Poster Information
| Title | Mobile game teaches kids to avoid landmines: Notes from Cambodia |
| Presenter(s) | Corey Bohil, Charles Owen, Frank Biocca, Neil Owen and Dan Shillair |
| Session | Conference Reception, Game Exhibition, and Poster Session |
| Time | Thursday, October 21, 7:00p-9:00p |
| Location | East Lansing Technology Innovation Center |
| Format | Poster Presentation |
| Description | We recently developed a landmine-risk education game for play on the One Laptop per Child Program's XO laptop (i.e., the $100 laptop). The game is designed to be played by children in war torn countries, teaching them to recognize and avoid environmental indicators that often co-occur with the presence of landmines or other unexploded remnants of war (e.g., barbed wire, abandoned vehicles). The $100 laptop was designed specifically for use by children in developing countries, and it is increasingly finding deployment for educational use throughout the world. The first version of our game has been customized for use in Cambodia (images, audio narration), and we recently completed a usability/field test there with members of the intended user population (children near the age of 10). We expected to find that the interactivity of the game would improve learning over standard photo-based approaches to mine-risk education. We found that children enjoyed playing the game, were quick to learn, and had a tendency to spontaneously play the game in groups. There was also evidence of efficacy with respect to learning to spot and avoid indicators of danger. We will present these and other findings from our field study, and consider implications for developing games for mobile embedded education. |