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SBIR Phase I: Geology Explorer uses in Earth Science

Award Information
Agency: National Science Foundation
Branch: N/A
Contract: 0339377
Agency Tracking Number: 0339377
Amount: $100,000.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: N/A
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: N/A
Award Year: 2004
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): N/A
Award End Date (Contract End Date): N/A
Small Business Information
P.O. Box 5351
Fargo, ND 58102
United States
DUNS: N/A
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 John Opgrande
 PI
 (651) 269-5335
 opgrande@wowiwe.net
Business Contact
 John Opgrande
Title: Director of R&D
Phone: () -
Email: opgrande@wowiwe.net
Research Institution
N/A
Abstract

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I research project will develop an
innovative role-based software for science education. Using a schema called
"scenario-based assessment" the company has gathered evidence in controlled studies
that this software is effective in helping students to learn and solve science problems.
This project will study the feasibility of using enhanced versions of this software to
improve K-12 science education by: a) freely disseminating the software to a range of
public and private schools in North Dakota; b) creating and providing an array of support
documentation to accompany the software: user manual, teacher guide and suggested
lesson plans; c) providing online "help desk" technical support for the period of the
grant; d) coordinating assessment studies and lesson narratives conducted on the
company's behalf by teachers at the schools. This research will address two questions:
1) what is the level and type of support necessary to enhance adoption rates; and 2)
what are the measurable effects on K-12 student learning that arise from using this
software in school.
The commercial application of this research will be a self-sustaining educational media
company that takes intellectual property created by the NDSU research team and
develops and expands it to produce commercially viable role-based educational
simulation environments. This research is aimed at developing and distributing new
models of science education, and providing science teachers with new methods and
materials for the classroom, thus promoting teaching and learning. Its questions in
Phase I will inform the handling of the feedback loop from teachers to developers, thus
enhancing the infrastructure for research and education partnerships. These
approaches have the potential to change the way science is taught in the schools. As
the goal of science instruction is to help foster a scientifically literate public, the goal of
this project is to help foster better science education.numerical methods and corresponding computational tools for modeling the

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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