| Affiliations: | |
| Project Leader: | Stephen Spencer stevegar@tamu.edu Architecture |
| Faculty Mentor: | Sharon Lynn Chu, Ph.D. |
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Meeting Times:
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Summer 2016 (complete) |
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Team Size:
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3 (Team Full) |
| Open Spots: | 0 |
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Special Opportunities:
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Understanding the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). Possibility of co-authoring publications at high-level conferences. Having access to the HCI lab in the Department of Visualization. Becoming a member of the StoryLab@Texas A&M and getting into the research mindset. |
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Team Needs:
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Interests: Educational technologies, children, human-computer interaction Skills: (any of the following) – Web programming – Visual or UX design – Survey preparation and administration – Quantitative and qualitative analysis – Experience working with children. |
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Description:
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This project will investigate the potential of social media to motivate and scaffold science learning for elementary school students. Interest in pursuing STEM-related careers has historically been low, especially for children from minority populations. Studies consistently show that one of the main underlying problems may be that the science curriculum lacks meaning and relevance for children from minority populations. We are interested to look at the use of social media as a means to enable children to explore and learn about science in ways that are more context-bound and that take into account the diversity of students’ backgrounds. The proposed research will involve a formative study to understand the current social media practices of children from minority populations, the design and development of a social media portal that allows elementary school students to record personally-relevant science stories, and the evaluation of the portal on a small scale with a group of elementary school students from minority populations. Results of this project will be sent for publication to conferences in human-computer interaction and educational technologies. |