VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY

In this proposal we address the area of Educational Opportunities Using Cyberinfrastructure and Virtual or Mixed Reality. The goal of this research project is to improve learning of and interest in the abstract concepts of nanotechnology/atomic scale physics for students who are sighted, as well as those who are blind or visually impaired, through the use of haptic-based interactive multi-media. A combination of formative and summative assessments will be made to measure the impact on learningand to evaluate the overall project. The use of an internal review process as well as focus groups will be used for the formative assessment. For the summative assessment, the three main factors mentioned above will be controllably manipulated to assess the impact of each factor on the resultant teaching modules. The main tool will be the use of pre-assessment and post-assessment questionnaires used with all learning groups. The assessments will consist of two primary components, one to evaluate knowledge about nanotechnology and one to evaluate interest in nanotechnology and STEM fields in general. The activities of this proposal address the NSF specified national need to attract, train, and educate K-12 students in STEM. It uniquely integrates research, education, and diversity. The outcomes and project results will be disseminated to a wide audience to maximize its impact. Our partnership with the Digital Worlds Institute will allow for dissemination across the nation of the developed teaching modules. More specifically, for students who are blind or visually impaired, we will work with the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired and the National Center for Blind Youth in Science. The results from the scientific study of the three main learning factors used is also expected to have a positive effect on teaching methods and will be disseminated widely through conferences and journal articles.

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