Prognosis an interactive digital public health and epidemiology adventure

Project Abstract The proposed Phase I STTR project will develop the serious game Prognosis and its supporting website to improve systems thinking and problem solving through learning about public health and epidemiology Prognosis is a simulation game that focuses on the population health of the fictional city Hexacago Through game play players will learn how multiple ambient citywide systems contribute to the population s health represented by quantitative health indicators They will be challenged to acquire and apply skills in systems thinking and problem solving to advance and win the game A supporting website will be created to support this game s learning objectives This project will involve a collaboration with high school students at the University of Chicago s Charter School Woodlawn This school serves predominantly African American students living on the South side of Chicago A multidisciplinary team from Resilient Games Studio LLC the University of Chicago s Ci Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health and University of Chicago and will be engaged to develop and test the game and web based curriculum prototype The prototype will be created with input from a student stakeholder advisory team of students as well as teachers recruited from UChicago s Charter School Woodlawn Prognosis will be playtested by up to additional youth throughout its development The resulting prototype will be evaluated by th and th grade students This evaluation will involve both quantitative surveys n and qualitative focus groups n and will inform a final iteration of the prototypes in preparation for a Phase II project Project Narrative Public health and epidemiology based education has been noted for its ability to provide real world context for youth to develop systems thinking and problem solving skills critical to success in STEM learning At the same time game based learning has gained traction as a powerful pedagogical approach Accordingly this STTR project will develop and test a serious game and supporting website entitled Prognosis to improve systems thinking and problem solving skills relevant to STEM fields This Phase I prototype will be assessed for usability feasibility acceptability and efficacy in preparation for future development as a Phase II project