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Projects Twisted Physics The firm's most recent project is a computer-based adventure game designed to teach selected aspects of Advanced Placement physics to high-school students. A prototype currently under development addresses vectors and kinetics. Players of Twisted Physics assume the roles of time-traveling lab assistants to great physicists of history, starting with Galileo. One of their initial tasks, designed to teach the principles of relative motion is that of piloting an ornithopter (a flying machine designed by Leonardo da Vinci) from point to point under varying wind conditions and other constraints. The figure is an artist's (A. Wiesen's) conception of the view from cockpit of the ornithopter. BEESIM Dr. Halff served as scientific advisor to the U. S. Navy’s BEESIM project. This project was initiated to automate the Navy’s Basic Electricity and Electronics training using simulation-based training systems combined with instructional approaches based on state-of-the-art cognitive science. BEESIM relied heavily on visualization to make evident electrical phenomena that are normally invisible. The animations in Figures 1 and 2 show voltage (red = positive; blue = negative) and current (arrow) as an RC circuit charges and discharges. These animations were developed for Electro Adventure, a computer-based adventure game designed to teach basic electrical theory. [View Figure 1] [View Figure 2] Automated Instructional Design and Development Dr. Halff was project manager and advisor to a series of projects, sponsored by the U. S. Air Force, to develop theory and applications for automating instructional design and development. The result of these efforts was a system that made it easy for subject-matter experts (otherwise naïve to computers) to develop intelligent interactive training. Extensive field tests showed that the system was easy to learn, easy to use, and that it produced highly effective instruction. XAIDA is a prototype system that lets you easily develop intelligent interactive courseware. Exercises like the one shown here were generated automatically from a knowledge base provided by the lesson’s author. Computer-Based Adventure Games for Training Dr. Halff designed and helped develop a series of computer-based adventure games for training and education. These games addressed training in basic electricity, in logistics, and in the psychophysiology of stress. Dr. Halff, as the result of these development efforts, has been able to demonstrate the overall effectiveness of the approach, and to formulate a set of design and development principles for similar games. Dr. Physio was a prototype adventure game that helped middle school students learn about the psychophysiology of stress. Pictured here is the SavannaDome, a location in the game where players conduct research on a troop of baboons to investigate the physiological concomitants of different types of stress. Web Places Dr. Halff was the architect of a recent proof-of-concept for a Department of Education sponsored approach to using the web in instruction. In contrast to conventional web-based training, Dr. Halff developed the notion that the web could best be used as a creative tool in the hands of students. The approach formulated therefore provided an environment for collaborative student development of educationally-relevant web sites by removing the barriers imposed by lack of technical skills. Students in a San Antonio high school used a prototype of Web Places to generate an on-line newspaper with editorial content on issues of concern to their school and students. Project Supervisor School Dr. Halff was co-designer of a major conventional training program for project managers in a major telecommunications company. He was responsible for design and development of a large volume of highly sophisticated simulation-based training in all aspects of the company’s project management system. Students in the Project Manager school learned by doing. The were provided with all the documents and other materials for a realistic project and practiced critical project-management skills in the context of this project. Most of the work was done in small groups, but the course also employed classroom discussion and presentation as well as homework. Selected Recent Publications Halff, H. M. (August, 2005). Adventure games for science education: Generative methods in exploratory environments. Paper presented at the Workshop on Educational Games as Intelligent Learning Environments, 12th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education, AI ED 05. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Halff, H. M., Hsieh, P. Y., Wenzel, B. M., Chudanov, T. J., Dirnberger, M. T., Gibson, E. G., & Redfield, C. L. (2003). Requiem for a development system: Reflections on knowledge-based, generative instruction. In T. Murray, S. Blessing, & S. Ainsworth (eds.), Authoring tools for advanced technology learning systems (pp. 33–60). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Wheeler, J. L., Miller, T. M., Halff, H. M., Fernandez, R., Halff, L. A., Gibson, E. G., & Meyer, T. N. (1999). Web Places: Project-Based Activities for At-Risk Youth. Current Issues in Education [On-line], 2 (6). Available at http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume2/number6/. Goettl, B. J., Halff, H. M., Redfield, C. L., & Shute, V. J. (Eds.) (1998). Intelligent tutoring systems: 4th international conference, ITS ’98 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1452). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Hsieh, P.Y., Halff, H.M. and Redfield, C.L. (1998). Four easy pieces: Development systems for knowledge-based generative instruction. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 9, 1–45, Also available at http://cbl.leeds.ac.uk/ijaied/. Wenzel, B. M., Dirnberger, M. T., Hsieh, P. Y., Chudanov, T. J., and Halff, H. M. (August, 1998). Evaluating subject matter experts’ learning and use of an ITS authoring tool. In B. P. Goettl, H. M. Halff, C. L. Redfield, & V. J. Shute (Eds.) Intelligent tutoring systems: 4th international conference, ITS ’98 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1452). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Halff, H. M. (November, 1994). Adventure games for technical education. Proceedings of the 16th Interservice/Industry Training Systems and Education conference. Orlando, FL: I/ITSEC. Halff, H. M. (1993). Supporting scenario- and simulation-based instruction. In J. M. Spector, M. C. Polson, and D. J. Muraida (Eds.) Automating Instructional Design: Concepts and Issues (pp. 231-248). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Halff, H. M. (1993). Prospects for automating instructional design. In J. M. Spector, M. C. Polson, and D. J. Muraida (Eds.) Automating Instructional Design: Concepts and Issues (pp. 67-131). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications. Halff, H. M. (1988). Curriculum and instruction in automated tutors. In M. Polson & J. J. Richardson (Eds.), Foundations of intelligent tutoring systems. Hillside, NJ: Erlbaum. |