We’re thrilled to be participating in Google Summer of Code^™ (GSoC) for the fourth year running! Two international students will spend the summer coding for our open source projects. Through GSoC, they’ll earn stipends from Google, plus get a coveted GSoC t-shirt and certificate. Concord Consortium developers will provide mentorship.

Control of simulations with gesture input

An active area of research known as embodied cognition seeks to uncover the relationship between movement of the body and learning. The GRASP project at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Concord Consortium is investigating how motions of the hand and body contribute to students’ description and explanations of physical phenomena such as relationships of pressure, temperature and volume of a gas, or reasons behind the seasons. Part of the research will investigate if learning with models or simulations that provide explanations of these phenomena can be enhanced if the control of them is done through meaningful gestures of the hands.

Aniket Gupta will work with Curriculum Developer Nathan Kimball and Software Developer and GSoC 2012 student Piotr Janik to develop this program. Welcome, Aniket!

Create new interactives for Investigations curriculum units

The Interactions project was funded to design, develop and test an innovative, NGSS-inspired introductory high school science curriculum to support students in understanding the fundamental forces at the heart of physics, chemistry, biology and other scientific disciplines. A core part of our approach uses modeling and simulations to understand how interactions at the atomic level explain many phenomena and link together seemingly disparate scientific concepts.

Rishi Shah will develop new interactives with mentoring from Technology/Curriculum Developer Dan Damelin and Software Engineer Sam Fentress. Welcome, Rishi!