A Game Looking at the Reality of Climate Change

Eric Klopfer, director of MIT's Scheller Teacher Education Program and author of Augmented Learning describes TimeLab, the program's most recent Augmented Reality Game: 

TimeLab starts with a video that sets the players 100 years in the future when global climate change has wreaked havoc on Cambridge.  They are then sent back in time to present day to study ballot initiatives that could potentially remediate the effects of global climate change in the future.  Players walk around the MIT campus and surrounding areas collecting information (real and virtual) on methods of reducing climate change and the impact of climate change on Cambridge.  For example, at one point they look across the Charles River to the Hancock Tower that currently uses a beacon to provide information about the weather, and consider whether a more comprehensive weather warning system could be of use to warn future area residents of frequent severe weather.  As players stand on Memorial Drive near the MIT campus, they consider how 100 years in the future that location is often under water from floods, and think about ways that those floods could be prevented.  In the end, the players choose a number of ballot initiatives that they must debate, and through some simple game mechanics ultimately find out whether those measures are approved and what impact they have.

Timelab (sponsored by The Center for Future Civic Media) has been played with a number of groups including parents and kids and the Cambridge Science Festival, adults as part of The Center for Future Civic Media, and MIT students as part of a class.  The most recent implementation was this past Wednesday when a class of 20 middle school students from Gloucester came to MIT as part of a summer camp.  Over the course of three hours the students explored the campus, learned about the potential impacts of climate change on Cambridge, and debated how to mitigate these impacts.  The students were very enthusiastic in their response to the game, as they enjoyed exploring the campus, playing a game and learning.  The teachers also enjoyed the game and cited the unique ability to engage students in problems of both scientific and social/political impact as a critical and positive attribute of the game.

To learn more about MIT's AR project here.  We've already mentioned this, but you can also read an interview with Klopfer about his work on Henry Jenkins blog.