<p>As more children grow up playing video games, educators are partnering with game developers and scientists to create new interactive experiences for the classroom. <br />A trio of new games were developed to make subjects like world culture, molecular biology and space exploration more accessible and fun for young minds. <br /><br />According to a new ‘Kids and Gaming 2009’ report from the NPD Group, among all children in the United States aged 2-17, 82 percent, or 55.7 million, are currently gamers. Of these gamers, 9.7 million are aged 2-5, representing the smallest segment, while 12.4 million are aged 9-11, making up the largest segment. Just as kids have embraced music video games like Activision’s ‘Guitar Hero 5’ and MTV Games’ ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ and sports games like Electronic Arts’ ‘Madden NFL 10’ and ‘FIFA 10’, educators and researchers are hoping that games like ‘Immune Attack’, ‘Discover Babylon’, ‘Virtual Heroes’ and ‘Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond’ will engage and educate youngsters. <br /><br />The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) game developer Escape Hatch Entertainment created ‘Immune Attack’ to plunge 7th through 12th graders into the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells. <br /><br />The goal of the game is to save a patient suffering from a bacterial infection. Along the way, players gain an understanding of cellular biology and molecular science. <br /><br />“This is a first-person shooter in which the objects you need to activate with your ray gun are proteins on the interior surface of the veins,” explains Melanie Ann Stegman, PhD, a program manager at FAS. Stegman said, data from kids who played the game show that they’re picking up much more than just vocabulary. <br /><br />Students are learning intuitively how the cellular world works, including complex concepts like the functions of Monocytes and the molecular interactions among human complement factors and bacterial surface proteins. A sequel is already in development for 2010.</p>
<p>As more children grow up playing video games, educators are partnering with game developers and scientists to create new interactive experiences for the classroom. <br />A trio of new games were developed to make subjects like world culture, molecular biology and space exploration more accessible and fun for young minds. <br /><br />According to a new ‘Kids and Gaming 2009’ report from the NPD Group, among all children in the United States aged 2-17, 82 percent, or 55.7 million, are currently gamers. Of these gamers, 9.7 million are aged 2-5, representing the smallest segment, while 12.4 million are aged 9-11, making up the largest segment. Just as kids have embraced music video games like Activision’s ‘Guitar Hero 5’ and MTV Games’ ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ and sports games like Electronic Arts’ ‘Madden NFL 10’ and ‘FIFA 10’, educators and researchers are hoping that games like ‘Immune Attack’, ‘Discover Babylon’, ‘Virtual Heroes’ and ‘Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond’ will engage and educate youngsters. <br /><br />The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) game developer Escape Hatch Entertainment created ‘Immune Attack’ to plunge 7th through 12th graders into the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells. <br /><br />The goal of the game is to save a patient suffering from a bacterial infection. Along the way, players gain an understanding of cellular biology and molecular science. <br /><br />“This is a first-person shooter in which the objects you need to activate with your ray gun are proteins on the interior surface of the veins,” explains Melanie Ann Stegman, PhD, a program manager at FAS. Stegman said, data from kids who played the game show that they’re picking up much more than just vocabulary. <br /><br />Students are learning intuitively how the cellular world works, including complex concepts like the functions of Monocytes and the molecular interactions among human complement factors and bacterial surface proteins. A sequel is already in development for 2010.</p>
