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I'm sure that you're eager to jump right in and begin playing the game, but you probably should have a little more information about Ecolonization. When you're ready to start playing Ecolonization, remember that the game requires that you have a Flash 4.0+ plugin installed.
Since the currently available Level 1 is used in conjunction with Lesson 1: Food Chains and Food Webs, you may want to review the available information about food chains and food webs. If you have any further questions, please contact the Command Team through the link to the left.
Ecolonization is a computer microworld specifically oriented to teach environmental concepts by embedding concepts inside of a scenario (story) about space exploration and colonization of other planets. But what's a microworld? It is a genre of computer program that is most commonly compared to a simulation. Both microworlds and simulations allow students to learn by controlling and interacting with the program. The difference between these two genres lies in the complexity level of the program. Simulations attempt to mimic real environments as closely as possible whereas microworlds use a subset of reality to aid in teaching specific concepts. Ecolonization is also a goal-oriented scenario. This means that students are placed within an imaginative story setting in which they must work towards the solution of a problem. Although the students are given a goal, the educational purpose of the program is not achieved by winning the game, but rather on the journey towards this goal. As students work to achieve their mission, they continually test their own theories to discover a solution.
Ecolonization teaches environmental concepts through a constructivist, or hands-on, approach. The program is a supplemental activity that allows students to visually interact with abstract and complex ideas to help gain deeper understanding. Both students and adults enjoy using Ecolonization to learn and are continually motivated to strive towards attaining their "mission" goals.
4th grade to Adult. Originally, the program was developed for 4th grade science classrooms. However, its graphics are not age specific and therefore the program appeals to a wide range of ages. It is a wonderful addition for teaching environmental concepts at the elementary, high school, and college level.
Ecolonization provides teachers with an alternative way to introduce and reinforce environmental concepts through the use of a game. Unlike many computer games where students just react to events happening on the screen, Ecolonization allows students to make things happen. Students can add to, subtract from, and even alter parts of the program through a simple click of their mouse. The program creates a uniquely motivating environment by embedding concepts inside of a scenario (story) about space exploration and colonization of other planets. In Level 1.0 (which is used in conjunction with Lesson 1: Food Chains and Food Webs) students are placed into a goal-oriented space scenario. Students lead a team of biological specialists whose mission is to establish a "Biodome" where colonists can harvest their food. It is the students' responsibility to prove to their superiors back on Earth that the colony can support itself for 30 cycles (15 minutes game time). If the students are unable to prove to their superiors that the colony can be successful, their mission fails and all of the colonists are forced to return to Earth. While Ecolonization is specifically designed to teach environmental concepts, it was also designed with teachers in mind. For instance, very few teachers feel that they have sufficient training about computers. Therefore, Ecolonization was created to be extremely user-friendly. The program requires no more computer knowledge than the ability to point and clicking a mouse on the Internet. Thus, users (both teachers and students) with little or no computer experience can readily interact with its environment to learn environmental concepts. Ecolonization was also designed to be used easily with a normal school day period. The maximum game time is 15 minutes. This allows teachers to have classroom discussion before and after students use the program. Utilizing the growing availability of the Internet in classrooms, Ecolonization can easily be accessed by teachers and students anywhere at anytime. Because it was created with Macromedia's Flash, it looks and acts identically on both PC and Mac platforms as long as the Flash 4.0+ plugin is installed.
There are some features of Ecolonization that are often overlooked when first working with the game. The following are a few tips that will help you and your students enjoy the game to the fullest!
Imagine this…it's FREE! Hard to imagine? Ecolonization was designed and developed as a prototype for what is possible when utilizing the Internet for education. By providing free access to the game and the teachers' website, I hope to get feedback from teachers about how to improve the program and increase its educational value. Further, feedback from the educational community will help to develop additional programs in the future.
Rather than forcing schools to buy software that quickly becomes outdated, Ecolonization utilizes the Internet to stay current. The game requires that you have an Internet browser that is Flash 4.0 capable. This means that you must have one of the following:
If you know that you need to download the plugin, click on button below. The download of the latest plugin should take less than 5 minutes on even slow modems (28.8).
If you are unsure whether
your browser has the correct plugin, look at the picture below.
If you can see a light moving back and forth, and there is a time
counter incrementing in the lower left hand corner, then you have
the correct plugin installed. If not, then you need to download
a new plugin!
If you're having trouble with the program, then you've come to the right place! The most commonly found problem is that users have the wrong plugin. Remember, you must have the Flash 4.0 or higher plugin!
Specific Problems:
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