Project Overview: Advance robot-mediated learning in schools and investigate how collaborative tele-robots can facilitate optimal learning experiences.

The Build a Better Book Teen Internship Program engages teens from underrepresented groups in an empathy-driven, professionally structured engineering design internship focused on the design and fabrication of accessible products for children who are blind or visually impaired. Participating teens gain technical and STEM workplace skills, and broaden their perception of engineering as a social and collaborative discipline with potential to improve people’s lives.

The project is guided by three goals: (1) iteratively design a set of concrete and interactive MR activities addressing key cybersecurity concepts (e.g., steganography, phishing, and firewalls) with teacher and student input throughout the design process; (2) increase student knowledge of key cybersecurity concepts, understanding of the importance of cybersecurity, and interest in cybersecurity careers; and (3) produce a set of design principles for MR activities in computing.

The development of spatial orientation (SO) is a strong predictor of math skills and later school success and academic achievement. Thus, fostering SO skills before children enter formal schooling provides them with a sound foundation for later mathematical learning. Our project is titled Transforming Preschoolers' Spatial Orientation: Leveraging New Technologies for Learning in Early Childhood Classrooms and at Home.

This project is a synthesis study to investigate the effectiveness of informal STEM and ICT programs to maximize impact and broaden participation of youth participants in STEM pathways. We focus on two research questions: (1) How and to what extent do informal, out-of-school time (OST) STEM and ICT learning experiences impact K-12 participants’ awareness, interest, and engagement in STEM majors and STEM careers?

We create and study virtual simulations of peer collaboration in STEM fields, designed for youth in informal learning environments. Practice with the simulations will help teens from underrepresented groups build collaborative skills and career interest in STEM fields, especially those that use mathematics and require strong teamwork.

We are co-designing and piloting a 9-week AI elective for Georgia middle school students with 8 teachers. Our co-design process is scaffolding our ability to truly design curriculum collaboratively. Through this project we aim to understand the types of resources teachers need to confidently teach AI and how to scaffold student learning and create engaging AI learning experiences. 

The project will develop and research an after-school program that is designed to increase the STEM career interests and motivations of Native American middle-school students. Students will use digital technologies, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D printing, to solve spatial design problems presented through the project’s culturally responsive, problem-based learning education modules.

Relatively little research exists on the use of experiences with physiological sensors to support STEM education. In this work, we draw on techniques from physiological computing and computer science education to explore novel ways to build students' computational thinking skills.