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Dear Middle Grades Science Teacher,

WestEd, a not-for-profit educational research agency, has funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct a research project, SimScientists Games, during the Spring of the 2018-19 school year that aims to use a new genre of games as formative assessment resources designed to collect evidence of learning during gameplay and reinforce middle grades life science concepts and investigation practices for ecosystems. The games are intended to provide engaging activities for understanding and investigating the science system components, roles, interactions and population dynamics of all ecosystems. Teachers will be able to monitor students’ progress and results using secure web-based tools that accompany the games. Researchers hope the games will help students learn and provide timely information teachers can use to help students in more targeted ways. We are seeking teachers to participate in this research study.

Participating teachers will receive a live online webinar orientation and training (up to 4 hours), stipends up to $1,200 for their involvement in the study, as well as access to simulation-based computer formative assessments.

In order to participate, middle grade (6th, 7th, and 8th) science teachers must be planning to teach a unit on Ecosystems starting after April 1, 2019, and be willing to use two suites of SimScientists simulation-based embedded modules as well as two educational games or offline Reflection Activities, a benchmark assessment, and pre and posttests for a total of seven class days during their Ecosystems unit in their classroom. The Pilot testing would need to occur during the Spring of the 2018-19 school year, with the Ecosystems unit and all study activities starting after April 1, 2019.

Study participation also involves: sending home consent forms with your students, scoring your student benchmark responses, attending a half day online training webinar, and completing an end of unit survey, and phone interview (if selected).

Please see the “SimScientists Games Strand” for more information on this unit: https://wested.box.com/s/q4xd6g5x50vkoosfoz5nn7oe7e5avl50

For technical requirements, please click here: https://wested.box.com/s/8zptuhr3obazhii5h2s3mkqdcvqieuj5
*Note: SimScientists modules are NOT supported on iPads, iPhones, or other tablets.

For answers to frequently asked questions about participating in a SimScientists study, please see our FAQs at: https://wested.box.com/s/yqt3vnwwu05zkog3o73tvt3a7nvajb31

If you are interested in participating in this research opportunity, please complete an online intake survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GamesPilot2IntakeSurvey

Please forward this email to any middle grades (6th, 7th, and 8th) science teachers who you think might be interested in this opportunity.

To learn more about this project, please see the FAQs or email Melissa Rego at mrego@wested.org. For the best chance of participating, please complete the survey by September 14, 2018. SimScientists studies are filled on a first come, first served basis.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Melissa Rego
Implementation Coordinator and Research Assistant - SimScientists
mrego@wested.org