Developing Curiosity in the Science Classroom through Technology-Supported Role-Taking

This project will use role-taking in a low-risk, high-tech game context to foster curiosity, exploration and self-efficacy as a way to improve science education for elementary school students. Rather than trying to make students into science “learned,” we want them to become independent, self-motivated science learners. We will evaluate not whether they have learned science facts, but whether they are more likely to engage in scientific processes, whether their self-efficacy toward science learning changes, and whether they are willing to take risks to explore a subject and talk about what they have discovered.