CANCER MYSTERY--A CD ROM FORENSIC SCIENCE FANTASY GAME

描述：这项研究的长期目标是开发和评估一套基于CD-ROM的法医神秘奇幻游戏，适合青少年后期和早期成人。这些游戏将被用作教育和行为改变工具，传达探索法医科学、使用科学方法以及降低癌症风险的重要性的兴奋。这些游戏还将被用来激发人们对科学、公共卫生和医学等职业的兴趣。在第一阶段，我们的健康教育和评估员团队、一名游戏设计师、一名法医专家、一名神秘作家和软件工程师将为一款关于呼吸系统癌症的神秘游戏开发和现场测试原型软件。使用焦点小组讨论，我们将评估软件的演示文稿、用户界面和内容。通过问卷调查，我们将测量使用前到使用后的知识变化。第二阶段的工作将扩大到包括更多的谜团，将随机分配到试验组和控制组的研究设计，以及对科学知识、对科学作为职业的态度以及个人健康行为变化的纵向测量。这款奇幻游戏的用途包括快速增长的家庭、学校和大学以及科学博物馆教育软件市场。

DESCRIPTION: The long-term aim of this research is to develop and evaluate a set of CD-ROM based forensic science mystery fantasy games for late adolescents and early adults. These games will be used as educational and behavior change tools to convey the excitement of exploring forensic science, use of the scientific method, and the importance of cancer risk reduction. The games will also be used to motivate ' interest in careers in science, public health, and medicine'. In Phase I our team of health educators and evaluators, a game designer, a forensics expert, a mystery writer, and software engineers will develop and field test prototype software for one mystery game on respiratory system cancer. Using focus group discussions, we will evaluate the software's presentation, user interface, and content. With questionnaires we will measure pre- to post-use knowledge change. The Phase II effort will be expanded to include more mysteries, a research design incorporating random assignment to experimental and control groups, and longitudinal measurement of scientific knowledge, attitude toward science as a career, and personal health behavior changes. Points of use envisioned for this fantasy game include the quickly growing home, school and college, and science museum educational software markets.