SBIR/STTR Award attributes
Project Summary Abstract Proposed is a system to combine and leverage the advantages of existing medical props with interactive media to provide engaging and cooperative group STEM learning experiencesSignificanceThe PowerPoint lecture style has become the standard method for teaching groups of studentsUnfortunatelythis style does not emphasize student instructor or student student instructionand in fact seems to have made students even less engaged than beforeBroad agreement exists in the field of science education that more engaging pedagogies benefit students in introductory classesA variety of teaching aidsfor example plastic medical props and mannequins are available to support more engaging learning exercisesDespite their substantial benefitsphysical props are fundamentally limited as they are primarily statice gfixed colorationdisease depictiontheir internal structureswith limited exceptionsoften bear little resemblance to actual human anatomyand they are passive objectsHypothesisA system which can provide more engaging interaction with physical props will be able to improve student retention and increase interest in STEM related subjectsSpecific AimsTo prove the feasibility of the proposed system in Phase I IDL willDetermine stakeholder requirements through round table discussionsCreate prototype system hardware andampsoftware to augment learning with physical propsandValidate the prototype system through a pilot studyThe overall Phase I effort will demonstrate the ability of the proposed system to augment learning with physical propsIn the Phase II effort IDL will ready the system for commercialization byDeveloping production quality softwarehardwareand user interfacesDeveloping a set of comprehensive curricula for the systemandValidating the system through human subject testing Project Narrative Passive learning methodsi ePowerPoint lectureshave become the standard method for teaching groups of students topics including Anatomy and Physiology in spite of broad agreement in the field of science education that more engaging pedagogies benefit students in introductory classesA variety of teaching aidsfor example plastic medical props and mannequins are available to support more engaging learninghoweverthese props are fundamentally limited
