Jameel World Education Lab supports 11 MIT research projects exploring innovative solutions to pressing educational needs
The Education Innovation Grant program, now in its eighth year, powers MIT research in interdisciplinary subjects that address barriers to education.
By Carolyn Tiernan
The Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) at MIT Open Learning has awarded $749,768 in Education Innovation Grants to support 11 research projects proposed by investigators in nine departments, labs, centers, and institutes across MIT. Since 2017, J-WEL’s Education Innovation Grants have enabled MIT educators and researchers to develop novel teaching methods, pioneer new tools for learning, and connect evidence and ideas to address barriers to education.
“The projects we are supporting this year take on needs and opportunities that are top-of-mind for MIT faculty and their counterparts across the world,” said Anjali Sastry, J-WEL faculty director. “Researchers will be working with artificial intelligence tools — GPTs and other large language models, chatbots, and robots — to support learning. They will explore novel low-tech ways to bring underserved audiences into STEM education. Others will develop new materials, tools, and curriculum to improve equity and quality of learning experiences. These projects, along with dozens more we have supported since 2017, further J-WEL’s global mission of education designed for everyone to thrive.”
Research supported by the Education Innovation Grants align to one or more of J-WEL’s three frontiers of innovation: Campus as Catalyst, Pathways for Talent, and Architecting Learning. To date, over $5.8 million in grant funding has been awarded, with research findings shared with J-WEL’s global membership base and the MIT community at large via events, academic publications, open online resources, J-WEL’s member platform, and more.
“Not only does J-WEL prioritize projects that support one of our three frontiers of innovation, but we also seek out proposals that are relevant to educators and learners in the Global South, where most of our members are located,” said Maria Segala, J-WEL’s data, reporting, and grants administrator. “We are proud that this work continues to drive innovation in education, and we look forward to sharing the findings and impact of these research projects.”
The 2024 Education Innovation Grant projects and researchers are:
Interactive social robots for nurturing social-emotional skills in Arabic-speaking refugee children through culturally sensitive design and algorithms
Sharifa Alghowinem, research scientist, MIT Media Lab
Hae Won Park, research scientist, MIT Media Lab
Refugee children from Arabic-speaking countries face integration challenges due to language barriers, literacy struggles, and social-emotional difficulties. Existing methods often fail to preserve their native language and cultural identity, impacting their education and well-being. Alghowinem and Park will develop an AI-driven social robot platform that aims to address these needs with customized Arabic automatic speech recognition, text to speech, and interactive applications. This platform will enhance reading, vocabulary, and social-emotional learning through culturally sensitive interactions.
ASCENDANT MATH: Automation in simulations to create experiences for nuanced decisions among novices teaching mathematics
Erin Barno, research affiliate, Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Justin Reich, associate professor, Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Novice teachers need realistic practice experiences and focused feedback before entering the classroom. Depending on the type of practice, novice teachers might not receive timely feedback, or feedback may not be focused enough for the teacher to incorporate into their practices. Utilizing the digital platform, Teacher Moments, Barno’s team will address this challenge by offering clinical simulations where educators rehearse and reflect on teaching decisions through video, images, and text. These simulations help teachers practice daily improvisational interactions and foster equity awareness in classrooms.
Games for climate education: developing game-based facilitation of the En-ROADS climate simulator
Lana Cook, associate director of the MIT Systems Awareness Lab
Eric Klopfer, professor and director of the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program and head of Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Climate Interactive’s innovative climate change simulator En-ROADS has been very successful in engaging participants to think about the impact of alternative policies and actions to mitigate and reverse the effects of climate change. Yet, meaningful shifts in understanding, policy, and action require education and understanding at massively greater scales than are currently possible with the En-ROADS facilitation model. Expanding on prior work, Cook and Klopfer seek to explore game-based facilitation and the scaling of such a solution.
The long-run effects of education quality: schools, cognitive and non-cognitive investments, and teachers and their impacts on schooling and labor market outcomes
Sharada Dharmasankar, postdoctoral associate, Department of Economics and Blueprint Labs
Joshua Angrist, Ford Professor of Economics, Department of Economics
High-quality schools and teachers significantly impact student success, including academic achievement and labor market outcomes. Using administrative data from Texas, Dharmasankar will identify the links between school quality and adult outcomes like earnings and college attainment. Initial findings suggest late middle school and early high school are critical periods. The project aims to identify which schooling periods most influence long-term success and inform policymakers on resource allocation across grades and schools.
An educational module for creating modern electronics in the undergraduate STEM laboratory program
Long Ju, assistant professor, Department of Physics
Modern electronics, influenced by transistors, have revolutionized society. However, high costs and limited resources hinder hands-on learning experiences with this technology for undergraduates. The 2022 CHIPS Act aims to address this by refreshing education programs. Addressing the need for hands-on learning opportunities, Long will create an educational module, including an experimental kit, for photolithography and procedures for fabricating graphene-based transistors. The module will be tested in the Physics Junior Lab and shared with other universities through a workshop.
Empowering global synthetic biology learners using a robotic cloud lab network for enabling collaborative, scalable research projects
David S. Kong, research scientist, MIT Media Lab
To enhance bio literacy and engagement with synthetic biology, Kong aims to expand the MIT Media Lab course, How to Grow (Almost) Anything, by creating a global “robotic cloud lab network,” allowing users without regular access to wet labs the opportunity to experiment and create. This network, organized by MIT, Harvard researchers, and supported by global teaching assistants, will provide community labs with programmable robots and supplies and a handbook to guide learning exercises. In Spring 2025, Kong will execute a global research project on protein therapies for antibiotic-resistant bacteria across the robotic cloud lab network.
NeuroChat: bridging the gap in personalized education through physiological sensing integration in AI-based adaptive learning platforms
Nataliya Kosmyna, research scientist, MIT Media Lab
Pattie Maes, Professor of Media Technology and Germeshausen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Lab
Generative AI could revolutionize education by offering personalized learning, but its implementation remains uncertain. The novelty of chatbots may fade, and improper management of learning speeds could widen achievement gaps. Addressing these challenges, Kosmyna aims to develop an adaptive learning platform, called NeuroChat, using brain sensing biofeedback and generative AI that will aim to personalize responses based on cognitive states. Working with platforms such as Khan Academy, NeuroChat seeks to provide customized support, enhancing individual learning paths and potential.
SIDAI — Scope, Ideate, and Develop with Artificial Intelligence: developing and evaluating a web-based platform and a chatbot teaching assistant for teaching problem-solving in higher education
Rea Lavi, digital education lecturer and curriculum designer, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Organizations are emphasizing creative problem solving, system analysis, and conscientious decision-making to tackle complex, ill-structured problems. Active learning supports these skills but its implementation faces barriers like large class sizes, preparation time, and student resistance. Generative AI integration in education is complex but promising. Through the development of SIDAI, a web-based platform, and its chatbot Sid, Lavi intends to create tools that assist in active learning and provide personalized feedback to students, aiming to enhance teaching and learning experiences.
Bridging the vocabulary divide: using conversational AI agents to develop vocabulary skills in children from lower socioeconomic status
Ola Ozernov-Palchik, research scientist, McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Fabio Catania, postdoctoral fellow, McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Satra Ghosh, principal research scientist, McGovern Institute for Brain Research
John D. E. Gabrieli, Grover Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Cognitive Neuroscience, McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Vocabulary knowledge is crucial for reading achievement and school completion, but knowledge gaps due to socioeconomic status persist. Current school approaches fail to close these gaps due to lack of scalability. Ozernov-Palchik, Catania and team will develop a speech-based LLM-empowered conversational tutor to enhance vocabulary knowledge in third and fourth graders from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. It will use best practices in vocabulary instruction through read-aloud digital books and explicit word teaching. Systematic evaluations will measure its effectiveness and educational impact.
Remixable resources to expand creative learning opportunities with OctoStudio
Natalie Rusk, research scientist, MIT Media Lab
Led by MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group, Rusk will create remixable educational resources for the OctoStudio mobile coding app. These resources will help educators in the Global South and beyond engage students in creative, project-based learning, building skills like creative thinking and problem-solving. The project includes educator guides, workshop slides, coding cards, and sample projects, all designed with input from diverse cultural contexts and available in multiple languages.
Bridging STEM education gaps: fostering aspirations through learning festivals and deployable learning toolkits in underserved American communities
J. Kim Vandiver, professor and director of the Edgerton Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Education quality often lags in rural areas and correctional facilities due to funding disparities. For over a decade, MIT Spokes, a student-led team committed to narrowing the educational gap in STEM disciplines among rural, low-income, and underserved communities nationwide, has cycled cross-country, delivering STEM workshops to elevate aspirations and provide resources. They implement hands-on learning kits during one-day festivals, tailored to community needs. By engaging with stakeholders and refining their approach, Spokes aims to maximize impact and open opportunities for students unfamiliar with institutions like MIT.
Originally published at jconnector.mit.edu/.