Sol y Agua: A Game-based Learning Platform to Engage Middle-school Students in STEM

Full paper, Research-to-Practice. With the nation's continuing shortage of scientists and engineers, there is an urgent need for diverse students, especially Hispanic students, to enter and complete science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education at all levels. Contributing factors to the low representation in STEM areas are the lack of Hispanic youth's exposure to engaging and relevant experiences with science in their early stages of development and the lack of Latino scientists as role models that are visible, tangible, real, and inspiring to their communities. In addition, student experiences in math and science in the middle grades have emerged as a "filter" that prevents many students from pursuing advanced STEM courses in high school and, therefore, limits their knowledge of and interest in exploring STEM subjects and careers later in their education. This paper presents a research-based approach to attract middle school students to STEM fields in a majority Hispanic region, using a game-based learning platform. The platform integrates computational thinking in the area of water conservation at middle-school level by using simulations and data visualization in concurrent learning modules. The concepts introduced in the platform are universal enough to be successfully employed in other geographical regions with different student demographics.