STEM Escape: Immersing urban and rural families in a biomedical mystery

逃生室是一种引人入胜且越来越受欢迎的游戏形式，在这种形式下，一队 玩家被“锁”在一个房间里，面临着解决一系列嵌入叙事的谜题的挑战 在房间的文物中，以便在设定的时间内“逃脱”。加州大学 古生物博物馆，与堪萨斯大学自然历史博物馆和加州大学合作 旨在开发、评估和传播一种“严肃的游戏”(即一种游戏 为娱乐以外的目的而设计)基于逃生室模型。我们的 旅行/可借的弹出式逃生房间和相关的扩展活动将吸引不同的家庭 (8岁及以上)在博物馆和图书馆解决一个教授基本知识的生物医学之谜 生物学中的概念，参与批判性思维和协作技能，并激发对 生物医学职业。STEM Escape将解决与NGSS一致的内容，这些内容是医学研究的核心 特别是，它将交流关于进化关系的基本概念，这是一个与 与多种医疗应用的相关性，例如确定新出现的 传染病，跟踪宿主内疾病的发展，并确定新的药物。 该项目旨在为周围更广泛的家庭互动奠定基础 科学内容和生物医学事业。身临其境的游戏将由一套独奏来补充 以及讲解员主导的后续活动，强化关键概念并强调 玩家在游戏和生物医学研究生涯中的经验。学员还将收到外卖 媒体(例如，活动手册)，突出了NIH资助的不同研究人员的直接工作 依赖于进化模式/过程。护理者可以选择接收后续电子邮件 提供免费的家庭活动。主题充气弹出式房间将是轮椅无障碍的 教材将以英语和西班牙语双语编写。 STEM逃生体验将与不同的观众一起参观并为他们开发 城市/郊区自然历史博物馆和图书馆，以及与农村家庭一起和为他们服务，我们 将通过乡村图书馆传播。该项目还将制作和评估一套辅助材料。 以促进机构采用和部署这一经验。全国九个主机站点 已承诺主办该房间(另外两个地点正在规划阶段)，并在 生活的赠与，这个房间将继续产生影响，作为一个可租用的巡回展览。从长远来看，这 该计划将提高公众对与医学相关的进化内容的理解，增加 对生物医学职业的兴趣，特别是在目标服务不足的群体中，并改善我们的 理解沉浸式游戏如何服务于教育目标。

Escape rooms are an engaging and increasingly popular game format in which a team of players is “locked” in a room and challenged to solve a series of narrative-embedded puzzles encoded in the room's artifacts in order to “escape” within a set period of time. The University of California Museum of Paleontology, with partners University of Kansas Natural History Museum and the California Academy of Sciences, aim to develop, evaluate, and disseminate a “serious game” (i.e., a game designed for a purpose other than entertainment) based on the escape room model. Our traveling/loanable pop-up escape room and associated extension activities will engage diverse families (ages 8 and up) in museums and libraries in solving a biomedical mystery that teaches fundamental concepts in biology, engages critical-thinking and collaboration skills, and stimulates interest in biomedical careers. STEM Escape will address NGSS-aligned content central to medical research – in particular, it will communicate basic concepts regarding evolutionary relationships, a topic with relevance to a wide variety of medical applications, such as determining the source of emerging infectious diseases, tracking the progression of disease within a host, and identifying new medicines. The project is designed to lay the groundwork for extended family interactions surrounding scientific content and biomedical careers. The immersive game will be supplemented by a set of solo and docent-led follow-up activities that reinforce key concepts and emphasize connections between players' experience in the game and biomedical research careers. Learners will also receive takeaway media (e.g., activity book) that highlights a diverse set of NIH-funded researchers whose work directly relies on evolutionary patterns/processes. Caregivers will have the option of receiving a follow-up email with free at-home activities. The themed inflatable pop-up room will be wheelchair-accessible and all materials will be bilingual in English and Spanish. The STEM Escape experience will be developed with and for the diverse audiences visiting urban/suburban natural history museums and libraries, as well as with and for rural families, whom we will reach through rural libraries. The project will also produce and evaluate a suite of support materials to facilitate institutional adoption and deployment of the experience. Nine host sites across the country have committed to hosting the room (with an additional two sites in the planning stages), and after the life of the grant, the room will continue to make an impact as a rentable traveling exhibit. Long term, this project will improve the public's understanding of medically relevant evolutionary content, increase interest in biomedical careers, particularly among underserved groups targeted, and improve our understanding of how immersive games can be used to serve educational objectives.