3-C INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT INC — Department of Education SBIR Phase II: Hall of Heroes will be a web-based game for fifth graders to engage with pedagogical agent

Description

Hall of Heroes will be a web-based game for fifth graders to engage with pedagogical agents (animated life-like characters) to solve tailored social problem solving tasks and build social skills to use in challenging situations. Instructional content will focus on six core Social Skill Units (Cooperation, Communication, Emotion Regulation, Empathy, Impulse Control, and Social Initiation) based on social learning research supporting the critical value of these skills for building and maintaining positive social interactions. Student performance will be continually monitored by the software so that the difficulty of the tasks can be adjusted, providing a scaffold for learning. All student interactions with the software will be tracked to calculate performance indices for each unit, as well as overall social skills levels and learning trends for specific social goals. The game will also include an implementation and reporting dashboard for teachers.