SBIR-STTR Award

There is a presently recognized need for improved geographical science education that can be met by the development of technologically innovative computer games. Therefore, this project will create a prototype adventure computer game (title) based on realistic role playing. It will run on a high performance platform, the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer system developed by Panasonic. The purpose of this project is to teach high school students facts and concepts in physical geography through particular phenomena of importance to the earth system. The planned prototype will be built on El Nino during Phase I of this project. This initial choice of El Nino is guided by previous work done on the development of computer-based educational material. The overall structure would allow the development of other titles that will be added during Phase II which will include monsoons and the exploration of the earth from space. The overall objective is for high school students to learn what El Nino is, how and why it forms, what its impact is, and how it is investigated by playing the scientist's role involved in its study. This will provide students with an introduction to the main disciplines of physical geography: meteorology, oceanography, climatology and some biology through El Nino causes and effects on weather, sea surface temperature, level of phytoplankton, and fish population. This project will also introduce the students to some of the new tools used by scientists studying physical geography and El Nino such as remote sensing and numerical/mathematical modeling. Finally, students will learn how major scientific investigations are performed and under what constraints. This project will have different levels of complexity from introductory physical geography (fact-based) to in-depth meteorology and oceanography (concept-based). Anticipated Results /Potential Commercial Applications as described by the awardee:During Phase I a prototype computer game will be developed and tested. The outcome of Phase II will be the final version of this game that will be marketed to high schools.

Two interactive educational science games: El Nino: Mystery of the Pacific and Mysteries of the Antarctic will be developed. These games are designed to be played interactively by teams in a classroom setting where role playing is required to meet the educational objectives. The educational components are based on up-to-date research topics and analysis tools using high-tech instrumentation on a simulated ocean-going research vessel. The object of the game is for players to organize and execute a scientific field experiment aimed at collecting scientific data to investigate aspects of the particular scientific topic and then analyze and publish the results. The games bring together various scientific issues and disciplines to form an integrated perspective of the Earth as a system. In Phase I, the entire El Nino game was mapped with about 15 entertaining educational modules, and a prototype was developed and tested. This prototype also allowed the determination of whether high school students like this type of approach to learning and, as importantly, whether they learn from it. Positive feedback was obtained on both issues. Phase II has two main objectives: (1) to fully develop the general framework of the development of a number of Earth System Science/Geography games and (2) to bring two games to the home and school markets which are able to run on personal computers. These games will incorporate instructional strategies and curriculum philosophies that are aligned with current reform efforts in the teaching of science (e.g., California Science Framework). To achieve these objectives, strategic alliances will be developed with the private sector, the government, and local schools, all of which have expressed a strong interest in the game.Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications as described by the awardee: This project should result in two games which will have an enormous potential commercial application. Contacts with high school teachers suggest that they are extremely interested in such products which bring together many scientific disciplines and allow students to learn about new technologies and scientific methods (e.g., modeling Earth Processes). Aligning these games to current state and national reforms in the teaching of science will make them attractive to science educators.