CSC News
2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge Coming to NC
The 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge is coming to North Carolina on Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 7 p.m. at Franklinton High School, 910 Cedar Creek Road, in Franklinton, NC. All North Carolina middle school through college age youth and their families are invited to attend.The Challenge, which runs through March 12, 2012, invites game-creators to create video games that excite and educate users about science, technology, engineering and math. The contest is open to four different categories: middle school students (5th – 8th grade), high school students, college students and teachers/educators. Prizes are awarded to winners in each category.
Special guest speaker is Brian Alspach of E-Line Media, a publisher of game-based learning products and implementing partner of the National STEM Video Game Challenge. Students of all ages will be demonstrating educational video games and other STEM activities, and several gaming companies from the Research Triangle Park area will have demonstrations.
Rogelio Cardona-Rivera and Charles Bevan, PhD Students from the Digital Games Research Center in the Computer Science Department at NC State will be will be showing demos and videos of a range of games built at the NC State. Included in the demos is IC-CRIME, a game-based collaboration tool for investigators working to solve real-world crimes. Development of the IC-CRIME system was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) with a $1.2M award and includes researchers from computer science, textile engineering, anthropology and sociology. Also, several student-made games that were created by students in the department's Game Development Concentration will be demonstrated including Compound Reaction, a game that teaches high school chemistry principles to players who gather and assemble molecular compounds to fuel a crashed space ship, their only means of escape from an alien world. Compound Reaction received an honorable mention in the 2009 I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase and Challenge, a national competition to identify innovative games-based designs for training and education.
The Challenge, sponsored in NC by PBS Ready to Learn, UNC-TV, Franklin County Schools, and North Carolina Cooperative Extension, is inspired by the Educate to Innovate Campaign, President Obama’s initiative to promote renewed focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education. It is a multi-year competition whose goal is to motivate interest in STEM learning among America’s youth by tapping into students’ natural passion for playing and making video games.
The Challenge is launched in partnership with Digital Promise, a new initiative created by the President and Congress, supported through the Department of Education. The initiative is designed to unlock the promise of breakthrough technologies to transform teaching and learning.
For more information on the Challenge, click here.
~coates~
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