No. 1 with a bullet
Rice-developed ‘CSI: The Experience’ wins interactive gaming award

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

Rice’s Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning (CTTL) has a new notch in its gun.

The department’s “CSI: The Experience,” the latest in a series of educational “Web Adventures,” has earned an outstanding achievement award from the Interactive Media Council, a nonprofit organization of Web professionals.

The teen-oriented site entertains as it educates players about the reality of a career in forensics. Its storylines and characters are based on the long-running CBS drama that follows investigators who use scientific methods to solve crimes.

The Web adventure, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, is a collaboration with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, which approached the Rice center to create an Internet component for its traveling “CSI”-themed exhibit.

Leslie Miller, a senior research scholar at CTTL, had to become a bit of a gumshoe herself as she and her team at the center dove into the world of forensic science. It helped that Miller, who has a strong background in the use of technology in education, was already a fan of “CSI.”

“This was a team effort, though most of my colleagues don’t watch the show,” she said. “But we all had fun coming up with storylines, and we worked closely with the director of the Fort Worth Crime Lab and toxicologists from the Harris County Medical Examiner’s office. They let us know if something was realistic or not.”

Though the cases on “CSI: The Experience” are fictitious, the bullets, fingerprints and other evidence are real; many of the samples were provided by forensic professionals. “Applying what we know about multimedia learning to forensics was very stimulating. We tried to ensure that both learning and fun were part of the equation,” she said.

The Rice team took its task seriously, though. “We worked with a variety of professionals from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences because we want to teach accurate science,” Miller said. “Part of our mission was to correct misconceptions of what people see on television, to get them to appreciate that forensic specialists are scientists. You don’t just walk off the street and start investigating crimes.”

The development process included testing a paper prototype of the site with members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Houston and conducting further research studies with Rice’s Department of Psychology.

Miller said CBS provided access to character images, fonts and other artwork. “That was a terrific asset. We didn’t have to come up with characters or color palettes or anything. They were already there.”

The award is ample evidence that “CSI: The Experience” is a quality production, but Miller said comments posted on the Web site prove the game has found its target. “It really seems to be accomplishing what we thought it would — it’s a virtual apprenticeship, and kids can actually try out what it’s like to be a toxicologist, medical examiner or a DNA analyst.

“We have received comments from people who actually are toxicologists and medical examiners saying, ‘This is pretty close to what we do. Thanks for sharing our careers with other people.'”

The game is the fourth in a series of science “Web Adventures”; others deal with drug abuse (“Reconstructors”), alcohol abuse (“The N Squad”) and infectious diseases (“MedMyst”). All four games can be found here.

The center’s research focuses on the power of games to enhance learning and motivate better health behaviors. Miller is enthusiastic about another game idea under development with pediatric rheumatologists at Texas Children’s Hospital that would focus on juvenile arthritis and the immune system.