Introduction:
Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) is a program that aims to diversify the number of underrepresented groups enrolled in the fields of computer science and computer engineering. The program help students gain the necessary research experience to consider graduate school. DREU also pairs students with a faculty mentor to guide and assist the student throughout the research experience.
Research Project:
The project is titled "Alex: Scaffolding Science Achievement in a Culturally Diverse Classroom: Bridging the Gap with Virtual Peers." The project aims to improve the standardized test scores of African American between the ages of 8-10 who communicates using an African American Vernacular English. The project studies the relationship between language communication and learning. The project aims to measure how a virtual peer named Alex enhances the kids communication skills. This summer our goal is to analyzed and finalized data retrieved from last year's study on peer to peer learning and perform more statistical data analysis on new data, and explore how kids from other cultural background respond to the virtual peer. (Needs revising with Mentor)