Solve Medical Mysteries

Leslie Miller

Science Scope Vol. 31, No. 3 (November 2007) pp. 26–29

Wondering how to make the study of the immune system and infectious agents more relevant to your students' lives? The online adventure series, Medical Mysteries, can provide the context and motivation. The series combines the drama of television's ...

Creating Virtual Experiments within a Web Adventure

Leslie Miller

E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2002 (2002) pp. 2679–2680

Can students learn the process of experimentation and scientific method though virtual experiments within a game environment? This was a central goal of a web adventure series, THE RECONSTRUCTORS™. Using Macromedia's Flash 5.0 and an engaging...

Topics: Schools, Students, Virtual Environments, Middle School Education, Teaching Methods

Designing Evaluations of Online Interactive Learning: A Case Study

Leslie Miller

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2005 (Jun 27, 2005) pp. 3600–3603

The creation of an effective web site must be grounded in educational theories of learning as well as represent recent research about best practices. But how does one know when these elements succeed in appealing to the intended audience and...

Topics: Learning Outcomes, Middle School Education, Evaluation

Role-Play Games as a Tool for STEM Career Inspiration and the Development of Scientific Possible Selves

Leslie Miller

Global Learn 2015 (April 2015) pp. 385–389

This paper describes ways that online simulations and serious games may impact the knowledge and motivation of middle and high school students with the ultimate goal of inspiring science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) careers....

Topics: Authentic, contextualized, and real-world learning, Games, Engineering

Girls' Preferences in Software Design: Insights from a Focus Group

Leslie Miller

Interpersonal Computing and Technology Journal Vol. 4, No. 2 (1996) pp. 27–36

A lack of gender-sensitive computer games exacerbates female disinterest in technology. Girls-only focus groups revealed phenomena that may help software developers awaken girls' enthusiasm for computing. For instance, girls placed a premium on...

Using Embedded Flash Interactives to Teach Science: Does Narrative Assist in Recall of Content?

Leslie Miller; Amy Crook

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2008 (Jun 30, 2008) pp. 4740–4745

The authors investigated whether using a narrative would facilitate science learning in an interactive multimedia game. Middle school students were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. Group 1 was presented with science content embedded...

Topics: Interaction, Multimedia, Science, Middle School Education, Students

Two Case Studies of the Impacts of STEM Career Simulations in Forensics and Clinical Trials Research

Leslie Miller; Kristi Bowling

Global Learn 2016 (Apr 28, 2016) pp. 246–251

Schools are often charged with the goal of inspiring science, technology, engineering and mathematical (STEM) careers as by-products of offering challenging curricula and extra-curricular options. While methods for addressing STEM career interest...

Topics: Game-based learning

Project OWLink: Distance Learning in Electronic Studios

Leslie M. Miller; Siva Kumari

Annual Distance Education Conference 1997 (January 1997)

Project OWLink is a teledistance project linking Rice University (Texas) to five Texas schools (one K-8 and four high schools) with a two-way audio/video and Internet connectivity, creating an interactive electronic community of teachers and...

Technology Acculturation among Adolescents: The School and Home Environments

Leslie Miller; Heidi Schweingruber; Christine Brandenburg

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2000 (2000) pp. 1694–1695

The greater prevalence of computer technology in the daily lives of middle school students is impacting their learning envrionment. Students of both genders and different levels of socio-economic status are well on their way to becoming part of...

Topics: Schools, Middle School Education, Students, Computers

Flash Forward to Problem-Based Science

Leslie Miller; Janice Mayes; Donna Smith

Science Scope Vol. 25, No. 3 (2001)

Describes the development and use of a web site designed to engage middle school students in problem-based learning while addressing science education standards related to cell biology, technology, social aspects of science, and the nature and...

Science and Technology Integration: Using Web Adventures to Teach Middle School Students about Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Yvonne Klisch; Leslie Miller; Amy Crook

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2009 (Mar 02, 2009) pp. 3666–3673

The challenges many science teachers face are an already crowded curriculum, requirements to integrate technology, and the pressures of high stakes testing. How is it possible to afford teachers a way to teach critical health/science content, raise...

CSI Web Adventures: A Forensics Virtual Apprenticeship for Teaching Science and Inspiring STEM Careers

Leslie Miller; Ching-I Chang; Daniel Hoyt

Science Scope Vol. 33, No. 5 (January 2010) pp. 42–44

CSI: The Experience, a traveling museum exhibit and a companion web adventure, was created through a grant from the National Science Foundation as a potential model for informal learning. The website was designed to enrich and complement the exhibit ...

Combining the Best of Television, Forensic Science, and Multimedia Pedagogy: Creating a CSI Website

Leslie Miller; Kelly Biddle; Charlie Walter

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2008 (Jun 30, 2008) pp. 766–770

A grant from the National Science Foundation provided support to develop a CSI forensics web adventure to accompany a traveling museum exhibit. Each partner organization represented a distinct point of view. Blending Hollywood and science through...

Topics: Science, Museums, Research Methods

CSI Web Adventures: Challenges and Outcomes of Building a Companion Forensics E-Learning Environment to Accompany a Museum Exhibit

Leslie Miller; Yvonne Klisch; Charlie Walter

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2010 (Jun 29, 2010) pp. 223–230

How can an online web adventure game format be used to teach substantive forensic science, made popular by the CSI television series and a current traveling museum exhibit? The recently created companion web site (http://forensics.rice.edu), funded...

Capturing the Past: How Technology Helped Middle School Students Learn History

Melinda Wolfrum; Leslie Miller; Donna Olde Smith

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2001 (2001) pp. 2069–2070

This paper describes how technology was central to the process and the outcomes of a middle school history project. The role of technology in the following areas is discussed: teacher instruction; student research; and presentation of student work....

Topics: Learning Outcomes, Social Studies, Students, Middle School Education

Teaching Science through Web Adventures

Janice Mayes; Donna Smith; Leslie Miller

EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2001 (2001) p. 1324

Two Types of Web Adventure Games: Feedback from Users

Leslie Miller; Janette Moreno; Donna Smith

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2004 (2004) pp. 1550–1552

The web adventure series, MEDMYST™ was created using Macromedia FLASH. The web site (http://medmyst.rice.edu) is part of a project funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resource. The focus is on teaching middle...

Topics: Health, Middle School Education

Using Web-based Multimedia Narrative and Simulations to Teach about Drugs of Abuse

Leslie Miller; Janette Moreno; Janice Mayes

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2004 (2004) pp. 3959–3961

The web adventure series, THE RECONSTRUCTORS® was created in a comic book style using Macromedia FLASH to teach middle school students about the neurobiology and history of two classes of drugs, opiates and club drugs. The web-based approach is...

Topics: Middle School Education, Learning Objects

Problem-based Learning and Flash 4.0: An Experiment in Science Education

Leslie Miller; Janice Mayes; Donna Smith

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2000 (2000) p. 1825

How does one design learning resources that will reach large audiences, capture the imagination, and compete with the game environments that are popular among of middle school students? The Reconstructors is a new episodic adventure series,...

Topics: Students, Middle School Education, Social Studies

Guided versus Exploratory Paths: Who Chooses Which Path and Why?

Amy Crook; Leslie Miller; Margaret Beier

World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2007 (Oct 15, 2007) pp. 2432–2439

To increase learner control, satisfaction, and knowledge construction, online learning programs can provide multiple pathways within modules. Users may prefer to view content in differing formats or sequences. In the current study, age, goal...

Science Games and the Development of Scientific Possible Selves

Margaret E. Beier; Leslie M. Miller; Shu Wang

Cultural Studies of Science Education Vol. 7, No. 4 (December 2012) pp. 963–978

Serious scientific games, especially those that include a virtual apprenticeship component, provide players with realistic experiences in science. This article discusses how science games can influence learning about science and the development of...

Anchoring Instruction in a Web-based Adventure Game: How does it work?

Janette Moreno; Donna Smith; Janice Mayes; Leslie Miller

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2002 (2002) pp. 2128–2132

How does one capture best practice from the paradigms of situated learning and anchored instruction and combine that with the powerfully engaging multimedia gaming environments that are popular with adolescents? Is it possible to design a game with...

Topics: Students, Science, Schools, Middle School Education, Instructional Design

Teaching the Biological Consequences of Alcohol Abuse through an Online Game: Impacts among Secondary Students

Yvonne Klisch; Leslie M. Miller; Margaret E. Beier; Shu Wang

CBE - Life Sciences Education Vol. 11, No. 1 (March 2012) pp. 94–102

A multimedia game was designed to serve as a dual-purpose intervention that aligned with National Science Content Standards, while also conveying knowledge about the consequences of alcohol consumption for a secondary school audience. A tertiary...

Constructing Web-based Adventure Games that Teach: A Model that Works

Leslie Miller; Moreno Janette; Estsrera Vicky; Mayes Janice; Donna Smith

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2003 (2003) pp. 888–891

How does one move from science concepts to final production of an interactive web adventure? What are the processes, the incremental steps, and the challenges involved? How do you test the web adventure's learning outcomes and usability? The answers ...

Topics: Middle School Education, Health, Learning Outcomes

The Impact of a Science Education Game on Students' Learning and Perception of Inhalants as Body Pollutants

Yvonne Klisch; Leslie M. Miller; Shu Wang; Joel Epstein

Journal of Science Education and Technology Vol. 21, No. 2 (April 2012) pp. 295–303

This study investigated the knowledge gains and attitude shifts attributable to a unique online science education game, "Uncommon Scents." The game was developed to teach middle school students about the biological consequences of exposure to toxic...

Middle School Students’ Technology Practices and Preferences: Re-Examining Gender Differences

HEIDI SCHWEINGRUBER; CHRISTINE L. BRANDENBURG; LESLIE M. MILLER

Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia Vol. 10, No. 2 (2001) pp. 125–140

Previous research has suggested that a host of factors such as lack of role models, access, learning styles, social expecta-tions, and the absence of gender-sensitive computer games are, in part, responsible for differences in female representa-tion ...

An Online, Interactive Approach to Teaching Neuroscience to Adolescents

Leslie Miller; Janette Moreno; Irmgard Willcockson; Donna Smith; Janice Mayes

CBE - Life Sciences Education Vol. 5, No. 2 (2006) pp. 137–143

Most of today's students are skilled in instant messaging, Web browsing, online games, and blogs. These have become part of the social landscape and have changed how we learn and where we learn. The question becomes how to harness the attractiveness ...

Learning and motivational impacts of a multimedia science game

Leslie M. Miller; Ching-I. Chang; Shu Wang; Margaret E. Beier; Yvonne Klisch

Computers & Education Vol. 57, No. 1 (August 2011) pp. 1425–1433

The power of a web-based forensic science game to teach content and motivate STEM careers was tested among secondary students. More than 700 secondary school students were exposed to one of the three web-based forensic cases for approximately 60 min....

Language: English

Topics: Post Secondary Education