Research report

October 2006
Lyndsay Grant, Futurelab

The full version of this report is available to download in pdf format - see box below. On this page you'll find the report's executive summary.

Executive summary

Space Mission: Ice Moon is a real-time simulation of a space disaster in which students find themselves in the roles of scientific experts in an Emergency Response Team. Up to 30 students work in teams to rescue four astronauts lost in the ice tunnels of Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Using video-conferencing facilities, they communicate with the only astronaut left in the space station, and work with real-time data feeds to devise and implement a rescue plan in a constantly changing situation.

This executive summary provides an overview of the conclusions drawn from the development and trials of this project; broader implications for the role of technology in the design of learning environments; and areas for future research and development work. A full description of the prototype created, development process, research methodology, findings, analysis and conclusions can be found in the body of the report.

Key findings

Space Mission: Ice Moon

Space Mission: Ice Moon was clearly an engaging and enjoyable experience for the students who took part in the simulation.

The strong narrative, problem-focused approach and the impact of video-conferencing and video-streaming technology supported students in imaginatively entering into their roles as scientific experts with responsibility for rescuing the stranded astronauts. Students responded positively to this responsibility, with almost all remaining focused and on task for the entire mission. Acting in role, students began to try to think and act like scientists, understanding science as a process of interpreting evidence to make explanations, solving problems and working together.

The video-conferencing technology made a significant contribution to the experience. Because students could see and interact with the Mission Commander remaining on the space station, and see video clips of the trapped astronauts as if in real-time, the experience seemed authentic and supported the students in imaginatively entering into role. The two-way dynamic communication between the Mission Commander and the students also allowed variation of the level of challenge, as the Mission Commander was able to support struggling students with prompts and hints, and provide extra challenges when students were working comfortably.

Students analysed and interpreted raw data to create explanations, and some began to understand how valid interpretation must be based on firm evidence. Students worked closely together, cooperating within and between their teams to complete tasks and build an overall understanding of the situation.

Space Mission: Ice Moon would benefit from further work to complete the prototype to a point at which it could be distributed more widely to schools, science centres and other institutions. Development of additional resources to support students’ and teachers’ preparation prior to, and reflection on learning after the mission would enable students to get the most from this experience. Consideration should also be given to developing a greater number of variable narratives and outcomes to the scenario.

Implications for learning beyond Space Mission: Ice Moon

The immediacy of communication via video-conference was a powerful factor in the students’ experience, contributing to the authenticity of the learning environment and enabling students to suspend their disbelief for the period of the simulation. More generally, video-conferencing can allow expertise from other areas to be brought into the classroom. This connection to real experts, and engaging with real problems, provides an authentic context in which learning is meaningful and engaging for students. Experts in this sense may be scientists working at the forefront of their fields, but could equally be individuals with particular expertise from the students’ own communities, or students’ peers in other locations.

Students became immersed and emotionally engaged with the powerful narrative, and their activities were seen as relevant within a coherent context. Dramatic and narrative approaches are often not considered in subjects such as science, which is often considered abstract, but appeared to support students’ engagement and understanding.

Layout of the room played a part in facilitating students’ communication, cooperation and collaboration. Communication was more effective within and between teams when teams had a defined ‘base’ such as a desk around which they could all gather and speak to each other, and where others knew to find them. The presence of a PC in a team also needs to be managed carefully. PCs, initially designed for individual office use, lend themselves to use by single operators. In groups, the PC operator can often take control through control of the PC. When using PCs with groups, all members of the group should have access to screens on which shared information is represented to enable full participation. It may be that different display and input devices, such as tablet PCs, could further facilitate group communication and collaboration if they allowed the information on screen to be shared more easily.

Future development and research opportunities

As the Space Mission: Ice Moon prototype is completed to make it more widely available to schools, there are several elements for immediate consideration. These are noted in detail at the end of this report. Longer term development and research opportunities, both specific to Space Mission: Ice Moon and wider themes arising from this study are summarised here.

The current model of dissemination relies on the National Space Centre hosting the mission on its computer servers and providing a Mission Commander to guide students through the mission. If large-scale dissemination of Space Mission is to be achieved, then responsibility for taking the role of the Mission Commander, and for hosting the mission, could be distributed to other participating institutions. An open source model in which participating institutions contribute to the running and development of the mission may achieve greater dissemination of the mission as well as benefiting from the contributions of a community of users.

As well as practitioners contributing to the development of the mission, participation of students should also be considered. In thinking about how to develop the simulation for peers, students would be both contributing to the future development of the mission and articulating their knowledge and understandings of what they have learnt through their experience of the mission.

Further development may allow students in multiple locations, for example in different schools and science centres, to participate together in a mission. The role of teamwork, sharing information, and negotiating decisions would need further investigation and support in this scenario, but it may also open up further opportunities allowing students to share knowledge and understanding across geographical boundaries.

Further research should look at whether and how students’ learning experiences during Space Mission: Ice Mission transfer, or fail to transfer, into learning activities in other contexts such as science lessons and more generally in problem-solving and inquiry-based learning. How can schools and science centres support students who have participated in Space Mission to build on this experience in their later learning?

Further research and development could also look at simulations similar to Space Mission in the wider context of learning with computer games and in simulations where learners are able to manipulate variables to achieve different outcomes. If the mission supported a greater number of variable routes and outcomes dependent on students’ actions, then students would have the possibility of trying out different tactics and manipulating different variables to understand their effect on the mission. Research would be needed into the different types of engagement that this approach would support and particularly whether this diluted the powerful effects of immersion in the narrative and engagement in role.

As this study showed, the roles that students adopted during Space Mission were highly significant, allowing them to think and act like scientists. Further research into how students’ roles affect their learning would be very useful. For example, if learners take on the expert roles in other, non-fictitious situations, can they think and act like experts in these other domains (and where do they get their ideas of expertise from)? What other imagined roles might open up different avenues for learners to act and think in different ways? Perhaps most importantly, how do learners’ identities as learners affect their approach to learning, and can they reflect on, control and adapt their own identities for different situations?

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