the Link

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sgokPtYM4HkDlT9jw4T6RiNLxSmIAppZ/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_GhHcB84mbozaq0g-V0XapmxEonUh9UI/view?usp=sharing

A search tool focused on adding context & visual representation to scientific results. Know what information is most relevant, understand it, & keep heading on your scientific journey!

Focus of design decisions:

Prioritzing accessibility & ease of use

• use a combination of text, contrasting colours, & icons, improving access for those with colour-blindness
• minimize the need for a walkthrough or tutorials, reducing the potential of creating hard to follow instructions for those with ADHD, on the autism spectrum, or other learning disabilities

Functionality for users to ask creative questions

• provide a safe space for individuals who do not normall have opportunities to ask creative, ‘outrageous’, or courageous questions
• includes a question builder, using key terms to increase relevant search results

Visual representation of results

• 'cards' for each NASA Science Division, simplified descriptions, show the ‘strength’ of the result
• 'cards' for related resources, show relationship to the ‘parent’ resource & icon for the resource type

Context for various types of resources, enables users to continue their scientific journey

• 'cards' for related resources, based on the user’s choice of preferred results

How it Works:

Key Terms

• connecting words: ‘existed’, ‘did not exist’, ‘increases/decreases/changes’, ‘was made of’, ‘is made of’, ‘was/is’
• space objects: ‘the sun’, ‘the earth’, (planetary objects), ‘the universe’, ‘in space’
• common objects: ‘me’, ‘humans’, (animals), (objects), ‘water’, (science subject), (food), (common elements/molecules),
• attributes: ‘temperature’, ‘pressure’, ‘air composition’, ‘speed’, ‘distance’, ‘gravity’

Resource Result Types

• activity/experiment: a hands on activity that can have the individual investigate their question & discover their answer
• article/story: a scholarly or news article, video, or book, allowing the individual to see/read about an event
• web resource: websites with relevant inforation on the topic, may include aspects of all the others
• technology/application: a hardware or software techology, such as a game or data visualization tool

(Flow chart below)

Select the Key Terms for the ‘What If?’ Question Builder > Users selects ideal results > [SEARCH!] > ‘Strengths’ are updated (border thickness increases, related key terms populate, & number of linked key terms updates on each card) > below each Division ‘card’, are all of the related resource ‘cards’ & related key terms are updated (fig 3.) > [user can then investigate the results or ask another question]

Tools Used:

Figma

• planning, documentation, presentation, & wireframing

Web-based Software Framework

• React.js, HTML & CSS, Google Sites, GoDaddy Web Hosting

Goals:

• Improve instructional resources so they have have adjusted methods, language, & more defined steps
• Visual connectivity of nearly every scientific and educational resource on the web
• Data validation & rating of sources
• Context to be added to any scientific or technical term, article, activity
• Applicatioin to topics outside of science, impacting education as a whole

Focused on the following links & the pages related to them:

‘Sun’ - https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics

‘Earth’ - https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science

‘Space Experiments’ - https://science.nasa.gov/biological-physical

‘Universe’ - https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics

‘Solar System’ - https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system

Toolkits - https://science.nasa.gov/toolkits

The SpaceApps 2021 Experience:

• Getting teammates is a lot harder to do virtually
• Taking care of yourself is important (& a lot harder to do without organizers telling you to eat)
• A lot easier to focus, but also easier to fixate because of this

What inspired me?

I was considering impact beyond use of the solution in the space industry, or only by adults

• The user could be anyone, at any age who can use a computer
• The user may be visually impaired (colour-blindness, at this time)
• What if the user is neurodivergent? (ADHD specifically)
• What if a user does not have a safe space to learn in or does not feel encouraged to ask courageous questions?
• Can show relevant a result is based on the search terms in other ways than highlighting the word?
• I don’t always know best, the user should be able to select the type of results they want to see

A challenge solved from a place of passion, interest, impact, & compassion

The approach?

A documented a plan with a tentative timeline

• Planned for meal breaks
• Set a bed time & minimum time to sleep
• Planned to switch between tasks due to working alone
• Set timers for when I got stuck on tasks to allow me to pivot

Setbacks & Challenges

• a headache from more screen time than usual: went to bed early & followed my minimum sleep time rule
• learning curve of teaching myself React.js: resulted in a late night pivot but valuable concepts learned
• unable to complete a working prototype in a web application: used wireframes to create a representation of the intended web application
• many challenges were solved through documenting my ideas & thoughts at many stages using Figma

Tools:

Figma - figma.com

React.js - reactjs.org

Resources:

NASA Science - https://science.nasa.gov/

#education, #STEM, #learning, #teaching, #youth, #students, #allages, #diversity, #peopleofcolour, #accessiblity, #solo, #context, #datavisualization, #easeofuse, #intuitive

This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.