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Melanie Stegman, Ph.D.
Director, FAS Learning Technologieswww.FASLearningTech.org
CEO, Molecular Jig Games, LLCwww.MolecularJig.com
@MelanieAnnS
Biochemist making games
Melanie Stegman, Ph.D.
I make games about the molecular world.
2D strategy game Immune Defense
3D game epic Cell Adventure game
I evaluate the effect of games on players.
What players learn
How players attitudes change
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Transmigration Female IAFemale Control
Biochemist making games
Immune Defense:Making Proteins as Familiar as Super Heroes.
Molecular biology education must be transformed.• We know so much, public comprehends so little, it is so important.• Intuitive learning must preceed formal education: Grade school
students must understand molecular behavior.• Misconceptions are hard to change, so teach young students
correctly.
Using video games to teach molecular biology.• Providing a gut level understanding of DNA, proteins, bacteria,
viruses, and other invisible but very well defined objects is possible with video games.
• Evaluation of learning with Immune Attack• Design of Immune Defense
Immune Defense:Making Proteins as Familiar as Super Heroes.
Molecular biology education must be transformed.• We know so much, public comprehends so little, it is so important.• Intuitive learning must preceed formal education: Grade school
students must understand molecular behavior.• Misconceptions are hard to change, so teach young students
correctly.
Using video games to teach molecular biology.• Providing a gut level understanding of DNA, proteins, bacteria,
viruses, and other invisible but very well defined objects is possible with video games.
• Evaluation of learning with Immune Attack• Design of Immune Defense
Healthcare
Environment
Genetically Modified Food
AIDS
Teenage pregnancy
Mental Health
Molecular Biology is relevant to many issues...
Healthcare Policy
Environment Policy
Genetically Modified Food Policy
AIDS Policy
Teenage pregnancy Policy
Mental Health Policy
Molecular Biology is relevant to many issues...that the average American votes on!
We know more about molecular science every day. We can’t just teach the same stuff in a fancy way, we need to teach about vast, new worlds of molecular science.
We know more about Molecules nowadays
There is more to learn
How much more?
How do you imagine your cells?
The Machinery of Life
David Goodsell, Ph.D.
Scripps Research Institute
How much do we know? We know where your
salt molecules are.
The Machinery of Life
David Goodsell, Ph.D.
Cytoplasmic protein
mRNA
Ribosome
Water
ATP
Sodium ion
Why games?Visuals are effective at teaching.Stories are effective at teaching.Familiarity makes us confident.
Who’s the best football team? People read up on this and debate the data!
How do vaccines work? Who is reading this and debating the data now?
Movies/videos tell stories and make us feel familiar with moleculesSimulations show us great detail and let us manipulate: making things concrete, making things part of our own experience. Games, however, have all this plus:
MOTIVATION, AGENCY and REPLAYABILITY
GamesMOTIVATION
…as part of the story, to save the princess, etc.
…to solve the next just-out-of-reach problem: to stay in FLOW.
AGENCY…games give the player a way to interact with the environment
…a gun, a tractor beam, a purchase panel, a scanner: the player knows what tools are at her disposal in each new situation.
REPLAYABILITY
…we want to play the game again if we get a new experience: different places
to explore, higher score, etc.
… leading to “more time on task.”
Development cycle (accumulation of data)
Keep learning associated with winning.
MOTIVATION
How to motivate players to learn to move the cell by putting ligands onto the right receptors.
What didn’t work:A tutorial that introduced terms and objects before game started. Learning the science facts outside of game play was not engaging.
What did work: Keep learning associated with winning. First several levels are “tutorial like” levels. Show player the creepy yucky E. coli. Tell them the cell will eat the E coli. Tell player to move the cell with ligands. Telling player to “Grab the ligand” when there is only 1 “grabable” object on
screen makes the task just-out-of-reach.Reward: seeing destruction of creepy E. coli that you caused!
Tutorial did not engage players in the game.
Keep learning associated with winning.
MOTIVATION
How to motivate players to learn to move the cell by putting ligands onto the right receptors.
What didn’t work:A tutorial that introduced terms and objects before game started. Learning the science facts outside of game play was not engaging.
What did work: Keep learning associated with winning. First several levels are “tutorial like” levels. Show player the creepy yucky E. coli. Tell them the cell will eat the E coli. Tell player to move the cell with ligands. Telling player to “Grab the ligand” when there is only 1 grabable object on
screen makes the task just-out-of-reach.Reward: seeing destruction of creepy E. coli that you caused!
Keeping the learning associated with winning.
Making Immune DefenseAGENCYHow to make players feel like they are in control?
We created simple ways of interacting that can be used in many situations. Buying cells, changing receptors and moving molecules.
Moving Molecules is a simple yet powerful game mechanism. Like shooting, it is easy to do and can have many different effects.
We created a powerful and smart Microbot that is your ally and database and you are its pilot.
We gave the player the ability to scan objects which lets them ask for info when they want it. The info needed to win = the science.
Microbot C85 is a cool helpful little drone-bot.(only 25 microns wide)
projects a GUI onto our view screen so we can pilot betterMicrobot gives us a ceiling and a dashboard to make us feel like we are in the body with the bot!
Ceiling
Dashboard
cells
bacteria
Microbot C85 is a microscope, just like a regular light microscope. We look through Microbot C85’s camera and
we see things that anyone can see through a light microscope.
In the cell we can see the nucleus and some vesicles.
The nuclear shape tells us this is a Neutrophil.
The vesicle that looks like a kidney bean is the “Poison Pod” and the poison pod is where bacteria are destroyed.
Being able to identify the cells and to know when the bacteria is destroyed is important to the player.
This is a Neutro-phil chasing a bacterium on a microscope slide under a light microscope.
Neutrophil is a white blood cell, eater class. “Eater cell” in Greek means Phagocyte
The bacterium is moving randomly, just floating in the blood.
There are complement proteins on the slide (It is a whole blood prep)The complement proteins stick to the bacteria and break off to form a cloud of activated (purple) complement around the bacteria on the slide.
Follow up questions: Can we see the complement proteins? Can we see the complement receptor?Why is there still a gradient of complement for the Neutrophil to follow on the slide, why aren’t the complement proteins evenly distributed?
http://biochemweb.org/neutrophil.shtml
Watch the video here!
NanoRadar Portal Shows bacterium surface
Inflammation meter
Center PanelPurchaseFind everything you can buy here
Inflammation Bar
NanoRadar showsa Purple C protein
Our GUI
MoleculesReceptors are proteins on the surface of our white blood cells that change cell behaviors.Ligands are molecules that are floating around.Surface molecules are on the surface of bacteria and cells but they don’t change behavior.
Purple C is a protein ligand that binds to the Purple C receptor on cells. The purple C receptor becomes active because of binding its ligand and causes the cell to move forward.
LPS is a surface molecule on bacteria. LPS is not a protein, it is a sugar/fat combination, so we call it a molecule. This LPS molecule is the ligand for the LPS receptor. So ligands do not always float around.
Vocabulary can keep people from learning molecular biology. But Immune Defense players will learn these terms:
Proteins
Molecules
Receptors
LigandsSugars
Fats
Making Immune DefenseAGENCY vs. misconceptions
How to make players feel like they are in control……When the molecular world actually functions just fine without them???
Will we give players the wrong idea about white blood cells?
Misconceptions. How to avoid them? Start with a good mechanism andMake a list of misconceptions you could be introducing.Test game repeatedly with target audience
Ask them open ended questions during and after playing.
Other tools: Follow up lecture in classMicrobot’s onboard database Many misconceptions abound. All models simplify
Making Immune Defense
REPLAYABILITY
Immune Defense builds in complexity and gives the player many fun decisions to make.
Replayability.
90% of players 13+ can beat each level on the first try. Immune Defense levels are also designed so that 90% of player will get a higher score the second and third times they play and we designed several levels to have tricks, strategies, that if payers figure out and use will allow them to get the max score in the level. Score is designed to encourage less use of Microbot and also to minimize inflammation.
Killing pathogens faster, killing the pathogens that cause the most inflammation first, activating cells only sparingly and sending the least powerful cell that is still able to kill each pathogen and saving powerful cells (with high inflammation rates) after
Making Immune Defense
EatersNeutrophilMacrophageDendritic Cell
KillersNatural Killer Cells
MarkersB-Cells make Antibodies = proteins
White Blood cell groups
“Eater cell” in Greek means Phagocyte
Some T Cells are killers, too. They are called “Killer T-Cells”
http://cmgm.stanford.edu/theriot/lifehistory.movListeria inside a cell
http://cmgm.stanford.edu/theriot/movies.htm#Hits
More movies and their explanations here.
Beta release April 24
Public final release July 2014
Evaluating in schools Spring 2014
Collaborators:
Maine International Center for Digital Learning
Graham Johnson, Scripps Kenneth Coulter, Ion Medical Designs
Howard Young, NCI Caroline Pinkard, David Silvernail
Art and game programming Cosmocyte, LLC.
Development Funding:
(US) National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Evaluation Funding:
(US) Entertainment Software Association Foundation (ESAF)
Melanie Stegman@MelanieAnnS
ScienceGameCenter.org
Find games, send us your games, review games, find new audiences….
Immune Defense
Learning Objectives
Randomness of molecular diffusion
Specificity of interactions between protein signals and protein receptors
Low and high affinity interactions are different
Cells have specific functions because of their unique complement of proteins
Cells can signal to each other
Cells respond to their environment if they have the correct receptors
Regulating which proteins you have on hand is important for cell function
Pathogens have evolved to thwart our immune system
Immune Defense
Learning Objectives
Random molecular diffusion drives predictable cellular behaviorPlayer can spend Energy to change the location of molecules, and dragging
molecules closer to cells can help move them to the pathogens faster.
Player is rewarded for conserving their Energy by our scoring system:
1) Energy required to buy new cells and
2) remaining Energy is multiplied by score at end of level
Molecules are truly moving randomly, and trying to catch them makes that clear, Cells
sometimes move away from pathogens
Players learn
Cells move eventually to the Pathogen
Random motion of particles that begins at a source causes a gradient.
Immune Defense
Learning Objectives
Specificity of interactions between ligands and protein receptors
Low and high affinity interactions are different
Player is racing against an Inflammation Clock, and so is under pressure to reach
Pathogens quickly.
Player can purchase receptors that have higher affinity for the cytokine molecules, thus
moving forward faster.
NK Cells and Leukocytes will find target cells by binding with more than one receptor, and
the first receptor may let go before the second binds… which means the player is directly
thwarted by the “off-rate.”
Immune Defense
Learning Objectives
Cells have specific functions because of their unique complement
of proteins
Cells can signal to each other
Cells respond to environment if they have the correct receptors
Regulating proteins expression is important for cell function
Players purchase the correct cell for the various Pathogen types.
Players regulate which proteins are on the cell surface.
Players can avoid getting infected by down regulating the pathogen binding receptors
and can activate their cells by upregulating their activation signal receiving receptors.
Immune Defense
Learning Objectives
Pathogens have evolved to thwart our immune system
Neutrophils follow 4 steps to Detect, Bind, Eat and Kill pathogens.
Pathogens accidently evolve to avoid these 4 steps and then theyare harder to
kill.
This type of game play matching with real biology works nicely, even beyond
immunology!