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How did you discover your passion or find your career?
你如何发现自己的兴趣点或者找到喜欢的职业？
Were you exposed to it? Or was it trial and error?
是它们自己找上门来？还是你不断地主动尝试寻找？
As child rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman said, "You can't be what you can't see."
正如儿童权益拥护者玛丽安·赖特·埃德尔曼所说：“你无法变成一个你不了解样子。”
Fortunately, we now live in a time when emerging technologies may help us to solve this problem.
幸运的是，我们生活在一个新兴技术可以帮我们解决此问题的时代。
For the past two years, I've been developing an extended reality program
在过去的两年里，我在开发一个扩展现实项目，
that enables middle school students from across the country to take on the role of a marine biologist
它让全国的中学生能够扮演海洋生物学家，
even if they've never seen the ocean.
哪怕它们从来没有见过大海。
As one seventh grader who recently completed our program said,
正如一个七年级的学生最近完成了我们的项目后说：
"I could see myself as a scientist, because I enjoyed this game."
“我可以把自己看作一个科学家，因为我喜欢这个游戏。”
This feedback really excited me, because too few students do see themselves as scientists.
这一反馈让我十分的激动，因为很少有学生真的把他们自己视作科学家。
A 2014 study showed that 57 percent of eighth- and ninth-grade students said, "Science isn't me."
一个2014年的研究表明，57%的八年级和九年级学生认为“科学不适合我。”
Coincidentally, also in 2014, I met Mande Holford, a marine biochemist, and Lindsay Portnoy, an educational psychologist.
很巧的是，也是在2014年，我遇见了一位海洋生物学家，曼德·霍福德；还有一位教育心理学家，林赛·波特努瓦。
The three of us shared a passion for getting students excited by and comfortable with science.
我们三个有一个共同的爱好，就是让学生们适应并且爱上科学。
We thought about how we could give children the most realistic experience of a scientific career.
我们思考如何能给孩子们带来一个最真实的科学职业体验。
We discussed the research; it showed that students felt comfortable taking risks when playing games.
我们讨论了这个研究，它表明学生能够在玩游戏时很自然地冒险。
So the three of us started an educational games company to bring science to life.
所以我们三个成立了一个教育性质的游戏公司，赋予科学以生命。
Virtual reality seemed like a low-cost way of increasing access.
虚拟现实看起来是个低成本的扩大受众群体的方式。
In addition, academic research has shown that virtual reality may lead to increases in learning retention.
此外，有学术研究表明，虚拟现实或许能增强学习的记忆力。
This was perfect for us, as we wanted to be in schools so that we could reach the most number of students possible,
这对我们来说再好不过了，因为我们想在学校里实施，这样我们就可以接触到尽可能多的学生，
particularly students who have been underrepresented in science.
尤其是那些很少接触科学的学生。
So, with funding from the National Science Foundation,
在获得了国家科学基金会的支持后，
we began developing our extended reality program that combined virtual reality with personalized digital journaling.
我们开始创办扩展现实项目，它结合了虚拟现实（VR）和个性化数字日志。
We worked with teachers while developing it to ensure that it would fit seamlessly into existing curricula
我们在研发过程中和教师们一起工作，这样可以保证该项目能和现有课程的无缝对接，
and empower teachers to use cutting-edge technology in their classroom.
并且老师们能够在课堂上使用先进的技术。
We designed the virtual reality for Google Cardboard,
我们为Google Cardboard设计了虚拟现实体验，
which requires only a smartphone and a 10 dollar VR viewer made of cardboard.
只需要一部智能手机和一个成本只有10美元、用硬纸板制成的VR查看器。
With this inexpensive headset, students are transported to an underwater expedition.
有了这个便宜的装置，学生们参与了一次水下考察。
Students use their digital journal to write down their notes,
学生们用电子日志记笔记，
to answer questions, to construct models and to develop hypotheses.
回答问题，构建模型，并提出假说。
Students then go to the virtual world to test their hypotheses and see if they're accurate,
之后，学生们进入虚拟世界来验证他们的假说，看它们是否正确，
much as scientists go to the field in their careers.
就像科学家们在他们的工作中去实地考察一样。
When students return to their digital journal, they share their observations, claims, reasoning and evidence.
当学生们回到了电子日志，他们会分享自己的观察、主张、推理还有证据。
The students' written answers and virtual interactions are all updated live in an educator assessment dashboard,
学生们写下的答案还有虚拟的互动，都会在一个教育评估操作界面被实时更新，
so that teachers can follow their progress and support them as needed.
这样老师们就可以监督他们的进度，并在他们需要的时候给予帮助。
To give you a better sense, I'm going to show you a little bit of what students see.
为了使你们有一个更直观的感受，我下面要向大家展示学生们看到的一些东西。
This is the virtual reality when they're underwater observing the flora and fauna.
这个虚拟现实片段的内容是，他们正在水下观察动植物群。
This is the digital journal where they're constructing their models based on this abiotic data to show what they expect to see.
利用这个电子日志，他们能根据这些非生物数据建立模型，来展示他们希望看到的东西。
Here, they're supporting that with qualitative statements.
这里，他们正用定性的陈述来支持他们的模型。
And this is the educator dashboard that shows progress and enables to see the students' answers as they go.
这个是教育操作界面，能够显示学生的进度，并且让老师们看到进展过程中学生们的答案。
When we were creating BioDive, again, we really wanted to focus on access,
需要强调的是，当我们设计BioDive时，我们想聚焦在访问性上，
so we designed it to require only one phone for every four students.
所以在设计时，让它支持每四名学生只能用一部手机。
We also knew how collaborative science work is,
我们也知道科学工作多么需要合作，
so we constructed the experience to only be solved through collaborative teamwork,
所以我们设计的这些体验只能通过合作完成，
as each student is an expert in a different geographic location.
每个学生在不同的地理位置是名专家。
Given that these children's brains are still developing, we limited each experience to last a maximum of two minutes.
鉴于这些孩子们的大脑仍在发育，我们将每次体验的时长限制在两分钟内。
And finally, because we know the importance of repeated exposure for internalizing knowledge,
最后，我们知道反复温习对于内化知识十分重要，
we constructed BioDive to take place over five class periods.
于是设计让BioDive延续超过五个课时。
We started piloting BioDive in 2017 in 20 schools in New York and New Jersey.
我们于2017年开始在纽约和新泽西的20所学校试验BioDive。
We wanted to see students as they were using this new technology.
我们想观察学生们使用这项新技术。
In 2019, now, we are now piloting in 26 states.
在2019年，也就是现在，我们已经在26个州进行试用。
What we have heard from teachers who have taught our program:
我们听教过这个项目的老师们说：
"It was a nice way to show ocean dynamics without the luxury of actually being there since we are in Ohio."
“鉴于我们在俄亥俄州，这是一种不需要花大价钱就能向学生展示海洋动力学的方式。”
"It's pretty mind-blowing." "The students were totally engaged."
“这十分令人兴奋。”“学生们完全参与了进来。”
But what really gives us hope is what we're hearing from students.
但是真正给了我们希望的是我们从学生那儿听到的话。
"I liked how it felt like I was there." "It's interactive and a fun way to learn."
“我喜欢那种身临其境的感觉。”“这是一种互动性且有趣的学习方式。”
"It really gave me realistic examples of how these organisms appear."
“这给了我一个实例，让我知道这些生物长什么样子。”
"I could see myself as a scientist because it seems really fun."
“我感觉自己就像科学家，因为这看起来很有趣。”
Our feedback wasn't always so positive.
不过我们得到的反馈不总是好的。
When we began developing, we started off by asking students what they liked,
我们刚开始研发时，我们从问学生他们喜欢什么，
what they didn't like and what they found confusing.
不喜欢什么，还有他们对什么感到疑惑开始。
Eventually we began asking what they wished they could do.
最后我们问他们：他们希望自己能干什么。
Their feedback gave us concrete items to build in to be sure that
他们的回答让我们知道具体应该在项目中加入什么，
we were including student voices in what we were designing.
以保证我们在设计的项目中融合了学生们的愿望。
Overall, what we have learned is that this is the beginning of a new platform
总的来说，我们了解到这是一个新平台的开始，
for giving students both voice and ownership in deciding how they want to have impact in their careers.
它给学生们在决定如何对自己未来的职业造成影响上提供了发声的机会和所有权。
We focused on science, because we know we need scientists to help us solve our current and future challenges.
我们把精力集中在科学上，因为我们知道人类需要科学家来解决现有的和未来的挑战。
But virtual reality could support students in any area.
不过，虚拟现实可以在各个领域帮到学生。
How could we support students in exploring all of their desires with these eye-opening experiences and chances to learn from primary sources?
我们如何利用这些令人大开眼界的经历和从主要资源中学习的机会，来帮助学生探索他们的愿望？
Could we create VR for inexpensive headsets that lets them be immersed in oral literature or in critical moments of human history?
我们可以为廉价的耳机添加VR功能，让学生们沉浸在口头文学中，或者历史上的重要时刻吗？
Extended reality has the potential to change the trajectory of our children's lives
扩展现实有能力改变孩子们生活的方式，
and lead them to careers they never imagined by giving them the chance to see what they can be. Thank you.
通过给他们机会看到自己能成为什么样的人，带他们体验自己从未想象过的职业。谢谢。
