SBIR Phase I: Modular Online Simulations for Math and Science with Integrated Assessment of Complex, Standards-Aligned Learning Objectives

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will culminate in the design of a system that integrates assessment of complex, standards-based instructional objectives within interactive simulations and makes the resultant data available in a timely and efficient manner to teachers and administrators. Standards-based educational reform efforts are currently impoverished by a lack of assessment instruments that measure complex instructional objectives. Although complex objectives can be addressed through interactive simulations, these simulations neither explicitly assess students' competencies against these objectives nor make this information available to teachers. As a result, students' activity within simulations is largely invisible to teachers, relegating simulations either to an extremely limited role or to one that involves displacing the teacher. The proposed project will analyze the practices of master teachers using simulations while tutoring students and index these practices against hierarchies of instructional objectives derived from state standards. New simulations designed expressly for assessing complex instructional objectives will be designed, along with reporting mechanisms for communicating assessment results to teachers. This innovation will foster alignment with standards-based curricula, support teachers in integrating technology effectively and efficiently into their classrooms, and provide a new approach for measuring the impact of educational technology on student learning. The proffered innovation in assessment capability addresses an important nation problem, the "assessment gap." It can potentially be applied to any system involving interactive content that is used in the cont