The Geology Explorer project implements an educational game for teaching the Geosciences. This takes the form of a synthetic, virtual environment, Planet Oit, where students are given the means and the equipment to explore a planet as a Geologist would.

The game is designed to give students an authentic experience that will include elements of:

This paper describes a pedagogical architecture and an implemented application designed according to these principles. Students assume a role in a simulated environment and learn about real science by exploring in a goal-directed way and competing with other players. The game, which teaches principles of geology, is an implementation of a networked, multi-player, simulation-based, educational environment that illustrates the principles of learning by learning roles.

People will invest extraordinary time and effort into learning how to play and win a game. Virtual role-playing environments can be a powerful mechanism for instruction, provided they are constructed such that learning how to play and win the game contributes to a player's understanding of real-world concepts and procedures. Simulated environments enable learners to assume roles in particular contexts and have meaningful, authentic experiences.

Designing educational games is an exercise in balancing trade-offs. Educational content should be foremost, but not by occluding playability and simple fun. Simulated situations should be familiar, or at least easily recognizable, but not at the cost of slavishly replicating all the tedious details of "real life". Experience in the simulated environment should be authentic, but not utterly predictable.

When these experiences are structured and arranged, even loosely, such that playing a role in the environment can illustrate the important concepts and procedures of the simulated domain, students are able to "learn by doing" [Dewey, 1900]. Meanwhile, the value of play in learning can hardly be over-stressed.

The Geology Explorer has been built to explore the following beliefs: (1)Educational technology should capitalize on the natural human propensity for role-playing, (2)students will be willing to assume roles if the environment makes it easy to do, and if the environment reinforces role-playing through careful crafting of the explicit tutorial components of the game, and (3) that educational software should be engaging, entertaining, attractive, interactive, and flexible: in short, game-like.

This paper describes a pedagogical architecture and an implemented application where students assume a role in a simulated environment and learn about real science by exploring in a goal-directed way and competing with other players. The game, which teaches principles of geology, is an implementation of a networked, multi-player, simulation-based, interactive, educational environment.

Planet Oit is simulated on a MOO ("MUD, Object-Oriented", where MUD stands for "Multi-User Domain"). MUDs are typically text-based electronic meeting places where players build societies and fantasy environments, and interact within them [Curtis 1992]. Technically, a MUD is a multi-user database and messaging system. The basic components are "rooms" with "exits", "objects" and "players". MUDs support the object management and inter-player messaging that is required for multi-player games, and at the same time provide a programming language for writing the simulation and customizing the MUD.

The usual platform for operating a MUD or MOO is a machine running a Unix-based operating system, although there have always been alternatives, such as a MacIntosh server or a PC running Windows NT. Participants (usually referred to as players) connect by using Telnet or some other, more specialized, client program, which establishes a text-based session on the MOO.

Because the Geology Explorer project is intended to be a platform independent distance education system, the first client software for the project was a Telnet client developed in Java. This enabled connections from either MacIntosh, Microsoft Windows, or Linux X-Windows machines, using either Netscape or Internet Explorer browsers, although for technical reasons the Windows- and Linux-based browsing has been faster and better.

The client software to Planet Oit has been developed as different versions under the name GUMI (Graphical User-friendly MOO Interface). The first, a strictly text-based client, is called GUMI-bare. The more recent client development to implement more graphical functionality has gone forward under the name GUMI-game.

Research in active learning environments includes implementing "live" simulations for exploration and discovery that engage learners while treating them to a plausible synthetic experience. We have implemented the Geology Explorer as a synthetic environment using the freely available Xerox PARC LambdaMOO, which is a development environment for creating text-based virtual worlds, to simulate a portion of Planet Oit (very similar to Earth, and in the same orbit, but directly opposite the Sun). Students "land" on the planet to undertake an exploration exercise armed with tools and instruments implemented as LambdaMOO objects. They are given an authentic geosciences goal, e.g. to locate and report the position of potentially valuable mineral deposits. Accomplishing these goals will entail mastering several geoscience concepts and procedures, and will demonstrate student mastery of the material.

In many respects, Physical Geology is an ideal course for a role-based environment. Unlike many of the other sciences, Physical Geology is highly visual, with landscapes ranging from mountain tops to ocean floors, from arid badlands to intensely-leached tropical soils, from gently-flowing streams to violent volcanic eruptions.

However, it is obviously impractical to take large numbers of students into the field to experience first hand how a geologist makes decisions. However, students can do so in synthetic environments. Within this context, the student makes decisions similar to those of a geologist, using the tools and techniques of geoscience.

The first step was to develop a storyboard for the project which directed the development of the synthetic Planet Oit. A map was then developed to show the different environments on the planet (for example, Brown Dunes) and what will be encountered when the student travels southeast, the red beach, or south, the Lake region. A group of summer school students originally implemented multiple locations from which the geological expedition can begin. Geological tools were developed (such as streak plates, hammers, and Geiger counters), and the appearance and response of 40 minerals and 40 rocks to a series of interactions are described.

Once the layout and artifacts of Planet Oit had been implemented, the "rules of the game" were imposed. In particular, we have built an environment where students are transported to the planet surface and acquire a standard set of field instruments (a rock pick, a small bottle of hydrochloric acid, a magnet, and hand lens, a small glass plate and a streak plate). Students are issued an "electronic log book" to record their findings and, most importantly, are assigned an exploratory goal. These goals are intended to motivate the students to view their surroundings with a critical eye, as a geologist would. Goals are assigned from a principled set in order to leverage the role-based elements of the game.

The students can make their field observations, conduct small experiments, take note of the environment, and generally act like geologists as they work towards their goal of, for example, locating a Kimberlite deposit. A scoring system has been developed, so students can compete with each other and with themselves.

An on-line rock and mineral resource is being developed to allow students access to common reference materials. A simple tutorial browsing mechanism is also planned. Finally, a tracking mechanism has been implemented to follow students through the course of their explorations, in order to identify the way students are using the technology, and to implement software tutors.

The Geology Explorer project has gone through two phases: a text-based phase, during which Planet Oit was defined in terms of its Geoscience structure; and the current graphical phase, where the existing functionality has been visually enhanced with landscapes and other images.

Planet Oit development has been accomplished by creating objects in the LambdaMOO environment and implementing methods (verbs) on those objects in order to simulate an authentic exploration and problem-solving experience. To accomplish this, the following classes of objects have been implemented:

Planet Oit is built out of an "entryway room" which represents the expedition’s landing and staging area, with exits leading toward each of the compass directions. There are seven (7) main areas adjacent to the Planet Oit entryway:

On Planet Oit, every exit must have a direction as one of its names (e.g. "East"), and a letter-direction name (e.g.. "e"), and a room-direction name (e.g. "cave"). Therefore, a player in the Old Mountains can type "n", or "north", or "cave" and get to the "cave with stalactites".

Rocks and minerals on Oit are implemented as objects of type $thing. Each object was further imbued with properties for:

Once objects for rocks and minerals were defined, verbs were written to describe each rock's behavior when they react with the Geologist's instruments. For example, verbs to react to "hitting" (with a hammer or rock pick), and for "pouring" (a 10% solution of Hydrochloric Acid), were specified as follows:

Similar protocols have been developed for scratched_by, viewed_by, touched_by, measured_by, irradiated_by, and processed_by.

To create instruments it was necessary to do the following:

A key element of the exploratory game idea is the notion of a spatially oriented synthetic environment where learners explore and discover. The spatial metaphor maps a domain (and, consequently, its interface) onto the basic spatial elements on Oit. The Geology Explorer accomplishes this using client software written in Java that is a viewport into the MOO running the game server. In it, objects are represented by graphical elements that can be manipulated in a way that makes sense to the domain.

One major shortcoming of MOOs and MUDs, however, is their low-tech communication system: text. The Geology Explorer now supplies a graphical user interface layered on top of the networked multi-user database and messaging system that MUDs provide.

To accomplish this, a Java client and communication protocol were developed. These support the viewport which is an accurate and consistent representation of the data on the game server. Changes in the server are reflected in the viewport, and manipulations of the viewport change the state of the server. The viewport on the client machines is a view in a window which displays pictures that represent MOO objects such as exits, objects, and other players.

The viewport is responsible for:

The viewport is used mostly for protocol between the server and the objects in the room, and also between the objects and the platform's user interface routines. Objects in the room are stored as viewlogos. Viewlogos are responsible for:

There are different subclasses of viewlogo for different classes of objects in the MOO. The three main subclasses are Object, Exit, and Player.

On Planet Oit, tutoring is done through non-intrusive but proactive software agents. Agents monitor student actions and "visit" a student when the need arises. Tutors give advice, but they do not mandate or insist on student actions, nor do they block or prevent student actions.

There are currently two types of tutoring agents in the game, but a third type is planned:

The equipment tutor has been implemented to detect when a student has failed to acquire equipment necessary to achieving their goals The equipment tutor is mainly called by the purchase verb (which is how instruments and tools are acquired. The tutor checks whether the student has the instruments needed to satisfy their goals. If not, the tutor remediates on that topic (i.e. the need to buy instruments that serve to satisfy goals). For example, an acid bottle is necessary to identify limestone. If the student has a limestone goal, but has no acid, the student cannot possibly achieve the goal.

Future plans may call for the tutor to check whether the instrument purchased can be used to satisfy any of the player's goals. If not, the tutor may decide to remediate on that topic (i.e. buying instruments that serve no obvious purpose)

The exploration tutor has been implemented to detect when a student has overlooked a goal in their travels. The exploration tutor is called by the exit(s) from each of the locations (rooms) on Planet Oit. The tutor checks whether the student is leaving a room that might satisfy a goal; i.e. if their goal is to locate Kimberlite, and there is Kimberlite in the room they are leaving, the tutor visits the player to inform them.

Future plans call for the tutor to decide whether to remediate on that topic. This remediation could be done on a room-by-room basis (easiest), or it could be done on a region-by-region basis (harder); or on a hot-cold basis (i.e. if the player is moving farther away from some distant goal). Or the tutor may decide not to remediate at all.

The science tutor will be implemented to detect when a student makes a mistake in identifying rocks and minerals. This tutor will activate to tell a student a wrong guess has been made and why (i.e. what evidence they are lacking), or to tell a student making a correct guess that insufficient evidence has been gathered (i.e. a lucky guess) .

The science tutor is called by the report verb (which is how players score points: by showing they have achieved goals). The tutor checks the player's history property (which is where the tracking information is stored on each player), and determines which of the following cases are relevant:

Depending on the results of the reporting analysis, the tutor may decide to remediate on the spot, or may decide to defer remediation until the player begins to show a pattern of behavior.

The Science Tutor will work from knowledge of the rocks and minerals, and knowledge of the "experiments" needed to confirm or deny the identity of a rock or mineral.

The system will encode the necessary and sufficient experiments for each rock and mineral, as well as their expected results. The system will check these facts against the student's history property whenever the student "guesses" a deposit's identity The system will remediate, as appropriate, according to the four cases listed above.

Developing methods for the assessment of student learning are a central element of the research. Briefly, the assessment goal is to determine the benefit to students derived from their "learn by doing" experience on Planet Oit.

The assessment strategy rejects the notion of standardized multiple choice tests as an adequate instrument in this pedagogical context. While there are, indeed, facts and concepts acquired in the course of exploration, which are neatly packageable and testable with objective instruments, the effect on student learning in that arena will not be significant, nor would we expect it to be.

Therefore, the assessment protocol designed for the Geology Explorer is a subjective one that seeks to measure how student thinking has improved. To do this, players are given a subjective, narrative based survey where they are told short problem solving stories and asked to record their impressions and any questions that occur to them. These surveys are analyzed for the presence of what could be considered "important" Geological or problem solving concepts or procedures.

Then, after the players have experienced an extended exploration of Planet Oit, they are given a similar post-test survey with different but analogous problem solving scenarios, and asked again to record their questions and impressions. These documents are then compared with the pre-test versions and evidence of improved performance is looked for. If players exhibit a better understanding of the problem solving scenarios, this creates the clear implication that they have learned from the game. We plan an online assessment system to automate this process.

In some learning environments, the virtual reality MOO connected to a network is already here. At the United States army base and training facility in the Mojave desert, there is a virtual reality multi-user computer simulation that can be linked to other military bases around the world. Using topographical resources and mapping facilities, the entire Mojave desert has been re-created digitally. Soldiers from all over the world can participate in the same wargame scenario.

Mineral Venture is a recently developed software environment that simulates business-oriented mineral exploration from a technical and economic perspective. This is not a multi-user spatially oriented exploration system, but rather a simulation intended to pose planning and resource management problems that geologists routinely face.

The text-based Geology Explorer is in a fairly advanced prototyping phase, and preliminary pilot testing is planned for the near future. From this we hope to move forward on four fronts: 1) the assessment of student uses of educational games; 2) the development of a theoretical construct for explaining student use; 3) the prototype development of an experimental game; and 4) the design of a suite of software tools for continuing the development cycle.

Experiments will be conducted so as to answer particular research questions concerning 1) the effectiveness of these educational environments in terms of student learning and technology use, and 2) the effectiveness of our approach to game design and development in terms of code re-use and tool development.

The Geology Explorer will become an interactive multi-media (graphical) educational game for teaching Geoscience in a role-based, goal-oriented, and learn-by-doing way. With that we will study several issues connected with highly graphical and highly interactive learning technologies with a view towards developing effective teaching systems and efficient methods of implementation.

The following people were involved with the Geology Explorer as a class project in its earliest stages: Scott Gordon Aagard, Elson Abraham, Brian Raymond Allrich, Tonia Marie Brezina, Michele Lea Chown, Murali Dhandapani, Michael Glen Dunkle, Brent Alan Ellingson, Chad Justin Elliott, Bryan James Fugere, Syed Habibullah, Jeffrey Allen Haugen, Robert Jerome Hoffman, Jim Sam John, Beau James Douglas Kautzman, Shane Nelson Kullman, Jason T. Lagge, Debra Ann Meyers, Rupa Mitra, Prashanth Mylvarabatla, Curtis Wayne Ophoven, Xiaofeng Pan, Mingbo Qin, Sylvia Salas, Darin Jeffrey Schmitz, Samuel E Silverthorn, David Chadwick Teigland, Daniel Douglas Ward, Yue Yun.

Additional thanks to Mark Tinguely, who saved our world when its universe imploded, and to Dave Schmidt for the name: Planet Oit.

This project was supported in part by a Grant from the NDSU PPRC to the NDSU WWWIC administered by Dr. Paul Juell and Dr. Phil McClean, by NDSU Grant-in-Aid #1109, and by an emergency equipment grant from ND-EPSCOR, Dr. Phil Boudjouk, director.

We are implementing Planet Oit for you to explore

in order to learn something about geology.

For more information on this project, point your web browser to:

http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~slator/

For an online user's manual, point your web browser to:

http://www.cs.ndsu.nodak.edu/~slator/html/PLANETX/planet-x-userman.html

PLEASE JUST CREATE *ONE* CHARACTER FOR YOURSELF (TO USE EVERY TIME)

Problems? email slator@badlands.nodak.edu

*** Connected ***

Planet-X

You are standing in the middle of the expedition staging area on the surface of Planet Oit. You see a spaceship on the ground with its bay doors open, exposing a laboratory within. A glorious panorama spreads out on all sides.

There is a Way Station here

* To the North is a Seashore

* To the Northeast are the Hills

* To the East are the Old Mountains

* To the Southeast is a Laboratory

* To the South is a Desert

* To the Southwest are the Plains

* To the West are the Young Mountains

* To the Northwest is a Lake

Obvious exits are: Down Station North Northeast East Southeast South Southwest West Northwest

As a player in the Geology Explorer

You have reached no goals yet, and you are playing at the beginner level.

You have a general goal: to 'report' all the rocks and minerals you find

and a specific goal: to 'report' the location of Native Copper.

Native Copper is a reddish metallic mineral.

Native Copper is used in electronics.

You can expect to find Native Copper in Desert (#147)

In particular, you should look in Plateau with Fissure (#350).

To see this message again, type '@showgoal' or 'showgoal'

demoplayer

You see a player who should type '@describe me as ...'.

It is awake and looks alert.

Description set.

demoplayer

an intrepid adventurer boldly going where no one has gone before

It is awake and looks alert.

The Geology Explorer is a game and a "learn by doing" environment

for teaching the Scientific Method and deductive reasoning

in a synthetic exploratory virtual world.

To play the game, you identify rocks and minerals on Planet Oit

and you score points for each one.

Normal game play will include the following steps:

1. You log on to the game using a name and a password

this transports you to the surface of Planet Oit

2. You are assigned a general goal and a specific goal

3. You acquire the tools and INSTRUMENTS you need

from the STORE on your space ship

4. You explore the planet, seeking your goals

5. You REPORT the rocks and mineral to score points

Hints:

You will find the "help" system very useful

See especially: "help instrument" and "help <verb>"

(where <verb> is one of hit, pour, scratch, streak

touch, view, taste, or smell)

If a tutor visits you, pay attention

Watch out for wild animals

Welcome to Planet Oit!

Native Copper (mineral)

color: reddish

heft: very heavy

texture: smooth

acid reactive: 0

streak: Faint, copper-colored

luster: Metallic

hardness: from 2.5 to 3.0

a soft reddish metal that is a simple substance (ELEMENT), easily shaped, and

allows heat and electricity to pass through it easily (LDOCE, 1978)

Laboratory

You are standing in the laboratory of a spaceship, you are surrounded by many

instruments.

A sign on the wall says,

'You can buy field instruments to the East.'

The sign continues:

'You can use these lab instruments by bringing samples back here.'

* To the East is a Shopping Center

* To the South is a Rock Museum

* To the Northwest is Planet-X

Obvious exits are: East South Northwest

You see Thin Section Machine (#365), Bunsen Burner (#576), Rock Powdering

Machine (#603), X-ray Fluorescense Spectrometer (#590), Rock Crusher (#753),

Laboratory Densitometer (#714), Mass Spectrometer (#763), Aqua Regia (#566),

X-ray Diffractometer (#299), Heavy Liquids (#604), Magnetometer (#578),

Atomic Absorbtion Spectrometer (#592), and Derrick Drill (#586) here.

Crazy Eddie's Geology Equipment Emporium

Crazy Eddie's is the place to go to fill all your geology field equipment

needs. Aisle after aisle of merchandise makes this place into a maze.

You could easily get lost in here without assistance.

A large sign on the far wall reads:

Trouble finding what you're looking for?

Look it up in our catalog!

(Never mind the cost -- everything is free)

Obvious exits are: West

You see Crazy Eddie and Catalog here.

Crazy Eddie says, "Hello, demoplayer. Welcome to Crazy Eddie's Geology

Equipment Emporium!

Crazy Eddie says, "I've got the best deals on Planet X!"

Crazy Eddie asks, "Can I get you anything?"

**** Crazy Eddie's Mail Order Catalog ****

Item Price | Item Price

Acid Bottle (#597) $ 1.00 | Light Meter (#556) $25.00

Altimeter (#675) $ 100.00 | Magnet (#580) $1.00

Anemometer (#568) $ 30.00 | Microscope (#612) $25.00

Barometer (#410) $ 50.00 | Rock Pick/Hammer (#370) $40.00

Black Light (#625) $ 30.00 | Sextant (#554) $100.00

Compass (#561) $ 200.00 | Sonar (#593) $200.00

Flowmeter (#598) $ 100.00 | Spirit Level (#335) $5.00

Geiger Counter (#751) $ 178.00 | Streak Plate (#542) $0.50

Glass Plate (#583) $ 0.50 | Tape Measure (#626) $10.00

Goniometer (#613) $ 1.00 | Thermometer (#223) $5.00

Gravimeter (#708) $10000.00 | Transit (#364) $10.00

Jack Hammer (#368) $ 300.00 | Water Level Gage (#615) $5.00

hardness: Mineral's resistance to scratching on a smooth surface. Mohs scale

of relative hardness consists of 10 minerals, each scratching all those below

it in scale and being scratched by all those above it: 1) talc, 2) gypsum, 3)

calcite, 4) fluorite, 5) apatite, 6) orthoclase, 7) quartz, 8) topaz, 9)

corundum, 10) diamond

Crazy Eddie twiddles his thumbs.

You say, "sell me a rock pick"

Crazy Eddie quickly disappears for a moment.

He reappears carrying a Rock Pick/Hammer (#2757), which he gives to you.

You have accumulated $40.00 in charges.

You say, "sell me a glass plate"

Crazy Eddie quickly disappears for a moment.

He reappears carrying a Glass Plate (#2758), which he gives to you.

You have accumulated $40.50 in charges.

Plateau with Fissure

You are in an exotic place with a great view of the surroundings. This

plateau, sometimes called tableland, is a large level area raised above the

adjacent land.

There is a fissure here (a narrow opening or crack) -- it is dark within, you

cannot see inside. You see wild flowers and green trees here. A condor

circles lazily overhead.

* To the South is a White Dune

* To the Southwest is a Desert

* To the West is a Cinder Cone

Obvious exits are: South Southwest West

You see dark green-grey coarse-grained outcrop (#1902), light green granular

medium-grained outcrop (#1905), reddish metallic crystal (#2008), black

opaque submetallic crystal (#2019), dark brown opaque submetallic crystal

(#2021), light gray banded granular outcrop (#2046), dark greenish-black

coarse-grained outcrop (#2077), and dark gray fine-grained outcrop (#2083)

here.

Cinder Cone

You are standing at the base of conical hill formed by the accumulation of

cinders around a volcanic vent. The landscape here is brown and black, there

is very little in terms of green growing things. The air smells faintly of

sulphur.

* To the East is a Plateau with Fissure

* To the Southeast is a Desert

* To the South is a Reddish Butte

* To the Southwest is a Cave

Obvious exits are: East Southeast South Southwest

You see dull reddish porous medium-grained outcrop (#1923), dark gray

fine-grained outcrop (#2082), black smooth glassy block (#2087), and grayish

white rough glassy porous block (#2100) here.

<the player is visited by the tutor>

A clap of thunder splits the air, and a tutor appears in your midst

The tutor appears to be speaking to demoplayer

TUTOR: You just left Plateau with Fissure containing your goal: Native Copper

The TUTOR bends at the waist and disappears in a puff of smoke

You hit reddish metallic crystal (#2008) with your hands. Nothing happens

reddish metallic crystal (#2008) does not scratch Glass Plate (#2758)

Note: reddish metallic crystal (#2008) is soft enough to bend. Is is very

Checking: reddish metallic crystal (#2008) against Native Copper (#673)

You are right! reddish metallic crystal (#2008) IS native copper

You score 10 points!

You have satisfied your primary goal! You score 500 points.

<the player is assigned a new goal, and continues the game>