Technology

The InfuseCS narrative-centered learning environment consists of three components that are being specifically tailored to upper elementary students using grade- and age-appropriate concepts and interfaces.

• The InfuseCS Science Explorer supports students in collaborative problem-based learning centered around disciplinary core ideas in physical science. It presents students with engaging problem scenarios, while supporting them in identifying relevant facts, posing hypotheses, researching knowledge gaps, and conducting computational model-based scientific investigations.

• The InfuseCS Maker Toolkit enables students to collaborate at maker stations within the classroom to explore physical science concepts by designing, building, and testing functional prototypes. Each maker station is equipped with energy conversion kits containing diverse energy sources (e.g., solar panels, batteries, and hand cranks) and outputs (e.g., light bulbs, motors, and fans). These resources provide students with the tools to engage in iterative design processes, fostering both scientific inquiry and computational thinking.

• The InfuseCS Narrative Designer enables students to develop interactive science narratives through an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface that includes block-based programming built on top of interactive narrative planning functionalities. It enables students to incrementally develop, elaborate, and refine their stories in a rapid creative cycle, while supporting testing of their stories through its 3D virtual science narrative interaction support.

The InfuseCS narrative-centered learning environment is being developed to run on PCs (Windows and macOS) and Chromebooks. Supporting these platforms enables implementing the learning environment in a broad range of school contexts.