This project is designing an innovative etextbook application for science learning, VidyaMap. VidyaMap will tap into decades of research on visualizations, knowledge representation, and learning from texts. It will take advantage of built-in accessibility, graphic, haptic, and analytic features that enable visualization of content in innovative ways, and will allow for feedback through analysis of usage data.
The need for high quality, research-based digital content comes at a time when education researchers are seeking to improve science learning in the United States, especially in the middle grades. To this end, researchers are designing technology-rich innovative curricula, several of which involve classrooms with experiment stations that are highly mobile and collaborative environments. Yet the vast majority of students and teachers currently use desktop computers to access online text resources, with students often required to go to separate computer labs, which are decontextualized from the hands-on investigations and projects in the science classroom.
As digital materials become ubiquitous and are adopted across school systems, textbooks are giving way to digital versions at a speed not seen before. Reasonably priced Android tablets have become widely available, resulting in a rush among publishers to make textbooks available on tablets while they tout the cost benefit and interactive nature of digital texts. However, the digital textbooks currently available are merely clones of their print counterparts, with a few added capabilities such as 3D animations, sleek graphics, and the ability to highlight and annotate passages. These added capabilities might make textbooks interactive and fun to use, but they are not transformative and do not harness the power of technology in ways that enhance learning.
We will design VidyaMap by: (i) drawing upon research in cognitive and learning sciences for visualizing and representing science content; (ii) making the representation visible to help students gain a robust understanding of science; (iii) using technologies such as Google Analytics to analyze usage, which can provide feedback to students and teachers while also significantly enhancing the design of the software on an ongoing basis; and (iv) supporting and extending collaboration among students and with the teacher through shared multimedia journaling features. |
