Articles and Presentations
by FAS
2011
Technologies in Education Forum. (video) Melanie Stegman speaking at an event hosted by TheAtlantic.com, April 7, 2011. (See minute 32) http://events.theatlantic.com/technologies-education-forum/2011/
2010
TV New report(Video) by the American Institute of Physics in which Melanie Stegman explains how Immune Attack teaches. http://www.ivanhoe.com/science/story/2010/09/766a.html
Games in Science Education, 2010 Games in Science Education, http://www.gise.rice.edu/index.html
Games, Learning and Society, 2010 Games Society and Learning, http://www.glsconference.org/2010/program/event/55
American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS 2010 Melanie Stegman presented her work on Immune Attack and evidence for learning and confidence gained by players at the AAAS meeting.
American Society for Cell Biology, ASCB, 2009. Melanie Stegman presented a poster about the learning and confidence gained by students playing Immune Attack. Citation: Stegman, M.A. (2009). Immune Attack, a Video Game in the Molecular World. Mol. Biol. Cell 20 (suppl), 2356.
Bonus video of Melanie Stegmn at ASCB 2009, Cell Slam event."Why I make Video Games."
Here is thePressbook for the 2009 ASCB annual Meetingwhich featured Immune Attack.
MEC 2009 Microcomputers in Education, http://mec.asu.edu/
by others
2010
NIAID Science Education Programs Get a Boost from ARRA. Funding Helps Groom the Next Generation of Scientists and Their Teachers. Immune Attack 2.0 is being developed with funds from The National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Science Education Award to Melanie Stegman.
Video Games and the Second Life of Science Class. Amy Maxmen wrote about us for Cell wrote an excellent story about games in education, the President's STEM initiative (that involved a STEM games challenge to game developers and Immune Attack. Check us out! Click here for the PDF.
2009
Informal Experiences Can Go a Long Way in Teaching Science. NRC Study Points to Benefits From TV and Games. By Sean Cavanagh in Education Week. What drives our interest in science? What educational methods, formal and informal, effectively create lifelong interest in science? Do video games that require players to solve tough problems really motivate us to learn? Henry Jenkin's response is in this article.
Video Games: A Route to Large-Scale STEM Education? By: Merrilea j. Mayo, in Science Initial studies comparing video game teaching effectiveness to the classic lecture show positive improvements, typically 30% or more. Merrilea J. Mayo explains the usefulness of video games in the classroom.
2008
The fight of your life. Roxanne Khamsi presents Immune Attack to the readers of Nature Medicine. Download the article here.
FAS publications prior to 2008:
- Report from the National Summit on Educational Games. 2005 Harnessing the Power of Games for Learning
- Games, Cookies, and the Future of Education by Henry Kelly.
- History in the Digital Ageby Lawrence Grossman.
- To access our comprehensive‚ Learning Science and Technology R & D Roadmaps, visit this page: Roadmaps.
- To learn more about the value of games as learning tools, visit this page: Games Summit Findings
- To learn more about FAS research into these areas by searching our Research Archives: Search FAS Research Archives
Selected White Papers
A Proposed Educational Framework Kay Howell, Federation of American Scientists
Gerald A. Higgins, Ph.D., Laerdal Medical Corporation
The VMAS Educational Framework was developed as part of the work of the Validation
Methodology for Medical Simulation Training (VMAS) Committee for the Telemedicine Advanced
Technology Research Center (TATRC) of the US Army Medical and Materiel Command (see
Appendix A).
This white paper describes an educational framework for training combat medics, physicians and
others to increase the readiness of medical personnel in the military. The central premise of this
framework is the use of simulation to form an effective bridge between textbook and patient, while
reducing errors associated with acquisition of patient care skills. Procedural skill acquisition
requires both development of technical skills and cognitive or decision making components (i.e.
when, where, and how) of implementation. The complex tasks performed by medics and
surgeons require the performance of a large set of different skills, of which some are
simultaneously performed and others in a temporal order. This proposed educational framework
is designed to foster coordination and integration of those skills through employment of realistic
problem situations and the use of simulation to permit learners to practice and demonstrate skills.
The educational framework employs a key set of principals of learning science that have been
demonstrated to enhance learning. Read the full document here: VMAS
Emergency Training Systems, A Survey
Becky Sullivan, Federation of American Scientists Learning Federation Project
February 2005
Introduction
Three years and as much as $8 billion after the call for increased funding for emergency
preparedness, there is little documentation regarding progress made, efforts to address this call, and
most importantly, the effectiveness of these efforts. According to William O. Jenkins, Jr., Director of
the Homeland Security and Justice Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the
GAO does not know how much has gone for planning, training, and exercises. And GAO does not
know how much has gone specifically to train first responders because the largest grants, such as the
State Homeland Security Grants, can generally be used for planning, equipment purchases, training,
and exercises, at the discretion of the grant recipient
The training of first responders, who include public safety personnel working in law
enforcement, emergency medical services, emergency management, fire service, public works,
government administration, health care, and public health, is a key area of emergency preparedness.
Millions of civilian and military medical personnel need to be trained quickly to respond to events
involving WMD and have continuous access to refresher courses, including just in time training
during an emergency. Several strategies are used to train first responders, such as hands-on training
with equipment, field exercises, videos, lectures, and Technology-Enabled Learning Systems
(TELS). TELS encompasses a wider range of digital learning activities than Computer-Based
Training (CBT): slide shows, such as PowerPoint presentations delivered on CD-Rom or via the
Internet, to learning systems that incorporate advanced computer technologies such as virtual reality
and intelligent tutors. TELS have the potential to be an effective and efficient method of training and
preparing first responders, and there are hundreds of TELS aimed at the first responder market. What
does not exist is a way to evaluate their quality and effectiveness. Many are developed with guidance
or funds from government agencies, but the standards they are held to are unclear. This survey
provides an analysis of 54 TELS developed for emergency responders in the event of a mass casualty
incident (MCI) and discusses their features and capabilities. Read the full report here: Training Systems
Training Technology against Terror: Using Advanced Technology to Prepare Americas Emergency Medical Personnel and First Responders for a Weapon of Mass Destruction Attack
Henry Kelly, FAS, Van Blackwood, FAS, Michelle Roper, FAS, Gerry Higgins, Simquest, Gary Klein, MITRE, John Tyler, MITRE, Dexter Fletcher, IDA, Henry Jenkins, MIT, Alex Chisolm, MIT, Kurt Squire, MIT
FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS
September 9, 2002 Without an effective investment in training, the nations investment in Weapons
of Mass Destruction (WMD) response will be largely wasted. WMD training demands
are dramatically larger in scope and more complex than anything the nation has faced
before. A chemical, biological, nuclear, explosive, or radiological attack will require
managing a large site, possibly with thousands of casualties, and organizing local, state,
and federal law enforcement, fire, rescue, and medical teams with diverse backgrounds
and specialties. There can be no room for delay or confusion participants will be
called upon to do extraordinary things even though most of them will have never
confronted a similar situation. But the nation's emergency responders, medical personnel
and law enforcement officials indicate that they are not prepared. Read the full report here: Training Technology Against Terror
