News

Mobile Games for Enviromental Awareness

15 of January, 2008 By: Marcelo Milrad

Skattjakt is a mobile phone game that has been conceived and implemented to promote physical activity and collaborative problem solving. The game is inspired by the ideas behind treasure hunt activities and the sport of orienteering. The activities in the game explore informal skills such as learning about the environmental factors and navigation. The game requires different degrees of collaboration between team members to solve the mystery. Up to six teams can simultaneously compete using mobile phones, as they progress through the playing field with detours for wrong answers. The playing field is spread out over the downtown Växjö with seven locations. A strong narrative drives the players to solve a mystery about space aliens, the environment and how to reduce greenhouse gases in everyday life.

The game has been co-developed with students (ages 13-15) from Norregaardskolan in joint collaboration between the Center for Learning and Knowledge Technologies at Växjö University and Mapping Växjö. The game will be played this Thursday, January 17th, by almost 20 children, ranging from ages 13-15 from Kronobergskola, a local school from the city of Växjö.

A press release (only in Swedish) about this event is available from the URL below:

http://www.mappingvaxjo.se/pressmeddelande/pressmeddelande_2008-01.htm