Developing a Story-driven Learning Game to Support Education in African-American History and Culture

Project Overview

This project was supported through an Institute for Simulation and Training (www.ist.ucf.edu) In-House Grant and done in Collaboration with the Carol Mundy organization, African American History Education and Culture and UCF s School of Film and Digital Media (www.dm.ucf.edu). For this effort we are developing a demonstration version of a story-driven learning game for research in teaching children about African-American culture and history. Our goal was to create a compelling introduction to the Underground Railroad using existing off-the-shelf technology for role-playing computer games so as to stimulate interest and understanding of events of historical significance while introducing the public to the Mundy Collection.

Our short-term objectives for this project were to develop a demonstration game that enables us to make this concept concrete by identifying the necessary storyline, learning objectives, and candidate artifacts from the Mundy Collection. Our long-term objectives for this effort include research and development in the production of compelling stories and games for the Carol Mundy collection so as to showcase her artifacts and allow children to learn about history and African-American culture via navigating through a virtual world where they interact with historic artifacts, objects, and characters.

Project Benefits

• Increase Awareness
  • Broaden exposure of Carol Mundy collection in Central Florida and nationwide
• Build Knowledge
• Show artifacts in the context in which they were used to provide students with a better understanding of what life was like in central Florida in the past
• Provide living representation of history in accordance with Florida Sunshine State Standards
• Support Economic Development
  • Provide research and development education for next generation of learning scientists and digital media professionals
  • Help establish Central Florida's reputation as leader in the developing field of learning games

Principal Investigators

Stephen M. Fiore, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Cognitive Sciences Program; Director, CRADLE, IST
Rudy McDaniel, Assistant Professor, School of Film and Digital Media
Janis A. Cannon-Bowers, Associate Professor, School of Film and Digital Media

Graduate Students

Adams Greenwood-Ericksen, Department of Psychology, Human Factors Program
Sandro Scielzo, Department of Psychology, Human Factors Program

For additional information please contact Dr. Stephen M. Fiore at sfiore@ist.ucf.edu or 407.882.0298.