About the Game

“DinoPlates” will be the a simulation that will focus on teaching Geology and Biology high school curriculum. The simulation is targeted to high school students but will be enjoyed by the public in general.This simulation will be used by the Learning Sciences Lab (LSL) in special workshops. It will also become available to the general public through the LSL web site.Initially the “DinoPlates” simulation will be completed in 40-60 minute periods by individual players. It will require access to computers with Internet connection. Eventually, the simulation will be migrated to a collaborative environment, probably using Facebook’s platform.

It would be optimum to split the simulation in two sessions. This will require the creation of usernames to keep the session in storage. Users must remember username (the student’s registration number). For subsequent sessions; we will not develop password recovery or emailing systems. Since the simulation will be delivered as a standalone software, the interface needs to be very intuitive and user-friendly. Most of the screens and choices will rely heavily on graphics, self-explanatory icons and images.


Goals
The goals of “DinoPlates” simulation are as follows:

• Provide opportunities for high school students to learn about geology and biology in a realistic context.
• Create awareness of the educational value of simulations.
• Encourage teachers to use simulations as an educational tool.
• Learning Objectives
• In “DinoPlates” simulation, users will be able to:
• Identify different dinosaurs and dinosaur fossils.
• Identify different types of tectonic plates and their movement: convergent, divergent.
• Identify the different geological transformation happening at the plate boundaries.
• Understand the mechanisms of key Earth systems: plate tectonics and its relation to landforms; weather and its relation to erosion and creation of sedimentary strata; weather and plate tectonics and their relation to sedimentary deposition, landform creation, uplift and depression of strata

Skills

• In the “DinoPlates” simulation, users will develop the following skills:
• recall (remember) - remember the types of rock stratification
• applying - protecting buildings against natural elements, figuring out where to site the buildings
• analyze - causes of plate deformation (landscape), analyze geological disasters
• Evaluate - create suitable factors to ‘create’ fossils, evaluate their own plates,
• creating - landscapes, plates , ecosystems