Users will be able to collaborate on lesson plans and engage in discussions with scholars and Facing History staff. Teaching ideas, carefully vetted links to online resources, study guides, and assessment tools are being developed. The Attention Trainer uses the principles of neurofeedback to teach children to improve their ability to pay attention. The computer game system outfits the child in a bicycle-style helmet equipped with sensors that monitor brain wave activity. That data is transmitted wirelessly to a base station hooked up to a computer.
Software provides games and keeps track of the child's progress.
When brain waves indicate that the child is paying attention, the child is more successful at the game. Astronauts, athletes and others have used neurofeedback as a way to improve concentration. Critics say a concentration drill using a book or puzzle may be as effective in modifying behavior. Soloway is convinced that handheld computers, at one-tenth the cost of desktops, are the key to student access to technology. The project at UM's Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education is funded by the National Science Foundation.