HR: 11:05h
AN: ED32A-04    [Abstracts]
TI: Culturally Relevant Educational Games in the Ocean, Earth and Planetary Sciences
AU: * Bruno, B C
EM: barb@hawaii.edu
AF: School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, United States
AB: Educational games can be a fun, challenging way of engaging students. Teachers can use games to teach content (students learn as they play), or to assess previously acquired knowledge. I will present a board game that is culturally relevant to Hawaii (available by eamiling barb@hawaii.edu). Originally developed for 6-8th graders studying Mars, it can be readily exported to a variety of grade levels and content areas in the ocean, earth and planetary sciences. This project began with a NASA Education and Public Outreach grant to develop standards-based, hands-on Mars science curricula that are culturally relevant to Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. We both developed new curricula and tailored existing curricula to make the content and teaching methodologies culturally relevant. Our main curriculum product is an eight-lesson unit entitled Life in Hawaii, Life on Mars, developed in partnership with teachers and currently being field-tested in Hawaii schools. The final lesson in the unit is an educational board game entitled Hawaii to Mars: A Voyage of Discovery. Like many board games, players advance along a set path by rolling a die. Landing on certain squares requires students to answer questions on Hawaiian culture and Mars science; landing on others requires students to do a variety of activities (drawing, acting, unscrambling words) on relevant topics. Correct answers allow players to roll again. Although incorrect answers require they skip a turn, correct answers are provided and a limited number of questions ensures a second opportunity to answer the question correctly. We are currently developing a microbial oceanography version of the game in partnership with scientists at the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education (C-MORE), as part of C-MORE's efforts to increase diversity in the ocean sciences. We also plan to develop a generic version of the game board, so simply changing the content and difficulty of the question cards will allow the game to be played in different disciplines and grade levels. I gratefully acknowledge UH undergraduate Michelle Bradley for her hard work on the eight-lesson unit including the game; Tracy Tayama for her artwork on the gameboard, and partner teachers BJ Kahawaii and Scott Oberg for helping develop and field-test the curriculum.
UR: http:cmore.soest.hawaii.edu
DE: 0805 Elementary and secondary education
DE: 0810 Post-secondary education
DE: 0855 Diversity
DE: 4840 Microbiology and microbial ecology (0465)
DE: 6225 Mars
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly