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PROJECT PROPOSAL version .00004
Objective
To educate kids about vaccines by introducing them to basic immunology concepts through an interactive multimedia website and by encouraging them to learn about a self-selected disease and its associated vaccine and to share their newfound knowledge as a contribution to the website.
Team
Marianne Harrison, Michelle Higa, Vincent Cheng; our TA is Paul Pasaba
Audience
Club DNA, a weekly after-school science club at the French American School (75 John Street) made of bilingual kids that are ages 7-10 (5th grade and below).
Sponsoring Teacher
Dr. Annie De Groot, assistant professor of Medicine at Brown University, teacher of Club DNA, CEO of EpiVax, and Director of TB/HIV Research Lab at Brown
Program Use
The project will be used both at the after-school science club and by the kids at home (perhaps with the help of their parents), as both a reference and a tutorial.
Meeting Schedule
Our group will meet weekly, Wednesdays at 5:30 pm. We will meet with Club DNA on Wednesdays, 3:00pm – 4:00 pm, as necessary. We will also be meeting with Dr. DeGroot on an as-needed basis.
Project Timetable
| February 14: | Revised project proposal |
| February 19: | Vaccines 101 w/ Julie McMurray |
| February 26: | Initial visit w/ Club DNA |
| March 14: | Completed storyboard, confirmation of authoring tools |
| April 16: | Beta Site |
| April 30: | Final Presentation |
Authoring Tools
The project needs to be accessible to any computer with internet capabilities. We would like to present information both through text and concept-demonstrating animations. Ultimately, we would like the site to be expandable by future Club DNA students.
Likely tools: Macromedia Director (Interactive Animations), Dreamweaver (HTML, Javascript), PHP (Dynamic web content)
Pending Program Description
We will create a website divided into three sections:
- Amy's First Shot
The first section will engage students by telling the story of Amy, who's scared about getting her first immunization shot. In this context, the students will learn about the basic concepts of immunology. The story will be divided into sections containing text narrative and interactive concept-demonstrating animations. Before moving to the next section of the story, the student will have to demonstrate knowledge of the concept illustrated in that section by answering a question raised by Amy. All answers will be followed by an explanatory paragraph of why the choice was correct/incorrect. - Vaccine library
The second section will be a library of student generated information on specific diseases and their associated vaccines. Students can read information about specific vaccines written by other students as well as research a vaccine of their own choice (links to relevant vaccine websites are suggested) and contribute their newfound knowledge to the library (final information must be approved by the teacher). - "Disease Destroyer" game
Finally, the third section will be a fun "Disease Destroyer" game that allows students to review their general knowledge about immunology as well as knowledge about specific diseases contained in the student generated library.
In the final version, all three sections will be integrated. We are still developing how we will cross-reference these learning tools.
Long-term dream
For this website to be used, not only year after year in Club DNA, but by other elementary school science programs as well, enabling students to cooperatively learn with one another, not just from year to year, but between schools.