MIT STEP

STEP Training

MIT STEP offers a teacher licensing program that can be done entirely at MIT or in conjunction with courses at Wellesley College. This program licenses students to teach mathematics or science in grades 5-12. The Scheller Teacher Education Program, offered through the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, prepares MIT students to become teachers who are competent to teach in their field, willing to challenge established norms, able to bridge the boundaries among disciplines, and eager to help students develop the desire to question and explore. Click here for more info on STEP and here for more info on classes.

For Educators

STEP is actively engaged in many research and development projects, designing and testing new learning technologies for use in formal and informal education. While some projects are in limited testing with partners, others are freely available for all to try and to use (some complete with curriculum and assessment). Find out more about these projects on the projects page.

Friends

Navigation

Latest on Twitter

RSS Feed

We Follow

CSI: Community Science Investigators

CSI is a technology-based and community-focused after-school program. To explore issues in their community, students design and play augmented reality games, and use geospatial technologies. They then use that knowledge along with data they've collected to choose and implement a service learning project that impacts their community. Teachers act as facilitators in this inquiry-based learning environment.

Computer Programming Tools in Schools

Computer Programming Tools in Schools (CPTS) is a multi-language curriculum that uses Scratch, StarLogo TNG, and Etoys to teach fundamental computer science concepts and programming skills in the context of homeland security-relevant topics including food safety and risk models. These three tools are beginner-friendly programming tools developed by different labs at MIT and University of Illinois but share a drag-and-drop graphical interface. The CPTS curriculum is designed for use in an introductory course for middle or high school students with no prior programming experience, with the goal of engaging students' interest in computer science and preparing them for further studies in this and related fields. All the activities are project-based and student-centered, using a variety of formats, including games, simulations, and interactive media.

StarLogo TNG

Version 1.5. Download it here

StarLogo TNG is The Next Generation of StarLogo modeling and simulation software. While this version holds true to the premise of StarLogo as a tool to create and understand simulations of complex systems, it also brings with it several advances - 3D graphics and sound, a blocks-based programming interface, and keyboard input - that make it a great tool for programming educational video games.

Through TNG we hope to:

Lower the barrier to entry for programming with a graphical interface where language elements are represented by colored blocks that fit together like puzzle pieces.
Entice more young people into programming through tools that facilitate making games.
Use 3D graphics to make more compelling and rich games and simulation models.

News

MITAR Games

The MIT Teacher Education Program, in conjunction with The Education Arcade, has been working on creating "Augmented Reality" simulations to engage people in simulation games that combine real world experiences with additional information supplied to them by handheld computers.

TaleBlazer

TaleBlazer is a new rich Internet application from MIT's STEP lab to author smartphone location-based augmented reality (AR) games. Announced during summer '11 and demo'ed for the first time at CSCL in Hong Kong, it will break new ground in location-based AR game building. Features will include:

Visual blocks-based scripting - prevents syntax errors, while enabling programming of rich interactivity.
Interactive data layers and sampling - create models for player exploration and discovery of thought provoking scientific topics.
Conditional dialog creator - interact with characters in new ways; no more single-track conversations
No local installation - the TaleBlazer Game Maker will be entirely web-based for easier implementation in schools and elsewhere
Save to cloud, download to smartphone - logon with your account, and have instant access to games from any computer attached to the Internet, then play from any iOS or Android smartphone with GPS.

Vanished

Vanished is a "curated game," a format derived from alternate reality games (ARGs) for museums, being developed by Education Arcade for the Smithsonian museums in Washington D.C., with NSF funding. The game ran from April 4 through May 22 2011, and targeted middle school age kids in informal settings like afterschool programs.

Ubiquitous Games

The Ubiquitous Games label consists of several different projects: games such as Weatherlings, the first game created under this particular platform, as well as the UbiqBio project, which features four games that teach various topics in high school intro biology classes.

Virtual Microbe

Education Arcade staff is working with MIT professor Roman Stocker, from the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, to develop a single-player Flash game in which one plays as a nanotechnologist tasked with populating dead zones in the ocean. To do this, the player designs and produces nanobots that recreate the purpose of microbes as consumers and producers in an underwater ecosystem. Players run test simulations to see how their nanobots interact with each other. Each level introduces new goals and constraints (e.g., budget), as well as new science and engineering concepts.