SciThink Learning Games

Think like a great scientist!

I'm currently designing the first of a series of learning games to help players in grades 7 to 12 learn to think like scientists. Each game in the series will let players share the lives of a great scientist, such as Galileo, Newton, or Darwin, in three phases. In the first phase players will time travel to join the famous scientists-to-be in adolescence, and will share their struggles through the life cycle of a great scientist from the early teens to maturity: develop basic knowledge, focus on a fundamental mystery of nature, experience a transformational insight into that mystery, express that insight in scientific language, and persuade peers and powerful people who resist the revolutionary paradigm it implies. In the second phase players will time-travel with their famous scientist friend to witness how later discoveries enhanced our understanding of the seminal discovery. In the third phase players will apply their new knowledge to modern environmental and social problems.

The life cycle framework is based on the hero's quest model Joseph Campbell applied to diverse mythologies throughout history. Great scientists are not the only heroes and heroines; players also have the chance to become heroic by applying their new knowledge to serve others. Players will also experience the rites of passage of now-famous scientists as they progress from adolescence to maturity. Other research-based learning principles for SciThink include collaborative learning, generative learning, interactive learning, and naturalistic learning. Instructional principles include computer-adaptive learning, embedded assessment, and understanding by design.

The games are based on biographies of great scientists for several reasons. First, actual biographies provide positive role models of scientists as people who are passionate about truth. Second, players see science as a social activity requiring reputation, friendships, and persuasive skills. Third, players see science as an ongoing process, always in flux as each generation revises prior understandings. Fourth, biographies exemplify the rigorous reasoning and meticulous evidence required for recognition in science. Fifth, the prevailing beliefs held by those who resist revolutionary discoveries tend to mirror the naive, sensory-based beliefs which students bring to the study of science; biography therefore presents an ideal context for addressing misconceptions which, if left unaddressed, prevent full understanding and adaptation of new concepts that better explain the world. Sixth, the historical approach conveys the tradition of scientific inquiry which has given us technologies and worldviews we often take for granted. It thereby connects us to our heritage and and its underlying values.

SciThink games will be available in two formats, online play for easy access or downloadable for faster access. When plans for the first game are more concrete, colleagues at the University of California in Irvine and I will seek not-for-profit financing for the first game, based on the life of Darwin and the development of evolutionary biology since his time. SciThink games will be free and open source to facilitate enjoyable learning for as universally as possible.

Last modified: July 28, 2009