Social Science

In this paper we use an existing history learning game with an active audience as a research platform for exploring how humor and "snarkiness" in the dialog script affect students' progression and attitudes about the game. We conducted a 2x2 randomized experiment with 11,804 anonymous 3rd-6th grade students. Using one-way ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis tests, we find that changes to the script produced measurable results in the self-reported perceived humor of the game and the likeability of the player character.

In this paper we use an existing history learning game with an active audience as a research platform for exploring how humor and "snarkiness" in the dialog script affect students' progression and attitudes about the game. We conducted a 2x2 randomized experiment with 11,804 anonymous 3rd-6th grade students. Using one-way ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis tests, we find that changes to the script produced measurable results in the self-reported perceived humor of the game and the likeability of the player character.

In this paper we use an existing history learning game with an active audience as a research platform for exploring how humor and "snarkiness" in the dialog script affect students' progression and attitudes about the game. We conducted a 2x2 randomized experiment with 11,804 anonymous 3rd-6th grade students. Using one-way ANOVA and Kruskall-Wallis tests, we find that changes to the script produced measurable results in the self-reported perceived humor of the game and the likeability of the player character.

Weaving computer science into the fabric of social studies, rather than teaching it as an isolated skill, makes both subjects more relevant, engaging, and beneficial to students.

Berson, M. J., Berson, I. R., Franklin, K. L., Fawley, V. N., Shank, P. S., Dovi, R. E., Gasca, S., Hochberg, E. D., Berstein, D. (2024). Thinking critically, coding creatively: Elevating social studies through inquiry-based learning and computer science integration. Social Education, 98-103.

The Socioscientific Issues Teaching and Learning (SSI-TL) framework is a guide for developing an instructional approach to learning experiences focused on socioscientific issues (SSI). Despite the potential benefits of SSI learning, teachers often struggle to implement this approach in their classrooms (Sadler et al., 2006; Saunders & Rennie, 2013), and one of the most prominent reasons for this struggle is science teacher concerns and hesitation associated with incorporating social dimensions of the issues into their instruction (Friedrichsen et al., 2021).

The Socioscientific Issues Teaching and Learning (SSI-TL) framework is a guide for developing an instructional approach to learning experiences focused on socioscientific issues (SSI). Despite the potential benefits of SSI learning, teachers often struggle to implement this approach in their classrooms (Sadler et al., 2006; Saunders & Rennie, 2013), and one of the most prominent reasons for this struggle is science teacher concerns and hesitation associated with incorporating social dimensions of the issues into their instruction (Friedrichsen et al., 2021).

The global pandemic and climate change have led to unprecedented environmental, social, and economic challenges with interdisciplinary STEM foundations. Even as STEM learning has never been more important, very few pre-college programs prepare students to address these challenges by emphasizing socio-scientific issue (SSI) problem solving and the engineering design of solutions to address local phenomena.