A Methodology to Develop a Communication Protocol for Visualizing Simulations in a Collaborative Virtual Reality Environment

In the technology field, simulations and collaborative virtual reality environments (CVREs) are not generally combined because it is complicated to develop large scale simulations within CVREs. The complexity of combining these two technologies in order to form a better form of visualization stems from the lack of a methodology to help derive these scalable simulations. Simulations require very complex calculations that the CVRE cannot perform as it is overloaded in calculations for the maintenance and stability of the environment itself. Since the simulation cannot be held within the CVRE, the solution is to move the simulation external to the CVRE and provide means for the CVRE and simulation to communicate so the scene within the CVRE can be updated. While this increases the performance of the simulation in the CVRE, another element is required to make the simulation scalable. Since the CVRE controls the interactions and the simulation controls the calculations and reactions, the basic structure of the this operations can be visualized as a state machine. By implementing the simulation as a state machine, if another element needs to be added to the simulation, it is a matter of implementing a new state and adding the transitions between the new state and all preexisting states. Implementing the simulation as a state machine leaves the CVRE responsible for the visualization of the simulation and provides means for the simulation and CVRE to communicate, which leads to the idea of a new developmental methodology for the visualization of large scale simulations in CVRE. This methodology will result in the ability to provide simulations in need of a visualization to be quickly and cost effectively implemented in a CVRE so that single users can visualize and interact. This methodology will not only impact those in need of simulations in the result of more simulation and training software, but also provide a better workforce equipped with decision-making tools and more widely available simulation and training software

Fostering Reading for Enjoyment in Upper Elementary Students By Developing Connections to Reading and Increasing Self-Efficacy

Data shows that fewer students are choosing to read for pleasure. Fostering students’ intrinsic motivation to read and developing skills to personally connect with texts, along with authentic literacy instruction has shown to increase how often students choose to read and for how long they read. Upper elementary teachers should create inclusive libraries, help students connect with interesting texts, develop useful independent reading time, and implement authentic and cross-curricular learning activities as part of literacy instruction. This project will help teachers assess student motivation to read and match students with appropriate and interesting texts. This project also provides methods for teachers to model reading strategies during read-alouds, to develop purposeful, independent reading time in school, and to demonstrate examples of authentic and cross-curricular tasks. These strategies can be implemented as is and adapted for the specific needs of different classrooms and students

Discovering Latent Gender Bias in Children\u27s STEM Literature

A mixed method, exploratory, sequential research design was conducted to investigate the presence of latent bias in early childhood STEM literature content, applying a non-biased, sociocultural, STEM identity, theoretical framework. A survey of children\u27s perceptions of gender and a content analysis found unintentional bias. Exploratory findings confirmed 102 children were gendering images. An examination of the relationship between the participants\u27 gender and how the participant gendered AND preferred the images indicated differences existed between boys and girls. Children preferred images perceived as matching their own, with statistical significance. Girls were found to prefer images less than boys AND they were more likely to gender the images. Children were more likely to give gender to the 50 images considered in the study, than to non-gender them. The gendering and preference was found to be statistically significantly higher for anthropomorphic and personified inanimate images. Additionally, a content analysis of eight award winning and popular selling STEM children\u27s books were conducted and were found to contain biased narratives and image content. A content analysis found significant differences relating to the frequency of character representation in the eight books. Analysis indicated a higher lexical representation of females to males, and image representation was more male than female. Further analysis of additional books and images is warranted from the findings of this exploratory study

Accessibility of Health Data Representations for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities for Design

Health data of consumer off-the-shelf wearable devices is often conveyed to users through visual data representations and analyses. However, this is not always accessible to people with disabilities or older people due to low vision, cognitive impairments or literacy issues. Due to trade-offs between aesthetics predominance or information overload, real-time user feedback may not be conveyed easily from sensor devices through visual cues like graphs and texts. These difficulties may hinder critical data understanding. Additional auditory and tactile feedback can also provide immediate and accessible cues from these wearable devices, but it is necessary to understand existing data representation limitations initially. To avoid higher cognitive and visual overload, auditory and haptic cues can be designed to complement, replace or reinforce visual cues. In this paper, we outline the challenges in existing data representation and the necessary evidence to enhance the accessibility of health information from personal sensing devices used to monitor health parameters such as blood pressure, sleep, activity, heart rate and more. By creating innovative and inclusive user feedback, users will likely want to engage and interact with new devices and their own data