Math Matters: A New Vision for Florida
Ms. Lakshmi Prayaga, Dr. Leo Ter Haar, Computer Science, and Dr. Karen Rasmussen, Applied Science, Technology and Administration, have received an award of $1,172,893 for a collaborative project with the Escambia County School District.
The award will allow the formation of a collaborative partnership to leverage the combined academic, technical, and pedagogical resources of both institutions to positively impact middle school academic achievement and career preparation.
Specifically, this collaborative effort will develop and deploy a virtual instructional context that provides career counseling, algebraic tutorial content, and practical application of inferential and analytical reading skills within a digital gaming environment.
The gaming challenges that students will confront within this virtual environment, which are presented in a combination of interactive animation and passages of descriptive and explanatory text and audio, will consist of work place tasks requiring practical application of seventh- and eighth-grade Sunshine State Standards in math (algebra) and reading. This highly contextual and concrete approach is designed to increase students' mastery of academic skills and awareness of the relevance of academic skills to lucrative career opportunities. Math Matters addresses
- Educational and economic needs of the community served by both institutions
- Emerging research regarding the potential of gaming to motivate and instruct
- Urgent demand for engaging K-12 instruction to address distracted and low performing subgroups
- Delivery of middle-school career counseling curriculum as mandated by the 2006 Florida legislature
- Efforts of the Florida DOE to compile an online repository of modular digital media assets for K-12 teachers
If you would like further information on this project, please contact Ms. Prayaga (850-474-2973), Dr. Rasmussen (850-474-2484), or Dr. Ter Haar (850-474-2542).