Melanie Stegman's presentation for the Future of Play panel, focusing on the evolving role of games and play in the science of learning. 7 December 2010. Full video of panel at http://nycg4c.blip.tv/file/4503385/ Co-hosted by NYC Games for Change Meetup Everywhere http://www.meetup.com/Games-For-Change/27669/ and Science Writers of New York http://swiny.org Event info: http://www.meetup.com/Games-For-Change/27669/?a=bn4_l1

1. Federation of American Scientists "Immune Attack and Science Video Games: Present the Unimaginable,Teach the Inexplicable, and Assess the Immeasurable." Melanie A. Stegman, Ph.D. Director, Learning Technologies Program MStegman@FAS.org

2. Federation of American Scientists Federation of American Scientists Why should FAS care about Education and Training? Because we want civilian oversight over technology development Therefore, the civilians must be able to assess the impact of new technology on society Hans Bethe Kary Mullis Polymerase Chain Reaction, 1983 Atomic bomb, 1945

3. Searching for a way to improve education 6 Roadmaps + Executive Summary Instructional Design Question Generation & Answering Systems Simulations and Exploration Environments Learning Modeling & Assessment Building & Maintaining Learning Systems Games for Learning Multi-disciplinary, multi-year effort Input from over 100 learning science and computer/information science researchers from academia, industry, Department of Defense… 3 multi-day workshops Numerous interviews Detailed description of research priorities, R&D chronology, and metrics The Federation of American Scientists started gathering research about how technology could be used to transform education in 2001. Under the guidance of their new president Henry Kelly, the FAS launched the Learning Science and Technology Research and Development Roadmapproject, which brought together approximately 100 researchers from the academic, government and corporate sectors. This extensive collaborative effort was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation to FAS-LTP (Grant number 0226421), the Department of Education, as well as the Hewlett Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, and Carnegie Corporation. The Roadmaps were published in 2003 on the FAS-LTP website.

4. National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies “An NSF focused on learning technology research” The Center was passed into law in Spring 2008, and is awaiting full appropriation. Call your Federal Representatives today.

5. Molecular Science Unimaginable. Invisible. Abstract. Absolutely required to understand environmental health agricultural technological issues

8. Why use technology Google is not just an electronic encyclopedia. Video Games are not just electronic lectures. The point is NOT “to give them the same info in the new format.” The point is to give them something completely new, something never before possible.

9. Games in the science classroom Use a game to introduce an unimaginable world. Use game design to get the students to push themselves past their comfort zone. Can’t make a policeman out a kid who doesn’t know what shoes, badge and crime are…. Can’t make a biochemist out of a kid who doesn’t know what a protein, inhibitor and metabolism are.

10. We know more about Molecules nowadays We know more about molecular science every day. We can’t just teach the same stuff. We need to teach about vast worlds of molecular science.

11. There is more to learn

13. The Machinery of Life David Goodsell, Ph.D. Scripps Get this book, it is written for the public and scientists alike.

14. We know now what is happening to all these molecules mRNA Ribosome Cytoplasmic protein Water ATP Sodium ion

15. Go to Immuneattack.org and watch the trailer for Immune Attack version 1.

16. Things you learned by playing Pacman: Which one is Pacman? What does Pacman do?How does he do it? Who are the ghosts? What do they do? What do ghosts do to Pacman? Is their relationship static? What causes changes in their relationship? Does Pacman move randomly? Do the ghosts move randomly? What if Pacman were an enzyme? …small dots were substrate, …big dots were allosteric inhibitors and …the ghosts were highly regulated Proteases?

17. Games in the science classroom Use a game to introduce an unimaginable world. Use game design to get the students to push themselves past their comfort zone.

18. What to do with your scientist?

19. Teaching molecular Science by Game Design Ongoing collaboration with FAS Learning Technologies and George Mason University Instructional Technology Department. Kevin Clark and Kim Sheridan are PIs on an iTEST program (NSF) to demonstrate that training students to mentor beginners will make them more ready for college. So, Saturday classes and summer classes of Game Maker students need something to make a game about. Enter the scientist.

20. Sample Science Game Making Protocol (High School) Two hour lecture on four molecular processes in neurons Scientist introduces concepts, and kids divide themselves into four groups, one for each molecular process. Four weeks of programming class (Game Maker) Let students muck around with the ideas for a week Start with Wikipedia Then find an *Author and a *Publisher for each fact. Scientist comes in once a week, for 2 hours each. Students become active listeners, with concrete questions about “abstract” molecular biology, because they are creating this game right here that is not abstract at all. If you are an interested teacher, contact me and we can talk about it…..

21. More Great Science Games Metablastwww.metablast.org Cellcraft find on www.Kongregate.com Surge (Physics!) download through mygameIQ Medmyst, CSI:The Experience Web Adventure at http://medmyst.rice.edu/ MygameIQ Download many Learning Games Read my blog to find up to date information and games: http://www.fas.org/blog/learningtech