May 2004 — Exclusive Series: SBR

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IES Funded Projects

Recent evidence suggests that preparation of early literacy skills must occur prior to kindergarten entry. This study will examine the efficacy of LeapFrog SchoolHouse's "Ready, Set, Leap!" (RSL) literacy curriculum with at-risk preschool children. The RSL curriculum focuses on important literacy skills (e.g., phonemic awareness and the alphabetic principle) that are essential to reading success in the first grade. The RSL curriculum is an interactive approach to learning that uses multisensory technology (e.g., a LeapPad Learning System from LeapFrog SchoolHouse) and engaging literature to support literacy development. Preliminary research findings indicate that the program results in meaningful literacy learning outcomes for young children.

The Media Group of Connecticut Inc.

Remarkable Reading Machine: A Video/Electronic Media Training Program of Evidence-Based Interventions to Strengthen Emergent Literacy Skills of At-Risk Children from Low-Income Families in any Childcare Setting.
Principal investigator: Harvey Bellin
Too many children enter kindergarten unprepared to learn how to read. New research offers reliable emergent literacy interventions for at-risk preschoolers. But parents and caregivers most in need of this training are the ones least likely to know that it exists. This project will create a highly motivational video/electronic media training program for children and their parents and/or caregivers. The resulting product will be a low-cost, easy-to-use, easily replicated, empirically tested, evidence-based training program that will strengthen the emergent literacy skills of at-risk preschoolers from poor families in any child-care setting.

USteach Inc.

Synchronized Multimedia E-Book Development for Reading Fluency and Comprehension.
Principal investigator: Robert Berdan
In this research and development project, the team will demonstrate improvement in children's reading fluency and comprehension through sustained interaction with computer-based multimedia e-books. Second- and third-graders will read e-books, and their reading performance will be compared to students reading without computer support or with another computer-based reading program.

Quantum Simulations Inc.

Phase II: Artificial Intelligence Software for Student Assessment in Chemistry.
Principal investigator: Dale Holder
Online: www.quantumsimulations.com/home.html
The goal of this project is to advance the state of the art in chemistry education software. The focus of this innovation is the development of meaningful interactive tutoring and assessment capabilities for chemistry problem solving. More than just assigning a grade, meaningful opportunities will be created to learn directly from the assessment itself. The technology will benefit all students; however, it is specifically targeted to help those of greatest need, such as students of average or marginal performance and students from historically underserved groups, by lowering barriers to accessing high-quality instructional software.

The NeuronFarm LLC

Training the Tutors: Literacy e-courses.
Principal investigator: Mina C. Johnson-Glenberg
Online: www.neuronfarm.com/home.html
Literacy tutors have been very successful in positively affecting the outcomes of struggling readers. However, tutor training is, at present, both costly to deliver and highly variable in quality. In this project, we will develop a set of eight e-courses based on empirically verified principles of learning and effective literacy instruction, and designed to improve tutor training. These e-courses should reach more than a thousand tutors in the first year. At the same time, experiments embedded in the e-courses will enable us to evaluate the efficacy of interactivity and pop quizzes.

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"IES Funded Projects," T.H.E. Journal, 5/1/2004, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/16787

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