)292-7340 DUE Division Of Undergraduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | October 1, 2020 |
| End Date: | September 30, 2026 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $296,426.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $296,426.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
506 S WRIGHT ST URBANA IL US 61801-3620 (217)333-2187 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
506 South Wright Street Champaign IL US 61801-3620 |
| 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): | IUSE |
| 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): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This project aims to serve the national interest by using virtual reality to increase accessibility of wheelchair users to archaeology and other field sciences. Archaeology requires first-hand field experience. However, inaccessibility of excavation sites may make these experiences impossible for students who use wheelchairs. The lack of access to field sites can impede students? access to comprehensive training in archaeology and in other field-based sciences such as geosciences. This project will adapt currently available virtual reality hardware to accommodate the needs of wheelchair users, maximizing usability and comfort. Subsequently, the project will create an immersive, interactive archaeology class to accommodate the needs of wheelchair-using college students. In this class, students will learn the physical methods of archaeological excavation in virtual reality, thus gaining field work experiences. The class will also help students learn to use a scientific approach to problem solving by couching activities within a professional archaeology scenario. At the same time, the project will evaluate the effectiveness of the scenario-based learning on student motivation and engagement.
This project will adopt the goals of universal learning to proactively create learning environments that address wheelchair-using college students' contextual needs (i.e., movement and logistics of classrooms and excavation sites) and functional needs (i.e., develop excavation skills through systematic learning processes) for teaching field-based sciences. The project will adopt iterative procedures of design-based research to incorporate and evaluate scenario-based learning. Testing and assessment of the virtual reality system will be guided by four development questions: 1) To what extent are the scenario features within the virtual reality activities clearly presented and how conducive are they to wheelchair users' interactivity with the system? 2) How do virtual reality activities increase wheelchair users' cognitive engagement with the designed activities? 3) To what extent do wheelchair users receive adequate system feedback within the virtual world to complete the assigned tasks? and 4) In what areas and to what extent do virtual reality activities need to be modified for students who are using wheelchairs? This project will further investigate the potential of scenario-based learning in engaging wheelchair users in colleges with an array of field and laboratory-based tasks guided by the following research questions: 1) What are the relationships between scenario features, their motivational support, and learners' engagement with the virtual reality activities? and 2) How does the adopted design framework align the virtual reality module's features with their motivational and cognitive support in learning archaeology? The proposed study will advance theoretical and empirical design theories when developing virtual learning environments for college students who are using wheelchairs and will generate an improved way to present educational material that is geared towards the current, digitally empowered generation that is diverse in cognitive and physical capabilities. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.
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.
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
