Carnegie Science Center's popular Spy School for girls is about to become an online reality game thanks to a $200,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation.
Click! The Online Spy School was one of 10 winners of the
MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition, which promotes novel uses of new media and learning in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
Carnegie Science Center's Girls, Math & Science Partnership (GMSP) will create
Click!Online, a game that will share the Center's popular spy camp with middle school-aged girls around the world in a mystery adventure that teaches problem solving and science in the spirit of innovation and fun.
"The concept was developed to augment the
Click! camp experience and close the gender gap between girls and gaming," explains Emily Sturman, assistant director of GMSP. "The game will give girls an engaging and enriching alternative to the violent video games that are so prevalent today."
Carnegie Mellon's ETC and Schell Games will assist with the one year project along with Civics Lab, Harrisburg University's Center for Advanced Entertainment and Learning Technologies and Museum 2.0.
The competition, in its third year, was launched in collaboration with President Obama's Educate to Innovate initiative and is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and administered by the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (
HASTAC).
Public voting on the HASTAC projects is happening now. Cast up to four votes for
Click! today. The voting deadline is June 4, 2010.
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Writer:
Debra Diamond SmitSource: Emily Sturman, GMSP
Image courtesy of GMSP