Wheeling Jesuit / Second Avenue Software Videogame Research Heading to Congressional Showcase
PITTSFORD, NY. – Wheeling Jesuit / Second Avenue Software Videogame Will Be Featured in a Presentation for the U.S. Senate.
The CyGaMEs project at Wheeling Jesuit University's Center for Educational Technologies is one of several National Science Foundation-funded projects that will be presented Wednesday, November 4, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Senate Hart Office Building in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the event is to educate members of the Senate, their staff and other interested people about the use of technology at all levels of education, from teacher development to K-12 learning. Second Avenue Software is responsible for all current software and art development for the CyGaMEs project.
CyGaMEs stands for Cyber learning through Game-based, Metaphor Enhanced Learning Objects. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the project in September 2008 for two years at almost $1.2 million, with another $800,000 for two further years contingent on available funding. CyGaMEs features an approach to instructional videogame design in which players use metaphors – concepts they already understand – in order to play a game and learn new, more difficult concepts. The project also embeds assessment tools for researchers into the game itself. In other words, the game measures learning as changes in learner behavior exhibited during gameplay. CyGaMEs empirical research demonstrates that the suite of assessment tools is a sensitive measure of changes in players' science knowledge and players' affective responses to the learning environment (flow). According to Northwestern University professor Larry Hedges, a national leader in the fields of educational statistics and evaluation, CyGaMEs research is potentially path breaking. CyGaMEs could serve as a prototype for the types of instructional interventions lots of people are talking about and think would be a good idea. Hedges is interested in the CyGaMEs assessment suite as a way to measure learning that does not violate the assumptions held by learning scientists.
The research began with funding from NASA in 2006 and resulted in the creation of the Selene videogame. In Selene, players learn difficult geological concepts such as accretion, differentiation, impact cratering and volcanism by applying these science concepts to help players move toward the game's goal of building the Earth's moon. Players construct the moon, then pepper it with impact craters and flood it with lava to experience how our moon formed and changed over time. Throughout the game, Selene tracks each player's behavior to measure learning and the player's response to the game environment.
Second Ave, a new-media company based in Pittsford, NY, was contracted to upgrade the Selene software and optimize its performance for delivery over the Internet. Second Ave also provided enhanced graphics, new game play and improved user feedback. To complement its own gaming expertise, Second Ave consulted with Stephen Jacobs, Associate Professor of Interactive Games and Media at Rochester Institute of Technology, on Selene’s gameplay and interface. In addition, Second Ave Vice President of Academic Content, Dr. John Boersma, also an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Rochester, provides consulting services on scientific content.
Presenting the game to the Senate will be Debbie Denise Reese, Ph.D., senior educational researcher at the Center for Educational Technologies and leader of the CyGaMEs project and Victoria Van Voorhis, Chief Executive Officer of Second Ave. They will also display the project Tuesday afternoon at NSF headquarters in Alexandria, VA.
Congressman Eric Massa, who represents New York’s 29th District where Second Avenue Software is located, commented "We are pleased to see local companies like Second Avenue Software gaining national recognition while drawing on local university expertise in areas such as gaming and physics."
The Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies (www.cet.edu) houses cutting-edge educational technology in its 48,000-square foot facility on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University. It is home to the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future, the space agency's principal research and development center for educational technologies, and the Challenger Learning Center, one of 47 worldwide established by the Challenger Center for Space Science in memory of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger.
About Second Ave Software:
Second Avenue Software is a certified women-owned new media company in Pittsford, NY which provides content authoring and training services, managed services for learning management systems, and custom software development for interactives and serious games to educational publishers and institutions, government entities and corporations. To learn more, visit www.secondavesoftware.com
Rebecca Ferraro, (585) 350-4845, Rebecca@secondavesoftware.com
The CyGaMEs project at Wheeling Jesuit University's Center for Educational Technologies is one of several National Science Foundation-funded projects that will be presented Wednesday, November 4, 2009 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Senate Hart Office Building in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the event is to educate members of the Senate, their staff and other interested people about the use of technology at all levels of education, from teacher development to K-12 learning. Second Avenue Software is responsible for all current software and art development for the CyGaMEs project.
CyGaMEs stands for Cyber learning through Game-based, Metaphor Enhanced Learning Objects. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the project in September 2008 for two years at almost $1.2 million, with another $800,000 for two further years contingent on available funding. CyGaMEs features an approach to instructional videogame design in which players use metaphors – concepts they already understand – in order to play a game and learn new, more difficult concepts. The project also embeds assessment tools for researchers into the game itself. In other words, the game measures learning as changes in learner behavior exhibited during gameplay. CyGaMEs empirical research demonstrates that the suite of assessment tools is a sensitive measure of changes in players' science knowledge and players' affective responses to the learning environment (flow). According to Northwestern University professor Larry Hedges, a national leader in the fields of educational statistics and evaluation, CyGaMEs research is potentially path breaking. CyGaMEs could serve as a prototype for the types of instructional interventions lots of people are talking about and think would be a good idea. Hedges is interested in the CyGaMEs assessment suite as a way to measure learning that does not violate the assumptions held by learning scientists.
The research began with funding from NASA in 2006 and resulted in the creation of the Selene videogame. In Selene, players learn difficult geological concepts such as accretion, differentiation, impact cratering and volcanism by applying these science concepts to help players move toward the game's goal of building the Earth's moon. Players construct the moon, then pepper it with impact craters and flood it with lava to experience how our moon formed and changed over time. Throughout the game, Selene tracks each player's behavior to measure learning and the player's response to the game environment.
Second Ave, a new-media company based in Pittsford, NY, was contracted to upgrade the Selene software and optimize its performance for delivery over the Internet. Second Ave also provided enhanced graphics, new game play and improved user feedback. To complement its own gaming expertise, Second Ave consulted with Stephen Jacobs, Associate Professor of Interactive Games and Media at Rochester Institute of Technology, on Selene’s gameplay and interface. In addition, Second Ave Vice President of Academic Content, Dr. John Boersma, also an Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Rochester, provides consulting services on scientific content.
Presenting the game to the Senate will be Debbie Denise Reese, Ph.D., senior educational researcher at the Center for Educational Technologies and leader of the CyGaMEs project and Victoria Van Voorhis, Chief Executive Officer of Second Ave. They will also display the project Tuesday afternoon at NSF headquarters in Alexandria, VA.
Congressman Eric Massa, who represents New York’s 29th District where Second Avenue Software is located, commented "We are pleased to see local companies like Second Avenue Software gaining national recognition while drawing on local university expertise in areas such as gaming and physics."
The Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies (www.cet.edu) houses cutting-edge educational technology in its 48,000-square foot facility on the campus of Wheeling Jesuit University. It is home to the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future, the space agency's principal research and development center for educational technologies, and the Challenger Learning Center, one of 47 worldwide established by the Challenger Center for Space Science in memory of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger.
About Second Ave Software:
Second Avenue Software is a certified women-owned new media company in Pittsford, NY which provides content authoring and training services, managed services for learning management systems, and custom software development for interactives and serious games to educational publishers and institutions, government entities and corporations. To learn more, visit www.secondavesoftware.com
Rebecca Ferraro, (585) 350-4845, Rebecca@secondavesoftware.com