Sticky++Projects
AutoMentor
Working in conjunction with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, we will develop an AutoMentor module based on a program called AutoTutor which helps teach students about science and technology topics. Using a Wizard of Oz methodology (in which data is collected on student/mentor interactions over multiple instances of game play), we hope to determine a method for producing effective professional feedback from non-player characters.
Nephrotex
Epistemic Games Group has received funding to help us bring the experience and skills we’ve gained from our previous games to the undergraduate environment as we develop a new game for engineering students. Nephrotex: The Dialysis Redesign Project will provide a dialysis simulation based on authentic engineering practices. This game will be incorporated into an engineering undergraduate course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, allowing us to determine how well these students learn through playing the game, as opposed to through a more traditional textbook-based environment.
Epistemic Network Analysis
While previous efforts have focused on whether students master specific scientific facts, math skills, and so on, Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) will enable us to examine whether and how players of epistemic games link the skills, knowledge, identity, and so forth while thinking about the complex STEM problems of a professional practice.
Assessment Validation Study
The Epistemic Games Group is validating an online assessment instrument to help us better understand the urban planning epistemic frame .
