Serious game for bullying prevention to prepare students socially for the transition to middle school

Abstract Bullying is an all too common occurrence in our nation s schoolsResearch underscores how all involvedbulliesvictimsand bystanders are at elevated risk for negative outcomes in many aspects of a child s socialemotionaland academic lifeRecent reviews of school based programs demonstrate that social emotional learningSELis a critical ingredient in effective bullying preventionUnfortunatelylogistical barrierse gtimecostneed for trained stafftoo often undermine schoolsabilities to implement traditional in person programming with all studentsThis SBIR Phase project aims to apply cutting edge intelligent social tutoring game technology to create a newevidence based serious game specifically designed to help late elementary students learn and build the social emotional skills needed to navigate bullying situations and successfully transition to the middle school social environmentThe end result of our Phase I and Phase II efforts will be a rigorously tested serious game specifically designed to prevent bullying and prepare students socially for the middle school transition through a safe virtual environment where late elementary students can learn and practice essential SE skills for identifyingmanagingand avoiding a variety of bullying situationsIn Phase Iwe will accomplish three specific aimsFirstwe will create a serious game prototype with input fromth andth grade studentsparentsand educators to select the custom graphic design and storyworld and inform development of five social problem solving scenes depicting various types of bullying situationsi ephysicalverbalrelationalcyberand bystanderSecondwe will conduct feasibility tests withth andth grade students and educators who will review and evaluate the prototypeAndthirdwe will create a full Phase II development and testing plan based on our Phase I findingsOur proposed serious game bullying prevention product will meet a significant market need as the first rigorously tested serious game for bullying prevention to prepare students socially for the difficult transition to middle schoolImportantlythe proposed product will benefit from an established channel into the school market as our commercialization partnerPersonalized Learning GamesInchas committed to include the proposed game in its product lineonce fully developed and tested in Phase II Project Narrative Bullying is alarmingly prevalent in our nation s schoolsand decades of research underscore how bullying and peer victimization foster both shortand long term detrimental effects for all those involvedBullying in all forms peaks in middle school and research indicates children s ability to negotiate difficult social situations and adapt socially before the transition directly impacts the degree to which they are able to successfully navigate this difficult transition as well as their subsequent academicsocialand behavioral adjustmentEffective schoolbased bullying prevention efforts focus on providing instruction and practice in the social emotional skills needed to navigate various bullying situationsSerious games can lower time and cost barriers schools face in implementing bulling prevention programming while also offering an inherently engaging and safe platform students to learn and practice essential social emotional skillsThe end goal of the proposed Phase I SBIR is to create and test a prototype serious game for bullying prevention specifically designed to help prepareth andth grade students for the pivotal transition to middle school