aimed at encouraging students to carry out contex-
tualized scientific enquiry and to reflect on their in-
teractions (Rogers et al., 2005); and in the Savannah
project players experience and learn collaboratively
about a virtual savannah that appears to be overlaid on
a grassy field (Benford et al., 2004). The introduction
of competitive gaming has also been shown to have
educational benefits (Di Blas et al., 2010). In our
project we are interested in creating interlinked, in-
teractive scenarios which provide schoolchildren with
challenges which are both enjoyable and educational.
We use smartphones and external sensors to provide a
cohesive environment in which a storyline can be de-
veloped. The smartphones are an integral part of each
of the scenarios.
The underlying objective is to create cross-
platform, smartphone learning game applications
which will work with a number of sensors. This ap-
proach enabled us to demonstrate and streamline the
production process and skills required in creating a
novel product and experience, crossing film, game
and online experiences with physical interaction with
real objects. The project shows how sensor technol-
ogy can be integrated with existing smartphone tech-
nology to create new, exciting and dynamic learning
experiences.
This paper describes two approaches using cli-
mate change to provide the underlying scenario. The
players are presented with a series of challenges
which if completed successfully will give them the
arguments necessary to change the development strat-
egy of a power generation company, headed by ‘Bran-
don Riches’. The players are guided by a girl from the
future, ‘Gaia’. The first approach is described in sec-
tion 2 where fact finding challenges are completed by
using iPhones. In the second approach, described in
section 3, the challenges are more physical with addi-
tional gameplay. Section 4 gives a technical overview
and we conclude in section 5.
2 FACT FINDING GAMES
The first iteration of the project was intended to raise
awareness of climate change issues by providing sim-
ple games in which iPhones gather relevant facts us-
ing data triggers. Before any application building was
started a workshop was held with a group of 12 to
14 year olds in order to test the game concepts. We
wanted to be sure that the concepts of the story and
the games were appealing to the target audience.
Using feedback from the workshop we designed a
set of climate change related games linked together
using the storyline which involved Gaia reporting
from a climate devastated future using a time-shifted
video link. The overall object was to collect facts to
change the investment strategy of Brandon Riches,
our power magnate. The games were introduced by
Gaia. Each game followed the same procedure: enter
game region; receive video call; find source of game
instructions (video tells you how); listen to/watch in-
structions; complete game; receive score and store in-
formation gained; and finally move onto the next re-
gion. The games were intended to be played indoors
or outdoors using a mixture of WiFi and GPRS to pro-
vide connectivity to a central server.
Six themes were chosen and different sensing
technologies were associated with each one.
• Transport - To complete the game the player had
to cycle a fixed distance on an exercise bike. The
game was started by ringing the bicycle bell.
• Clothes - The players identified sustainably pro-
duced items from a range of clothes on display
using a sonar-like system. The iPhone emitted a
pulsed audio tone which was received by hidden
microphones in the relevant clothes. A shop bell
was used to initiate the game.
• Deforestation - By showing the iPhone display to
a tree fitted with a webcam/light sensor, informa-
tion is revealed on the iPhone when the display is
recognised.
• Travel - In response to correctly answered mul-
tiple choice questions on the iPhone, UV painted
signs are illuminated by UV lights.
• Energy - Strategically placed QR codes are asso-
ciated with different energy sources. The iPhone
reads the codes, causing a call to be made to the
iPhone in which the information is given as a ver-
bal message.
• Food - In a similar design to the Energy game, bar
codes on food products are read by the iPhone.
The games were followed by a video sequence
in which Brandon Riches explained the affect of the
gathered information on his thinking.
A group of sixteen 14 year olds from a local
school were invited to carry out a trial of the game.
They participated in pairs, each pair using a single
iPhone or iPod touch. This was intended to encourage
collaboration. It was clear that the games with multi-
ple components were the most popular, and any rep-
etition of task spoiled the enjoyment of doing some-
thing new; the patterns were easily learnt. The Trans-
port and the Energy games were enjoyed more than
any others. The fact that these were both the most en-
joyable and very different from one another caused us
to reconsider some of the other sensors we intended
using. Often in games, players like the opportunity
to skill-up through repetition, but this age group ap-
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