eRebuild

In this NSF Cyberlearning: Transforming Education Exploration project, we investigate how to help middle schoolers simultaneously develop mathematics understanding, mathematics skill, and mathematics disposition. Taking design-based pedagogical approach, the project will have students practice the math they are learning through architectural design. The game-based learning environment, called "eRebuild," sets learners up in a virtual world where an disaster has demolished a city, and they must use geometry and arithmetic to make architectural and resource management decisions as they aim to rebuild the city. This research project addresses practical issues in design of systems that help learners deeply learn content and skills in the context of solving real-world problems and in design of stealth assessments. Research also addresses conceptual issues in mathematics learning, specifically focusing on the ways that informal mathematical conjectures emerge and are transformed into formal mathematics knowledge through concrete application.

(erebuild-2-22-2016 has help features for novice players and a non-linear navigation interface)