Sidney D'Mello

The purpose of this project is to research how to design educational games that integrate assessment and learning to promote both STEM competency development and interest. Preparing students to succeed in the 21st century requires fresh thinking on how to cultivate STEM-related interest and competencies. A potential path to meeting these goals involves using STEM learning games to engage students and enhance learning, while seamlessly assessing STEM competencies. Identifying the features mak...

The purpose of this project is to develop a framework to assess and identify collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills in computer-based educational environments and to explore the relationship between collaborative problem solving and student learning outcomes. Collaborative problem solving is recognized as a key 21st-century competency, however, no valid and reliable tool exists to measure and assess the influence of collaboration on educational outcomes. This research aims to address thr...

The Virtual Learning Lab will bring together expertise in informatics (the study of information processing in the context of computer systems), mathematics education, and teacher professional development to launch the emerging field of precision education, in which prior students' data are used to support decisions about the learning opportunities provided to future students. Precision education is now becoming possible due to the availability of large data sets accumulated as students work ...

The purpose of this project is to automate the Classroom Language Assessment System (CLASS 4.24), a computer program developed at the University of Wisconsin Center for Education Research. CLASS 4.24 is used to code classroom interactions between a teacher and his or her students, and (a) has successfully identified key instructional variables promoting reading achievement, (b) has been used to successfully support professional development, and (c) is currently used for teacher education at ...