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Imagination Station is the only hands-on family science center in the Greater Lafayette
area. It provides interactive exhibits ranging from computers, to dinosaurs, to simulators. The
Wind Tunnel exhibit is an interactive display whose purpose is to help learners gain an
understanding of the aerodynamic concept called drag. The Engine team has identified that more effective operating instructions and concept explanation/description would increase effectiveness at teaching the aerodynamic concept of drag to elementary and middle school students by their interactions with the Wind Tunnel exhibit. Based on discussions with the users of the exhibit, parents, teachers, administrators of Imagination Station, as well as research, we followed a systematic approach to conduct our design tasks. We analyzed the learning context, the learner characteristics, the learning task, and the assessment, and we set as our primary goal that: after observing and/or interacting with the Wind Tunnel, together with the instructional materials, the learner will be able to make cognitive connections integrating these observations, skills, and concepts with the newly-acquired concepts of cause/effect, airflow and drag. Finally, before we begin the development of instructional materials, we would like to provide our complete design document for review. |