Mass Extinction: A Curated Game

麻省理工学院教育中心将与史密森学会合作，设计并开发《大灭绝》，这是一款为期八周的环境科学游戏，被提议作为一种名为“策划游戏”的新类型，是博物馆、社交网络和在线游戏的混合体。参与者将参与地球系统科学，研究与大灭绝相关的一系列环境问题。尽管游戏是围绕着一个虚构的场景构建的——与来自未来的游客进行交流——但游戏将假设一个受当前环境问题和条件影响的未来场景，并鼓励参与者运用系统思维来理解这些当前条件将如何导致潜在的环境破坏。因此，参与者有必要学习、应用和整合来自多个来源的知识和技能，包括地球科学、生态学、化学和古生物学。一个顾问委员会和有贡献的科学家将参与其中。项目团队将测试这样一个假设，即游戏将使11-14岁的青少年增加对科学过程的理解，并增加他们学习更多科学的动力。总结性评估将由TERC公司进行，并将出版《策划游戏手册》，传播项目成果，作为游戏学习新应用的典范。作为游戏一部分的开源软件将使非正式科学教育的未来开发者能够直接建立在这些基础努力之上。

MIT Education Arcade, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, will design and develop Mass Extinction, an eight-week environmental science game proposed as a new genre called the curated game, a hybrid of museum-going, social networking, and online gaming. Participants will engage in Earth systems science to study a range of environmental issues associated with mass extinction. Although the game is structured around a fictional scenario--communication with visitors from the future--the game will posit a future scenario affected by current environmental issues and conditions, and will encourage participants to apply systems thinking as a means to understand how these current conditions will lead to potential environmental disruptions. Thus, it will be necessary for participants to study, apply, and integrate knowledge and skills from multiple sources, including Earth science, ecology, chemistry, and paleontology. An Advisory Board and contributing scientists will be involved. The project team will test the hypothesis that the game play will allow youth, ages 11-14, to increase their understanding of the scientific process and increase their motivation to learn more science. The summative evaluation will be conducted by TERC Inc.A Curated Game Handbook will be produced to disseminate project results as a model for new applications of game-based learning. Open source software created as part of the game will enable future developers in informal science education to build directly upon these foundational efforts.