ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************
Mac and Elizabeth,
Over the years we have worked with many design firms as well as directly
with museums, zoos and aquariums to produce games for interactive
exhibits. While I cannot directly vouch for the "effectiveness" of all
of them, there are some that I feel have features that should help them
be more effective.
One of the most popular game approaches is the Matching Game. Generally
it takes form of selecting a question and then matching it with the
correct answer. Depending on the supporting exhibit material this may
be rather easy and sometimes ridiculously difficult. The difficult ones
usually have questions that are so esoteric (e.g. Where is the hottest
place on earth?) that the visitor would be thinking "how should I know?"
which means the "game" is really a guessing game, not a matching game.
While a guessing game is not necessarily bad, it can be somewhat
frustrating for some. To deal with this and hopefully to make the game
more "effective", we have setup many games as Show me - Quiz me
<http://www.exhibitsalive.com/portfolio/SDCWA/weather_new.html>. That
is, the answers are shown when a button is pressed so the visitor can
learn the answers. Then they can use the "Quiz Me" mode to test their
newly acquired knowledge and thus reinforce it.
Another way to aid in the effectiveness is to use prompt or hints. In
one exhibit that is part of "The Scoop on Poop"
<http://www.exhibitsalive.com/portfolio/Reptiland/Scoop/ScoopOnPoop.html>
traveling exhibit, Peeling Productions used audio prompts and hints to
help the visitor make an informed guess. In the "Who Dung it?"
interactive
<http://www.exhibitsalive.com/portfolio/Reptiland/Scoop/WhoDungIt.html#anchor>,
visitors are challenged to match reproductions of scat in shadow-boxes
to the offending animal. The specific audio hints would be given on
incorrect answers to encourage the visitor to try again and more
information about the animal was given on correct answers.
In a different traveling exhibit on Geckos
<http://www.peelingproductions.com/Geckos_Tails_to_Toepads.html>,
Peeling Productions came up with a game to challenge the visitor to see
like a predator! In Predator Challenge, the visitor is presented with 3
side-by-side images with a Gecko naturally camouflaged in one of the
images. The visitor has a limited time (3 seconds) to identify the
correct image before moving on. After 6 different sets of images, a
score is given for the number of correct guesses. After each guess,
correct or otherwise, the hidden Gecko is highlighted for the visitor to
see.
In a different approach, Proto Productions built an interactive version
of "Magic Squares" for a 300th anniversary exhibit on Benjamin Franklin
<http://www.exhibitsalive.com/portfolio/Proto/MagicSquares.html>. This
is a puzzle-like game where the visitor is challenged to "dial in"
numbers on a 3 x 3 matrix attempting to make all of the rows, columns,
and diagonals add up to the same number. The effectiveness of this
interactive exhibit is enhanced by the fact that the visitor has a
better chance to solve the puzzle since each position is limited only 3
choices (instead of 10).
These are only a few that hopefully will help you with your investigation.
-Mark-
* Mark Fowle, Partner
* SIGNAL-INNOVA
* 2841 East 19th Street
* Signal Hill, CA 90755
* Email: mailto:markfowle@signal-innova.com
* http://www.SIGNAL-INNOVA.com/
* Phone: (800) 417-9060
* Fax: (800) 773-7694
R. Mac West wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> We're investigating the effective use of single- and multi-player games in
> science museum exhibits. Are there institutions that are using this
> technology particularly well that we can use as examples?
>
> We are NOT looking at on-line games.
>
> Thanks for the help.
>
> Mac West and Elizabeth Hamlett
>
> Robert M. West
> Informal Learning Experiences, Inc.
> Washington, DC
> 202.362.5823 (o)
> 202.345.4344 (m)
> [log in to unmask]
> www.informallearning.com
>
> ***********************************************************************
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
>
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--
-Mark-
* Mark Fowle, Partner
* SIGNAL-INNOVA
* 2841 East 19th Street
* Signal Hill, CA 90755
* Email: mailto:markfowle@signal-innova.com
* http://www.SIGNAL-INNOVA.com/
* Phone: (800) 417-9060
* Fax: (800) 773-7694
***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
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