Project Title: RACOL – Rural Advanced Community of Learners
Date: April 2003 to April 30th, 2004
 

The Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) at The Banff Centre has been developing learning games for supporting the Alberta School Board’s Math and Science curriculum. The first stage of this project is related to the development and production of computer games that will help Grade 11 and 12 students in northern Alberta learn physics.

RACOL (Rural Advanced Community of Learners Project) is one of our collaborative research co-productions at BNMI. In collaboration with the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, Sonic Design Incorporated, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and the Netera Alliance, we are working to set up an innovative learning environment for rural and remote students. The model is supported by an integrated set of interactive tools, such as Internet games, distributed on a broadband network.

In addition to the set of computer games, we have also produced at BNMI a series of interviews and discussions with First Nation’s artists, which have unlocked real time networked collaboration. As part of RACOL, Banff is providing a series of clips to support the Alberta Aboriginal Studies Curriculum. These videos support a culture of tolerance, experimentation and inquiry. They make use of the Internet as a research environment, pointing young people to the web to find the answers to cultural questions and the games help the students solve scientific problems.

Participants in the BNMI’s Work Study program are building games in order to engage students in problem-solving strategies based on the Alberta Physics 20 and Physics 30 curriculum. These games have reached the prototype stage.

In Mirror-X the player takes on the role of Maya, a school girl and electronics inventor who is trying to save her community from mass redevelopment. With only her custom built laser watch and stealth tactics she uses the principles of reflection, refraction, laser points, and diffusion to defeat her enemies.

Galaxy Pirates follows the adventure of an unlikely duo as they battle across a fairytale like landscape. They are defending their planet against the clones of a cosmic invader. The game explores kinematics, their energy and potential energy, dynamics, accelerations, velocity, distances and vectors.

Infinite Prime allows players to experience life in space, as a space courier in the year 2034. The player begins learning the basics of space flight and related physics to acquire their flying license. The game uses the solar system to illustrate concepts such as the gravitational constant and introductory graphing. The Questions & Answer section of this game deals with a broad range of physics content. Currently, it focuses on an introduction to unit conversion and kinematics. Students are rewarded for correct responses with upgrades to their ship, and clues to uncover a government space conspiracy.

BNMI is creating a series of resources and related media and interactive experiences that will bring this tremendous educational experience to youth in Alberta in a form that will hopefully inspire them to learn and explore.

Also see:
Aboriginal Studies
Games
Science Toys