A comparatively comprehensive description about the Jasper Project could by found at the Web site: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/projects/funded/jasper/ The following paragraphs is a edit effort of the introduction of the Project.
The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt developed and conducted their Jasper Experiment. The Jasper Project details the creation/development of The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury a seven-year effort of the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt University.
The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury consists of 12 videodisc-based adventures (plus video based analogs, extensions and teaching tips) that focus on mathematical problem finding and problem solving. Each adventure is designed from the perspective of the standards recommended by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). In particular, each adventure provides multiple opportunities for problem solving, reasoning, communication and making connections to other areas such as science, social studies, literature and history.
Jasper adventures are designed for students in grades 5 and up. Each videodisc contains a short (approximately 17 minute) video adventure that ends in a complex challenge. The adventures are designed like good detective novels where all the data necessary to solve the adventure (plus additional data that are not relevant to the solution) are embedded in the story. Jasper adventures also contain "embedded teaching" episodes that provide models of particular approaches to solving problems. These episodes can be revisited on a "just-in-time" basis as students need them to solve the Jasper challenges.
The Jasper laserdisc adventures are unique in that they present a believable story that has interesting characters, a complex and important challenge, and extensions to a variety of curricular areas. To solve the challenge, the students use problem-solving skills, mathematics concepts and skills, and the laserdisc to find information that was presented as part of the story. The laserdisc provides instant access to any part of the story and perfect image clarity when an image is frozen on the screen.
The Adventures of Jasper Woodbury materials are designed to bridge the gap between natural learning environments and school learning environments. Designed to be used in typical classroom situations, they provide teachers many of the advantages of natural learning environments. They provide a common context for instruction, an authentic task, and a chance to see that school knowledge can be used to solve real problems.
In addition, the series was developed with a set of principles that the designers believe are important in developing problem-solving skills. One of these principles is an "embedded data design." In other words, the data needed to solve the overall problem are found in the story. Students must go to the laserdisc for data they will use to solve the various subproblems and eventually, the overall problem. Secondly, the overall problem is a complex one that the students must solve by generating and solving the interconnected subproblems in order to solve the overall problem.
The Jasper series is based on the assumption that thinking is enhanced by access to powerful concepts and not simply through access to a general set of thinking skills. Therefore, Jasper is designed to teach thinking in contexts that are rich in content as well as in the need for general strategies.
Jasper is a case-based learning, problem-based learning, and project-base learning. More specifically, Jasper series represents an example of problem-based learning that has been modified to make it more useable in K-12 settings. These modifications include the use of a visual story format to present problems, plus the use of "embedded data" and "embedded teaching" to seed the environment with ideas relevant to problem solving. Jasper is also designed to set the stage for subsequent project-based learning. Its overall goal is to help students transform "mere facts" into "powerful conceptual tools."
Examples of important concepts taught in the context of Jasper include the idea of making predictions about a population by extrapolating from a sample that is representative of that population, creating scale models that allow one to make inferences about "the real thing," using invariant mathematical properties of simple shapes such as triangles and squares to "measure the earth," representing events as functions (rather than single numerical values) and converting them into SMART Tools for solving a wide variety of problems. These ideas require a great deal of specific content knowledge: specific knowledge about what makes a sample representative and how to extrapolate from it to the total population, specific knowledge of the invariant mathematical properties of triangles such as isosceles right triangles and why they are so useful for measurement. Jasper adventures help students understand the specific knowledge relevant to the content of the adventure and use that knowledge to guide their thinking.
For more information about the Adventure Preview, please refer to the Web site: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/projects/funded/jasper/preview/AdvJW.html