DATE: February 09, 2009

CONTACT: Sean Williams, 864-656-2156
sean@clemson.edu

WRITER: Jeannie Davis, 864-656-1821
eugenia@clemson.edu

Research uses virtual world to inspire math and science

CLEMSON — Researchers from Clemson University and Appalachian State University are using virtual worlds to excite seventh-graders about math and science. They begin an ambitious teaching experiment this summer supported by a three-year $1.49 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

“The goal is to help rising seventh-grade students acquire the computer and cognitive skills they will need in order to imagine careers in science or math,” said Sean Williams, associate dean of the graduate school, associate professor of English and co-principal investigator. “Generally speaking, American students are not interested in careers in science, technology, engineering or math, otherwise known as STEM. Yet the need is great — and growing — for students to choose these careers.

“Seventh-graders, on the other hand, are pretty open-minded, not yet jaded,” said Williams. “We’re using 3-D virtual worlds to entice them, open their eyes to the possibilities, while they are still young.”

Williams is collaborating with two other Clemson professors: Debi Switzer, professor of education, and Ken Weaver, a lecturer in Clemson’s School of Computing. The three-year grant award is worth just more than $450,000 for the Clemson researchers.

The project, begun in October 2008, will be fully implemented in June of 2009 with workshops that immerse the seventh-graders in 3-D virtual-world software, teaching them how to create virtual worlds and how to interact with others in a virtual society.

“The obstacles we encounter in the real world — problems of distance, scale and time — all disappear in a virtual-world setting,” said Williams. “You can walk through molecules and examine them from the inside. You can visualize data, look at the spatial relationships. Being able to do anything you can imagine in a fake world helps you do things more imaginatively in the real world. Imagination is, after all, a cognitive skill.”

“These students are already good at gaming,” Williams said. “They’re already good at socializing electronically. This program builds on those skills, developing social aptitude and critical-thinking skills. You have to learn to be social to succeed in a virtual world, and you have to think critically in order to conceive of objects and relationships that don’t exist yet.”

In the second part of the summer workshops, students will be joined by their upcoming teachers in science and math. “They’ll get a chance to practice what they’ve learned,” said Williams, “by teaching their teachers.” 

Williams, Switzer and Weaver will participate in implementing the project in middle schools in Oconee and Pickens counties, as the students and teachers who participate in their pilot study will go on to mentor and inspire others to explore STEM careers through the use of 3-D virtual-reality software. 

The relationship between Clemson and Appalachian State was established in 2007 as the Carolina Virtual Worlds Consortium for the purpose of securing funding that will drive research in virtual-world technologies, practices and implementation, particularly those focused on education and training. The consortium currently consists of Clemson, Appalachian State University and public schools in Davie County, N.C.