EAGER: SAVI: Dynamic Digital Text: An Innovation in STEM Education

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction in schools and colleges often uses print textbooks organized by topic, to be read and understood by students in a linear fashion. STEM content thus presented remains static, and the ways in which students use these materials stand in stark contrast with the rich interaction, navigation and visualization environments they are immersed in on the web and on mobile devices. Students nowadays are quite adept at non-linear navigation and dynamic interactions except in the formal learning environment of a classroom. We propose that research on knowledge organization techniques for visualizing and presenting STEM content digitally for engaging students and engendering deep learning needs to be (1) conducted, (2) applied toward the development of new presentation, interaction and navigation techniques for digital STEM content, and (3) evaluated in the context of an inquiry-based pedagogy designed around dynamic digital text. Our long-term vision is that of a cloud-based service architecture that will allow anytime, anywhere, and as-needed access to dynamic digital content across an extensive set of topics for school and college level STEM education integrated with a novel pedagogy that makes effective use of digital STEM content. This EAGER proposal takes the following steps toward the realization of this vision. 1. Develop a theoretical framework for dynamic digital text, with concept maps as the foundation for knowledge organization and navigation, embedded interactive exercises and engaging visualizations as the foundation for on-line assessments, and an inquiry-based pedagogy designed specifically around digital text as the foundation for teaching and learning in the classroom. 2. Test the theory by developing digital texts with rich interaction and navigation functionalities, with content for two domains (science and computing), for two levels (middle school and college), and in two languages (Finnish and English). We will design and conduct appropriate evaluation studies in two cultural/educational contexts (United States and Finland). 3. Develop a novel design and architecture for dynamic digital textbooks for STEM using data and knowledge created in the previous steps.