Hi team! This project looks so fun--my kids love games like this where they're learning real science content in a fun game-like environment. I'm curious: when you mention you're using Augmented Reality, what parts of the system are you referring to? I know AR/VR/XR terminology is not particularly well defined at this time, so I would like to understand how you're framing it here. 

Where are you with deploying this project? Have you tested it on children--if so, what ages? And how might you look ahead to scaling up or making it more accessible to more people? This looks really polished and professional! 

Hi Lorna, thanks for these questions! WaterWays is split up into 5 modules, and each one features an AR activity. For example, in the first module, students take on the role of a shark scientist and learn about the anatomy of a Mako shark, then put a GPS tag on the shark to track where it goes during the year. In the second module, students visit the site of a CSO outfall, and note the changes before and after a city tried to reduce the impact of its sewer system on the local waterway.

It's a good point that the terminology is fuzzy! Since not all students can easily switch between a laptop (the rest of the activities are organized on a website) and a phone or other AR-friendly device, the AR activity is also available as a webVR scene. We think the important feature of this part of the experience is having a first-person perspective and being in charge of the action, and both AR and webVR can accomplish that. We then use the website activities to help students consolidate and build off of what they've seen and done in the AR/webVR scene.

We are in the middle of developing WaterWays: 2 of the 5 modules are complete, we're in the development stage of the third, and writing/designing the 4th and 5th.

We have tested it with children! Most of our testing the past 2 years has been conducted over Zoom due to Covid. On the one hand, that's been a limitation, but on the other, we've been able to work with students all across the U.S. Our process is to do one-on-one user tests as each module is being developed, refining the interactions and content early and often. Once a module is in a stable technical state, we partner with schools and teachers to try it out as a whole classroom activity, and hear from the teachers what worked, what could use more polishing, etc. We've been working primarily with the target audience of 3-5th graders, but some 2nd grade and older students have also taken part along the way. A larger scale evaluation will also take place once we've completed development. Our plan is definitely to make it commercially available once all the pieces are finalized! 

What a cool curriculum! I'm curious if you are considering any components related to social issues when discussing impacts of pollution, particularly water ways. I'm a secondary educator and work primarily with high schools. I know your work is in the elementary level but I wonder if this program could begin an age-appropriate discussion related to inequities such as access to clear water for example.

What a wonderful project to involve young children in both fundamental science and science-based solutions to societal problems. I'm curious about two things that I see from your responses and from the written notes. I see that you have delivered the material in both AR and WebVR form. From our own work on the CEASAR project, we too have seen a need for supporting available devices. I'm curious if you have evidence of how the experiences differ for children using the different devices. Also, I see that the program offers online notebooks to capture their discoveries. I'm curious what students capture in their notebooks, and if they can share their notebooks.  Do the notebooks play an important role in class discussion?

What a great way to help younger students make connections - awesome project.  Being new to AR/VR tools for school, I find myself wondering about the revising process.  In the early phases of developing the curriculum what types of details did you notice about how students interacted with the technology?  And, did those observations lead to any revisions?  I'm imagining students usually use tools in new and surprising ways.  There is so much opportunity to keep this growing, too!

Thanks for sharing. Looks like a cool project. I'm curious about the cross-platform design philosophy. Each platform has its own unique affordances, so when you design for a few platforms, you'd either need to take a lowest-common denominator approach (e.g. emphasize looking over embodiment/gesture) or do a fair bit of redesign per platform. Can you talk about how you approached those opportunities and costs?

Is there one platform that you see as the ideal platform to experience WaterWays on, or are they all best in different ways? If so, what ways?

Do you have some kind of model or simulation under the hood? How are you determining how things change over time?

Thanks for sharing this video. One idea that comes up is helping students think about complex systems. Do you have any ways for studying/assessing complex systems thinking? What are the other measures you are looking at related to student learning and interest?