Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Improving Public Awareness of Everyday Chemical Exposures through a 3-D Online Computer-Simulated Educational Game
EPA Grant Number: SU833539Title: Improving Public Awareness of Everyday Chemical Exposures through a 3-D Online Computer-Simulated Educational Game
Investigators: Liu, Chang , Ye, En , Siemer, Jourdan , Chang, Tiao , Fang, Yanhui , Zhong, Ying
Institution: Ohio University - Main Campus
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: September 30, 2007 through May 30, 2008
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2007) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Nanotechnology , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Chemical Safety , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
People around the world are increasingly concerned about the relationship between their health and the environment: how the environmental pollutions or chemical exposures affect human health, and how the way we produce or consume affect the health of our planet. Although we are generally aware of common pollutants such as lead and DDT, we are less aware of “emerging” pollutants like PBDEs and PFOA and their health effects. We are in contact with most chemical pollutants in our everyday life, including household and occupational activities. To improve our awareness of daily chemical exposures and their potential health impacts is essential to protect ourselves from environmental pollution. By avoiding these pollutions and promoting a healthy lifestyle, we can also eventually reduce our own impact on our planet.
The objective of our project is to develop a 3-D computer simulated game for chemical exposure education. It takes the advantage of computer games that enhances learning through an entertaining and engaging experience, and applies it to environmental education. The game is centered on everyday chemical exposure issues and is targeted to general public. By playing the game players will also be learning what major chemical pollutants encountered in their daily activities, including household and occupational activities. They will be informed with the potential health impacts of these chemicals and the alternatives to prevent them from harming human health.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The game we have developed is named Virtual P3 Game, where P3 is interpreted as “play, participation, and protection”, which implies that the game is designed and played in a virtual world and the goal of the game is to promote public participation in the environmental health movement and to protect the health of all lives on the planet. Virtual P3 adopts the form of Monopoly. However, it is significantly different from Monopoly in two major aspects: it is a 3-D computer simulated game instead of a 2-D board game; it advocates environmental profits instead of economic profits. The framework of the game has been successfully established on the open source of SL (Second Life) platform and OpenSim server which is used for creating a SL like virtual world.
As the experiment stage of the project, the implementation of Phase I project has been very successful. This is not only because that Phase I has been an valuable learning experience for all team members, but also because Virtual P3 Game has gained uniformly positive feedbacks from local high school students. The fact that most students became more aware of everyday chemical exposures after playing Virtual P3 Game confirms the effectiveness of the game as an educational tool on chemical exposure issues.
Conclusions:
The project outcomes demonstrate that the objectives of Phase I have been reached. The benefits of Virtual P3 Game include the increase of the ability of the public to recognize major chemical pollutants in everyday life and their potential health impacts, and to minimize exposures to these chemicals. Through developing an educational game based on the theme that advocates a healthy lifestyle and harmony relationship between human beings and the planet, our project has balanced the elements of people, prosperity and the planet.
Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies:
Phase II of the project will be an extension and an improvement of Phase I. In Phase II, the game will include more information on chemical exposures: not only more types of chemical pollutants will be addressed in the game, but more research and analysis will be conducted and the corresponding result be presented so that the game will be substantiated with realistic and convincing data. The game itself will also be improved so that it will provide a more interactive experience and will be more fun to play. The game will be also constructed in a way that it can not only be easily adapted to future situations in which new contaminants are discovered.
The SL platform and the Opensim server will continue to be used in Phase II for developing the game. Further tests will be conducted among local high school students and feedbacks regarding criteria such as animation effects, playability, use of technology, and instructiveness, will be used to improve the game. Advance data analysis tools, such as GIS, will be applied to further research on the potential association of chemical exposure to factors like population density. The final result of Phase II will be a fine educational game supported by substantial scientific data, and it will be released to the public and be available for classroom use.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 5 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
chemical exposure, environmental health, chemical pollution, public awareness, human health, common wealth, emerging pollutant, environmental engineering, Virtual P3 Game, computer, simulation, computer game, computer science, Second Life, OpenSim, open source, virtual world, environmental education, educational game, global garden, sustainable future, zebra mussel, Monopoly,Relevant Websites:
http://vital.cs.ohiou.edu/vitalwiki/index.php/P3 Exit
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.