Connected Learning Summit 2019

Using participatory design methodologies with two rural regions in Maine, the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) in collaboration with Field Day Lab (FDL) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are co-designing a community-based STEM learning game called STEMports. The game is based on FDL’s ARIS and Siftr learning applications and features activities and challenges that take players on localized AR missions to discover emerging STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers in their community; specifically highlighting innovations in the fields of sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, forest products, and renewable energy. The project will discuss findings and insights from the first project year highlighting the co-design process with teams of youth and adults that help to design and test the platform including: design principles necessary to facilitate a co-designed AR game for STEM learning; interactive dynamics in the online and offline learning environments related to how participants build social networks in an AR community; and, interactions which are the most impactful for participants’ STEM identity, agency, and career trajectories? The project’s use of community engagement meant to involve local groups, professionals and youth in the co-design of STEMports provides crucial insight into best practices in the field of participatory design research. Year one’s findings will be used to build a fully functional and scalable application that will be promoted in years two and three. The project team will also present a functioning prototype of the STEMports application to experience on our ipads or the conference participant’s own iphone.