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Project Descriptions

Making Space Social: Exploring the Educational Potential of the Facebook Social Network

September 15, 2010 - August 31, 2013 | Media and Technology
The Space Science Institute is developing an astronomy educational social game for the Facebook platform. The game uses the "sporadic play" model popular with many Facebook games, in which players take only a few actions at a time, then return to explore the results. Here players will create their own stars and planetary systems that evolve over time at a rate of a million years a minute. Players set systems in motion, revisiting the game over days or weeks to make new choices and alter strategies. The game is in effect an end-to-end solar system simulation, following a star from birth to death. As a result it encompasses a wide variety of core concepts in astronomy, including galactic structure, stellar evolution and lifecycles, planetary formation and evolution, and habitability and "habitable zones." The accompanying research program will examine the effectiveness of this type of game in informal education, and the effects of the social network on meeting the education goals, including viral spread, cooperative play, and discussions about the game and its underlying content in associated online forums.

Funders

NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 1010624
Funding Amount: 594427

TEAM MEMBERS

  • REVISE logo
    Principal Investigator
    Space Science Institute
  • Dean Hines
    Co-Principal Investigator
    Space Science Institute
  • 2015 02 03 KHG CB
    Evaluator
    Audience Viewpoints Consulting
  • Discipline: Education and learning science | Space science | Technology
    Audience: Youth/Teen (up to 17) | Adults | Museum/ISE Professionals | Evaluators
    Environment Type: Media and Technology | Websites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media | Games, Simulations, and Interactives

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