Click! The Urban Adventure Game

Project Description:

In character as Dr. Parakeet, Interrogator Extraordinaire

Click! is an live-action interactive team-based mystery game designed to get middle school girls interested in science and technology. In the most recent iteration of the game, 84 girls in teams of four with a college aged mentor simultaneously participated in a five week training and two-day adventure game weekend, complete with a sleepover party during the night. Training mainly taught the girls the science and technology that they would need to play the game. On the day of the game, girls traveled to various locations on the North Side of Pittsburgh. The goal of the game was to solve a water quality mystery about the Pittsburgh rivers, by talking to actors who served as the characters of the game, and finding clues hidden in the designated locations.

My Role:

I joined the Click! Project shortly after its conception in 2004, and the experience I received was as multifaceted as the team I worked with. My primary task was to work with middle school science teachers and a professional writer to create and teach innovative curriculum through role playing and storytelling. Working on my senior thesis helped me to better understand my audience as I explored issues that influenced adolescent girls’ interest in science and technology through case studies involving classroom observations and personal interviews with six middle school girls and their science teacher.

After graduation I became lead evaluator of the Click! game as well as project coordinator. I collaborated with technologists, artists, designers and writers, and was the main contact of communication between many of these groups. While part of my job was administrative, including setting up meetings, hiring and training mentors, answering problems, and making sure deadlines came through, I dealt with a lot of logistical tasks as well. A large part my project coordinating required making community contacts with museums, local business, and libraries. For example, over a hundred adolescent girls, college students, staff, and guest speakers came to training every week. To make sure everything ran smoothly, I kept track of both large and small issue – everything from finding locations, setting up a manageable training schedule, assisting in game design, user-testing programs and technical equipment, researching content to teach or finding people to teach it, collecting data for the game evaluation, event planning, ordering pizza, and most importantly making sure the girls were having an enjoyable time.

Click here to visit the project website (www.clickgame.org)

Publications:

Giarratani, L., Parikh, A., DiSalvo, B.J., and Crowley, K. (Under Review). Building Middle School Girls' Identity and Community around Science and Technology: An Evaluation of a Mixed-Reality Role Playing Game. Journal of Science Education and Technology (JSET). Submitted August 2006.
Read the abstract (.pdf)

DiSalvo, B.J., Parikh, A., and Crowley, K. (2006). Click! 2005: Developing the Ultimate Urban Adventure Game. Women in Games Conference, University of Teesside, UK. July 2006. Publication and 30 minute presentation.
Read the abstract (.pdf)
Read the paper (.pdf)