ClearLab is a project to create innovative 3D Science Serious Games for middle school students.
ClearLab games are intended be immersive and educational, and can be played in the browser - at school, the library, at home - anywhere with access to the Internet. Teachers are able to assign, manage and assess student game play from the web.
ClearLab is being developed by Muzzy Lane Software, Inc., in partnership with the Federation of American Scientists, curriculum developers from K12, Inc and science teachers around the country.
The project's primary goal is to develop games that improve student performance on standardized assessment and that foster lifelong passion for science.
The ClearLab Game Arcade beta site uses the Sandstone service to deliver games to your browser and is currently in beta. Not all browsers and operating systems are currently supported.
The first game they have featured in their Game Arcade is called Atomic Hero. It is a small demo to whet people's appetites for using games to teach science. By utilizing 3D graphics and multiple viewing angles, they believe they have created a tool that shows how visualization can be key for a student learning a concept.
Coming soon, I Betcha is a slot car racing set taking place on top of a lab table in a classroom – “Use your wits, not your reflexes, to win this race against the laws of physics!”
The track would weave between common objects found in schools and learning spaces such as bunsen burners, beakers, computers, probes, pencils and notebooks. This had the primary goal of creating a familiar environment for players.
Here's a peek at what I Betcha is going to look like
ClearLab is an open development project. Over the next two years, the site aspires to be a community where ideas about games for science will be shared, prototype games will be played and critiqued, and new design ideas and approaches will be tested and vetted.
If you have an interest in science games - as a teacher, scientist, student, gamer, or game developer - we invite you to join the ClearLab project. Create an account today to access the site resources as they become available.