This document discusses the journey of military service members transitioning to civilian education. It notes that military training programs provide valuable skills but a different focus than civilian education. It also discusses two phases military families go through - deployments and returning home, which can involve dealing with injuries or loss. The document emphasizes the importance of programs that support military families during transitions.

1. JOURNEY FROM MILITARY
TRAINING TO CIVILIAN
EDUCATION

2. Military Programs Were Influential
(yes, I showed this slide at my last Serious Play presentation!!)
2
2
•Sesame Street: Talk, Listen, Connect
•Phase I: Deployments
•Phase II: Injured Parents / Return Home (April 2008)
•Phase III: Loss of a Parent / Grief
•Over 1M kits distributed
•Available as free download on iTunes
•Low-­Tech Website:
http://www.sesameworkshop.org/initiatives/emotion/tlc/
•PBS Prime-­Time Specials
•Injured Parent (Changes) – April 1, 2009
•Grief – April 14, 2010 (Joint Chiefs Screening)
•Advanced Private Social Network (July 2009)
•Activities & Games for Children

3. The Retiring STEM Workforce
– A significant portion of the DoD S&E
workforce will be retired by 2020.
– By age 61, about half of the general
S&E labor force will no longer be
working full-time (NSF S&E Indicators,
2010)
– Fifteen percent of the DoD workforce is
under 35. (By comparison, 28% the
general S&E workforce is under 35.)
– Age distribution factors suggest that the
S&E workforce is older and is growing
slowly (NSF S&E Indicators, 2010).
• Across all degree levels and fields,
26.4% of the labor force with S&E
degrees is older than age 50 (graph,
right)..
DoD is Facing a STEM Shortage
7/21/15 3

4. • Refractions (Popovic)
– http://www.brainpop.com/games/refraction/
• Treefrog Treasure (Popovic)
– http://www.brainpopjr.com/games/treefrogtreasure/
• Washington & Minnesota Algebra Challenges (Adapted DragonBox)
• Nanocrafter (DNA Science Game ala FOLD-IT from Popovic)
– www.nanocrafter.org
• Computer Science Student Network (Carnegie Melon Robotics)
– www.cs2n.org
• Space Force (Intific)
– http://www.brainpop.com/games/spaceforce/
• “Non-cognitive” factors are secondary goal of all approaches. Assessment
conducted by UCLA-CRESST
DARPA STEM GAMES

5. SimSensei & VR Therapy for PTSD
Highly Personalized
5

6. Graphic Novel Art Therapy (GNAT)
REFLECT
6
INTIFIC

7. SIFT: Graphic Novel Art Therapy
7

8. 8
Missions
1

9. IMPORTANCE OF STORY
§ Most games have a “meta-story”, but don’t TELL a story
§ A story personalizes the experience and can contextualize
the learning experience
§ Story can provide rich social-emotional / non-cognitive
lessons
– Grit, Perseverance, Academic Mindset, Social Skills
§ Comics, Graphic Novels, Sequential Art, Transmedia
9
A CRITICAL ELEMENT MISSING FROMMOST EDUCATION GAMES

10. 10
• Teaches fundamental computer science concepts and their application
• Targets sixth grade students with STEM-related subjects and principles
• Permits translation into real world application by integrating game outputs with
the LEGO MindStorm EV3 hardware
The Game Story: Alice in Wonderland
While driving through the desert, Alice’s truck
suddenly breaks down. Lucky for her, a helpful tow
truck comes by and takes her back to their
junkyard, where they ask her for help.
While Alice’s truck is being repaired, she helps the
owners out by putting her computer skills to good
use in solving their problems.
Joint DARPA/Dept of Education SBIR
Combine Comics and Games

11. Looking Glass – Project Overview
Exploration Mode
• Interstitials set up the narrative, characters and
environment
• This mode provides a fun “exploratory” level to
interact with and provide engagement
• Introduces and reinforces useful Social
Emotional Learning concepts for the player
CreationMode
• A collection of unique puzzles to solve using
computer science concepts
• Alice uses here growing programming skills to
help the junkyard inhabitants
• Programs are integrated with the Google
Blockly visual programming system

12. Retirement Photo: Feb 2014
12

13. SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON PANELS 2015
13
COMICS FOR IMPACT
Comics for Impact: STEM Education Comics for Impact: PTSD & Storytelling
• Calling for a Community of Interest and expertise similar to “Games for Impact”
• Bring together educators, scientists, artists and storytellers
• Starting a listserv for federal investors

14. “Leadership tomorrow
depends on how we educate
our students today—
especially in science,
technology, engineering and
math.”
— President Barack Obama
14

15. 1. As of 2011, 26 million U.S. jobs—20 percent of all jobs—
require a high level of knowledge in any one STEM field
2. Half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a four-
year college degree
3. Median days a STEM vacancy was advertised (11) exceeded
twice the median days non-STEM jobs were advertised (5)
4. “STEM skills are in high demand relative to supply, and the
problem is especially acute in certain metropolitan areas, where
the average vacancy for STEM workers takes months to fill.”
15
IS THERE A SHORTAGE OF STEM PROFESSIONALS?
BROOKINGS (2013 & 2014)

16. STEM EDUCATION IS A COMPLEX ISSUE
16
Source: Jill Walston and Jill Carlivati McCarroll, Eighth-Grade Algebra: Findings from the Eighth-Grade Round
of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics, October 2010).

17. § STEM Office:
– Russell Shilling, Executive Director
– Melissa Moritz, Deputy Director
– Ellen Lettvin, Robert Noyce Senior Fellow in Informal STEM
– TBD, AAAS Fellow (Fall 2015)
§ Extended STEM Team is spread across the entire
agency!
17

18. Promote student achievement, success, and life-long learning
in a dynamic 21st century STEM economy by:
§ Maximizing opportunities to excel in STEM education for all
students, including pre-k and post-secondary students;
§ Inspiring students to pursue STEM careers, including women,
minorities, and special needs populations; and
§ Fostering innovation in STEM education to produce scalable
approaches to improve formal and informal learning
environments.
18

19. • Continue to promote programs to enhance and improve teacher training in STEM
• Encourage a focus on early learning strategies for STEM programs both inside and outside ED
• Incorporate non-cognitive and informal learning strategies into program development
• Promote greater STEM access and engagement for diverse student populations (minorities, women, special needs)
Collaborate on inter- and intra-agency policy & programs to better
include STEM efforts in various federal efforts & leverage public–private
partnerships
• Establish the office as a central location to learn about efforts in STEM from both the federal & public domains
• Spotlight key resources and proof points of exemplary STEM work across the country
• Work with partners inside and outside the federal domain to document availability of formal and informal education
assets which can be leveraged across settings, including urban and rural environments
Identify and promulgate STEM education data and best
practices
• Push for adoption of alternative research practices formulated to promote scalable breakthrough innovations in
STEM programs (10+ year horizon)
• Leverage and seed regional STEM networks/clusters to develop best practices in STEM innovation
• Explore and promote new technology solutions for STEM education, including games/simulations/graphic novels,
intelligent tutoring systems/new approaches to personalized learning, and embedded assessments
• Explore and promote synergistic strategies for effective STEM learning across formal and informal settings
Steward the development of structures that help create
stronger R&D in technological and non-technological STEM
breakthrough innovations
19

20. § Career and Technical Education: Basic Grants to States
§ Education Research Grants – Effective Teachers and Teaching
§ Green Ribbon Schools
§ Hispanic Serving Institutions STEM and Articulation Programs
§ Investing in Innovation (I3)
§ Magnet Schools Assistance Program
§ Math Science Partnerships
§ Minority Science and EngineeringImprovement Program
§ Race to the Top
§ Ready to Learn
§ Special Education Research Grants – Professional Development
§ Teacher Incentive Fund(TIF)
§ Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow (TCT)
§ Teacher Quality Partnerships
§ 21st Century CommunityLearning Centers
20
ED HAS USED A STEM PRIORITY IN OVER 60 GRANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

21. ADMINISTRATION-WIDE EFFORT
(COMMITTEE ON STEM EDUCATION – COSTEM)
PARTICIPATINGFEDERAL PARTNERS
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and
Human Services
• Department of Homeland
Security
• Department of the Interior
• Department of Transportation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Executive Office of the
President
• National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
• National Science Foundation
• Smithsonian Institution
21

22. § Nation’s largest out-of-school and expanded learning program $1.1 billion in 2014,
reaches over 1.5 million students at 8,500 -10,000 sites nationwide
§ STEM focus added in 2013:
– Led to establishment of a STEM Technical Working Group
– Piloted collaboration with NASA in Winter 2014
§ offered at 22 sites across 3 states
§ featured 3 real-world challenges faced by NASA scientists and engineers
§ NASA subject matter experts engaged directly with 21CCLC staff and youth
participants, building capacity and providing authentic STEM experiences
§ Inter-agency collaboration expanded in 2015 to include additional agency
partnerships featuringSTEM content:
§ NASA expanded number of challenges offered from 3 to 6, number of participating
states grew from 3 to 10, number of participating sites grew from 20 to 80
§ National Park Service collaboration involves citizen science and environmental
monitoring, offered through National Park sites in 5 states to students at 11 sites
across 6 states, with a focus on serving students in the Bureau of Indian Education
§ Institute of Museum and Library Services will focus on STEM-rich Making and
Tinkering, offered to 25 sites through collaborations with science centers in 5 states,
featuring activities developed by the Exploratorium.
22

23. 23
2015 GRANT COMPETITION (CLOSED MAY 26, 2015)
§ Supports public media organizations to
create and nationally distribute
educational television & interactive digital
media for children ages 2-8:
– Focus on science (including scientific
thinking & skill development) or literacy
– Use analytics and/or embedded
assessmentsto create adaptive learning
experiences andprovide learning data to
caregivers and educators
Ready
to Learn!!

24. 24
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
STEMGrants
Non-STEMGrants

25. 25
ED/IES SBIR Key Details
• Annual Budget: $7.5M
• Timeline: 1 solicitation per year, next deadline Jan. 2016
• Eligibility: for-profit firms <500 employees
• Topics: R&D of commercially viable education
technology products (including learning games!) in
education and special education
Ø For students - to support learning in standards-relevant
content areas and to support social, emotional & behavioral
development.
Ø For teachers – to improve instructionalpractice or efficiency

26. 26
ED/IES SBIR: Games are On!
• Since 2012, about half of all awards have been for the
R&D of education learning games
• Awards to firms such as: Electric Funstuff, Schell Games, Kiko Labs, Strange
Loop Games, Teachley, 3C Institute, Second Avenue Software, Sokikom, Thought Cycle,
Brainquake, Filament Games, etc.
• Several ED/IES SBIR games are in wide-scale use,
• Several ED/IES games have won major industry awards for
innovation, including
Ø 2015 Serious PlayGold Awards (Electric Funstuff & Triad Interactive Media)
Ø 2014 Apple Design Award (Teachley);
Ø 2013 Games for Change Best Game Play (Filament Games)

27. Focus on: Filament Games
• With a 2010 ED/IES SBIR award of
$850,000, Filament Games developed and
evaluated a suite of science learning games
including titles: You Make Me Sick, Reach For
The Sun, Cell Command, and Backyard
Engineers.
• Game design focuses on translating learning
objectives directly into meaningful gameplay
mechanics and playful curriculum materials
• Games for won several industry awards,
including Best Game Play at Games for
Change, National STEM Video Game
Challenge.
• 1M+ gameplays since commercial release.
In Reach For The Sun,
gameplay centers on
driving the plant-lifecycle
process by growing a seed
to full sunflower plant.

28. Focus on: Teachley
• With a 2013 ED/IES SBIR award of
$1,050,000, Teachley developed and
evaluated apps including: Addimal
Adventure & Mt. Multiplis, along with a
teacher dashboard.
• Games integrate years of academic
research on effective strategies for
how students learn math; teacher
dashboard provides data and
analytics to guide instruction.
• Winner: 2014 Apple Design Award.
• 500,000+ downloads since 2014.
In Addimal Adventure,
students solve addition
problems with the
support of an in-game
character.

29. 29
ED/IES SBIR: Resources
• For More Information: ies.ed.gov/sbir
• Videos of 20 ED/IES SBIR games for learning:
http://ies.ed.gov/sbir/videos.asp
• Ed Tech Developers Guide: tech.ed.gov/developers-guide/
• To discuss your games for learning concepts or to determine
the goodness of fit for ED/IES SBIR, please contact
Edward.Metz@ed.gov.