Selene Makes Finals of International Competition (cont.)
Date Posted: Thu Nov 15 2012
"Our research shows that the CyGaMEs approach to instructional game design offers a great opportunity for learners to wrestle with challenging Earth and space science concepts targeted by the Next Generation Science Standards and the Framework for Science Education," Reese said. CyGaMEs offers authentic, performance-based assessment, she added.
"We can actually show players and educators what students learn and when."
Selene debuted its Spanish language version this fall.
"Because the game is now bilingual," Reese said, "it supports a dual language (Spanish and English) approach to teaching and assessment. Some research suggests that educational outcomes for English language learners improve when first language support is provided. So learning science in a student’s native language, like Spanish, can help the student build knowledge and transfer that knowledge to the academic language they would use for that science in English. We are partnering with the National Association for Bilingual Education to conduct focused work on implementing dual language games in science, technology, engineering and mathematics classrooms. The potential to enhance science achievement for English language learners is very exciting.”
Both versions of the game are free online and available 24-7. Players ages 9-18 and adult recruiters, who confirm players' ages, get parental consent and gather other players, are always needed to help with the CyGaMEs research. To sign up as a recruiter or play
Selene, visit the
Selene website or contact
Selene.
Among past honors for
Selene, it has earned the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Design and Development Best Practice
Award both in 2008 and 2011. Disney Research named the
Selene game and CyGaMEs research one of 15 finalists worldwide in its 2010 Learning Challenge Competition.