Triggering STEM Interest Using Sandbox Games: Space Exploration Edition
Proposal
What would life on earth look like with no moon? What if the moon was twice as big as it is now? Or what if earth was much closer to the sun?
This presentation will showcase the multiple “what-if” worlds developed in Minecraft (MC), a sandbox game, by the Lane Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The program experience is designed for middle schoolers to engage in scientific inquiry and to explore these hypothetical worlds digitally. Surveys in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and MC interest were conducted at the beginning and end of each research session as well as 1-on-1 and paired interviews. We have conducted research at the following informal learning locations: museums, summer camps, and a makerspace.
Participants will walk away with 1) a better understanding of interest, 2) what MC is, what sandbox games are, and the capabilities of such games, and 3) an overview of our project and outcomes. Discussions will focus on ways sandbox games can be utilized in classrooms and work spaces, and how popular technologies can (or cannot) remain relevant and sustainable to its audience.
Triggering STEM Interest Using Sandbox Games: Space Exploration Edition
What would life on earth look like with no moon? What if the moon was twice as big as it is now? Or what if earth was much closer to the sun?
This presentation will showcase the multiple “what-if” worlds developed in Minecraft (MC), a sandbox game, by the Lane Lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The program experience is designed for middle schoolers to engage in scientific inquiry and to explore these hypothetical worlds digitally. Surveys in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and MC interest were conducted at the beginning and end of each research session as well as 1-on-1 and paired interviews. We have conducted research at the following informal learning locations: museums, summer camps, and a makerspace.
Participants will walk away with 1) a better understanding of interest, 2) what MC is, what sandbox games are, and the capabilities of such games, and 3) an overview of our project and outcomes. Discussions will focus on ways sandbox games can be utilized in classrooms and work spaces, and how popular technologies can (or cannot) remain relevant and sustainable to its audience.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/eldc/2019/Thursday/14
