ISAPS Open System for Science Learning Games

April Fawson's picture
On Friday, September 26th, I attended the 1:15 to 2:00 p.m. lecture given by Matt Brinton regarding the science learning game that he, Jon Scoresby and Dr. Shelton are developing.  The game would teach science, technology, engineering and mathematic (STEM) content to 8th to12th grade students.
 
It is interesting that the government is sponsoring this initiative because they're concerned that not enough American students are learning the basic STEM principals nor applying to higher education institutions to become scientists, mathematicians, engineers etc.
 
The presentation was very informative .  Dr. Shelton and Matt Brinton pointed out in the lecture that they are in the beginning phases of the design process for their science learning game.  They've tested it with college students (Masters level) and those students had a hard time getting the concepts and functionality of the game down.
 
They expressed interest in getting designers, software programmers and the like to help create content and design games so that eventually an 8th grader will be able to play and learn STEM concepts.
 
I have teenagers and find the idea of learning through gaming very interesting.  I believe that finding new ways to teach old concepts is very worthwhile.
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Submitted by April Fawson on Sat, 09/27/2008 - 2:37pm

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Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual authors or commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, or Utah State University.