Online Community Design for 3D Math Learning

Problem

In AquaMOOSE 3D, users learn mathematics by participating in an online graphical virtual world. This mini-project addresses the online community portion of the AquaMOOSE environment. We would like for people to be able to easily share and discuss interesting mathematical creations in AquaMOOSE via the Internet. Currently, the community support in AquaMOOSE is very limited. How can we design an interface for an online community around this 3D math learning software that encourages people to have fun creating, sharing, and discussing cool artistic math objects?

For example, if I create a set of math equations that spells out my name, how do I then start a discussion about it or share it with other users? How does someone else find out about my creation? How can other users quickly let me know what they think about it, via rating systems or other mechanisms? What features should we include to help build an online community around artistic mathematical creations?

System Overview

AquaMOOSE is a desktop 3D environment designed to help students learn about the behavior of parametric equations. The project is based on an educational philosophy called constructionism, which advocates learning through the design, construction, and sharing of personally meaningful projects. Our primary research question is to explore how a 3D graphical online community can support constructionist mathematics learning.

The main activity in AquaMOOSE is moving your fish avatar through the world based on a set of parametric equations. A template scaffolds the process of entering mathematical equations. Several coordinate spaces are supported. Each time a math move is performed, the avatar swims through the programmed path and leaves behind a trail. The trail is an important artifact; it provides the users with immediate feedback, as well as a starting point for conversation.

In addition to math trails, we have provided a simple game space called the Ring Game. In the Ring Game, users create sets of ring tracks that are designed to convey some mathematical concept. Ring tracks consist of several rings that are positioned in the 3D space according to a set of mathematical equations. The goal of the Ring Game is for other students to attempt to move their avatar through the ring track by guessing the appropriate mathematical equations.

Here are some screenshots of trails and ring tracks in AquaMOOSE:

Currently, users can only share their math creations via a primitive tree control that stores data on a server. This mini-project focuses on designing a more robust interface for community support that allows users to discuss their creations as well as sharing them. This problem incorporates both UI design and community design to create an effective communication system for the AquaMOOSE online community.

Some things to consider when designing your communication interface:

• What types of communication should we support?
  • Threaded discussions
  • Anchored discussions
  • Ranking system for users' creations
  • Synchronous chat
  • Semi-synchronous communication (hybrid of message board and chat)
• Where will the communication UI be placed? In the AquaMOOSE main window (800x600 resolution) or a separate window?
• How will users simultaneously interact with both the graphical area (doing math moves) and the discussion space?
• How do users access discussions about a particular object?
• What kind of browsing or searching features should be present?

• Notify Amy Bruckman (asb@cc) and Jason Elliott (jlelliot@cc) via email that you are interested in this project.
• Come by the ELC Lab (CCB 270) for an hour or two to familiarize yourself with the AquaMOOSE 3D software.
• Design your communication UI.
• Turn in your design document.

• Community Support for Constructionist Learning
• Pianos, Not Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits
• Design of a 3D Interactive Math Learning Environment

• A 2500-word design document (about 5 pages). Longer is OK, but not necessary. Address the following items:
  • Discuss your choices about the communication design and justify the design features you chose to include in the AquaMOOSE community interface.
  • Provide your designs for the new communication features that AquaMOOSE will support. Include mock screenshots of your system. Mock screenshots can be hand-drawn and do not need to be polished.