The BLOSSOMS – Augmented World Project – Dr. Miri Barak (Israel Institute of Technology)

Abstract:
This talk presents a critical analysis of the participants’ views about the significant role of advanced technologies in STEM education.  The talk discusses the triangular relations among academia, government, and schools, with examples from the two countries.  It also discusses ways for integrating technology-enhanced Project Base Learning (PBL) with the use of Augmented World (AW).  The BLOSSOMS-AW project responds to the call for reforming education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  Its goal is to develop, implement, and evaluate a model for technology-enhanced PBL for the promotion of social constructivist teaching and scientific thinking. PBL is carried out through the integration of two complementary environments: MIT BLOSSOMS– an online environment for interactive video lessons and problem solving modules (http://blossoms.mit.edu), and Augmented World– a location-based, content-generation, peer-assessment platform (http://augmentedworld.site).

Bio:
Dr. Miri Barak is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education in Science and Technology, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Her research is situated at the interface of science and engineering education, with a special interest in Web-based learning and 21st century skills. Dr. Barak’s work is guided by social constructivist learning theories that provide the theoretical and practical frameworks for understanding the mechanisms of teaching and learning in technology-enhanced environments.  Dr. Barak was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI), MIT.  At the Technion, she is leading an international research project on massive online open courses (MOOCs).