IMMERSIVE LEARNING
The Ninety-Nines —International Organization of Women Pilots
The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. They had received a grant to tie STEM learning into history-based learning to inform future generations of females the importance of flying.
Launch course:
https://jerriemock.s3.amazonaws.com/story.html
Project Details
The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. They had received a grant to tie STEM learning into history-based learning to inform future generations of females the importance of flying.
Teach girls, teachers and parents that math skills are learned and change over time — promoting a growth mindset that empowers girls to embrace challenges. Emphasize strong and visible role models of women and women of color in math and science fields.
Educational Need
Each lesson took a STEM section regarding their history and tied it in with the lesson in a fun story format. The history lesson was created in a video format that young kids would be familiar with. The STEM lessons were based on a Cognitive Behavioral methodology which required the learner to calculate and interact with the lesson in order to understand the base concepts.
Learner Analysis
Primary Demographic
Elementary to middle school aged children interested in aviation and/or STEM.
Lack of Self-Motivation
For children learning from home, it can be challenging to grasp the concept of staying on task, especially without the typical structure of school motivating the students. To address this, we made a deliberate decision to empower students to take control and be in charge of their own learning process.
Easily Distracted
In remote learning, it is crucial to provide students with effective guidance to stay focused on their tasks. While technology can be beneficial for facilitating socialization, it can also serve as a potential distraction. Children of this age group often lack the self-regulation skills necessary to monitor their focus and avoid diversions, sometimes exhibiting an inflated belief in their multitasking abilities (similar to many adults). To address this, we have developed lessons that are engaging, require active participation, and effectively immerse students in their intended learning activities.
Influenced by Social Media
By incorporating familiar platforms like YouTube and Tiktok, we enable children to establish connections with the content they encounter daily. This not only allows them to engage with the material but also encourages them to participate in discussions and interact with fellow students in the YouTube forum.
Learning Theory
Immersive Learning
Immersive learning is an educational approach that combines technology with traditional teaching methods, creating an environment that is both realistic and engaging for learners. It places emphasis on the experiential aspect of learning rather than solely focusing on the correctness of a student's answers.
Implementation
YouTube Integration
Incorporating platforms the learners are familiar with, such as YouTube, allows them to connect in a way that is comfortable to them. YouTube steams the content, as well as allows learners to comment and interact with other students on the YouTube forum.
At the end of the lesson, we also included a "Share Your Thoughts on TikTok". This is allowing the young people to connect on a subject directly from the lesson and encourages students to connect with their peers on in the comment threads, which is great advertising, as well as sharing with their friends and making STEM cool, which can lead to improved academic engagement.
Chunked Learning
Learning by chunking has been proven to aid knowledge retention, as practicing, pattern recognition and making associations are part and parcel of an effective chunking strategy. We effected this through branched navigation, guiding the learner to complete one section at a time, keeping the student from feeling overloaded with information, and providing break breaks to focus on the content being provided.
Interactive Math Calculations
A challenge with mobile learning has always been with math, it is difficult to convey the lesson learned. We created math situations which were easy for the student to be able to comprehend and calculate, giving the student a sense of accomplishment. This makes the lesson and aids retention.
Visual Indicators
After the math calcuations are completed, visual indicators appear on screen with the correct calculations. These indicators help students understand, as well as retain information for a longer period of time.
Results/Impact
In the first year alone, the lesson has over 1,200 views. Children were not only learning STEM, but also learning female aviation history at the same time.
