SBIR Phase I: A personalizable e-reading app that supports science learning

This SBIR Phase I project will produce an innovative reading application, to support science learning. Although the science textbook is a central curricular resource, this resource is often inaccessible and difficult to read. Science textbooks are syntactically (grammatically) and semantically (word meaning) complex. Specifically, elementary and secondary science texts are often written 3 to 5 years beyond what is developmentally appropriate. Because of these complexities, science textbooks often overwhelm students' working memory, preventing them from constructing accurate mental representations of the target concepts. Thus, this project will develop and test a personalizable e-reader with embedded reading and language support. The intellectual merit of the effort resides in its ability to improve science comprehension through personalized and adaptive content. This project will produce content and assessments targeting the Next Generation Science Standards on Global Climate Change. The customizable features will make fundamental science knowledge more accessible and interesting to students -- and thus the general public. Given these benefits, it has strong potential to support future generations of STEM professionals and a more scientifically literate citizenry. This project will produce an innovative iOS reading app to support science learning. The key innovation will be to make science content adaptable and adjustable for learners. This Phase I project has five technical goals: (a) create NGSS-aligned content; (b) write and test assessments using item response theory; (c) develop and test the back-end for the app, to include cloud-based SQL databases, content delivery network, and the application programming interface; (d) develop and test
the front-end for the app, to include the user interface design and the model view controller architecture; (e) conduct user testing with students and teachers to evaluate the usabilityand initial feasibility of SquidBooks. During Phase I, the SquidBooks team will address some technological challenges in bringing this innovation to market. The key features of the iOS app create a potential for unnecessary memory load. This technological challenge will be overcome by architecting the program to be highly preprocessed and modular. A second challenge is making scientific content more readable and accessible. This requires a balance between using precise scientific language and common language, while maintaining core scientific ideas.