DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER GAME PROTOTYPE TO TEACH PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

THERE IS A PRESENTLY RECOGNIZED NEED FOR IMPROVED GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCE EDUCATIO THAT CAN BE METBY THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGICALLY INNOVATIVE COMPUTER GAMES. THEREFORE, THIS PROJECT WILL CREATE PROTOTYPE ADVENTURE COMPUTER GAME (TITLE) BASED ON REALISTIC ROLE PLAYING. IT WILL RUN ON A HIGH PERFORMANCE PLATFORM, THE 3DO INTERACTIVE MULTIPLAYER SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY PANASONIC. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO TEACH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FACTS AND CONCEPTS IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY THROUGH PARTICULAR PHENOMENA OF IMPORTANCE TO THE EARTH SYSTEM. THE PLANNED PROTOTYPE WILL BE BUILT ON EL NINO DURING PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT. THIS INITIAL CHOICE OF EL NINO IS GUIDED BY PREVIOUS WORK DONE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTER-BASED EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL. THE OVERALL STRUCTURE WOULD ALLOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF OTHER TITLES THAT WILL BE ADDED DURING PHASE II WHIICH WILL INCLUDE MONSOONS AND THE EXPLORATION OF THE EARTH FROM SPACE. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE IS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO LEARN WHAT EL NINO IS, HOW AND WHY IT FORMS, WHAT ITS IMPACT IS AND HOW IT IS INVESTIGATED BY PLAYING THE SCIENTIST'S ROLE INVOLVED IN ITS STUDY. THIS WILL PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MAIN DISCIPLINES OF PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY: METEOROLOGY, OCEANOGRAPYHY, CLIMATOLOGY, AND SOME BIOLOGY THROUGH EL NINO CAUSES AND EFFECTS ON WEATHER, SEASURFACE TEMPERATURE, LEVEL OF PHYTOPLANKTON, AND FISH POPULATION. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO INTRODUCE THE STUDENTS TO SOME OF THE NEW TOOLS USED BY SCIENTISTS STUDYING PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND EEL NINO SUCH AS REMOTE SENSING AND NUMERICAL/MATHEMATICAL MODELING. FINALLY, STUDENTS WILL LEARN HOW MAJOR SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS ARE PERFORMED AND UNDER WHAT CONSTRAINTS. THIS PROJECT WILL HAVE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF COMPLEXITY FROM INTRODUCTORY PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY (FACT-BASED) TO IN-DEPTH METEOROLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY (CONCEP-BASED).