Events

Abstract

Research in the last two decades demonstrated strong connections between game-based learning and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education. I will review several theoretical and technological frameworks that leverage advances in video game designs, input sensing technologies, and virtual/augmented reality to develop educational games. I will then present some preliminary results in our lab that show how we can improve visuospatial skills of engineering students through scalable online training, and how it can build a more solid cognitive foundation for STEM. I will then discuss our recent attempt to systematically evaluate the effects of game-based embodied interactions and collaboration on improving spatial and computational thinking for young children, and how they transfer to learning of crosscutting concepts in STEM. I will conclude with our experiences in engaging teachers, students, and parents from local schools and underserved communities to participate in research to increase their exposure to evidence-based educational methods.

Biography

Wai-Tat Fu is an associate professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His research lies at the intersection of cognitive science and human-computer Interaction (HCI). Wai-Tat Fu received his PhD from George Mason University in Applied Cognitive Science. He then joined the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) at the User Interface Research group. He later became a post-doctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, focusing on computational cognitive modeling and Human-Computer Interaction. He joined UIUC in 2006. Wai-Tat Fu is the Associate Editor of the ACM Transactions on Intelligent Interactive Systems (TiiS) and the Topics in Cognitive Science journal. He is m the program chair of ACM IUI (Intelligent User Interfaces) 2017, the general chair of IEEE ICHI (Healthcare Informatics) 2016, and the program chair of IEEE ICHI 2015.