The concept behind it is usually mobile technology as a way to physically explore exhibits and
to personalize your exploration of the exhibits and then to take your experiences and the
things that you harvest as part of your exhibit visit back to the classroom, back to your
home.
And be able to continue your exploration that way so that there’s kind of virtual circle
between the museum, the classroom and the home.
Well the object of the game is to meet historical characters so actual real person.
People that lived in Minnesota and then to help them solve their problem.
So we’re looking at how can this game incorporate 21st century skills.
We’re looking at things like collaboration and critical thinking and problem solving.
One of the people that we have is Mamie Carpenter and we have some of her letters.
And she lived in a sod house out on the prairie.
So you will be able to explore a physical sod house and see what an example of what
that might look like.
And you have to help Mamie survive life in the sod house, which includes surviving a
grasshopper plague, a blizzard and then a lot of just daily life like how do you keep
warm?
How do you build a house?
The group has to collaborate to achieve that goal so you have kind of a life bar that gets
across the point that it’s a constant struggle to stay alive out in the sod house and you
can’t do it by yourself.
Trying to make sure we create opportunities that..
Because we know each kid wants-- learns differently, wants different experiences.
So, we do have to look at how can we have an individualized experience and how to have
a new social experience.
Or how about having an option between getting the surface level of the exhibit or being
able to stay just in one area and go deep, so.
Because some kids want to go around and check everything out first.
Other kids want to go deep in one area and then move onto the next area and go deep.
So there’s all factors that we’re kind of mapping out for designing the game experience.
We are really in the formative stage.
We have an empty exhibit space upstairs where we created mockups.
And what’s been nice about the IMLS grant is that it’s allowed us to have a partnership
with four schools that we probably wouldn’t be able to do.
So we’ve actually been bringing in a whole grade level from schools and having them try
out everything.
And then be able to go back into the classroom and see what they might do with all the things
that they’ve collected and what types of projects that they would like to do after
their visit and how it fits into their curriculum.
You can actually see, did they solve a problem?
Well, if they actually did solve a problem then they are doing problem solving.
You don’t have to ask them about it at the end.
Did you solve a problem?
And the amount of data, we have every click that they’ve done along with the just lots
of user created media.
So they take pictures.
They have a tendency to just narrate into the phone and narrate what they see.
So we have lots and lots of data that we’re excited to see.
It’s called “History in our Hands.”
And we are hoping to reinvent the field trip for the 21st century.