StarLogo TNG

StarLogo TNG 1.5 splash screen

Version 1.5. Download it here

Curriculum Materials HERE

StarLogo TNG is The Next Generation of StarLogo modeling and simulation software. While this version holds true to the premise of StarLogo as a tool to create and understand simulations of complex systems, it also brings with it several advances - 3D graphics and sound, a blocks-based programming interface, and keyboard input - that make it a great tool for programming educational video games.

Through TNG we hope to:

  1. Lower the barrier to entry for programming with a graphical interface where language elements are represented by colored blocks that fit together like puzzle pieces.
  2. Entice more young people into programming through tools that facilitate making games.
  3. Use 3D graphics to make more compelling and rich games and simulation models.

News

Ubiquitous Games

Invasion of the Beasties Screen Shot

 The Ubiquitous Games label consists of several different projects: games such as Weatherlings, the first game created under this particular platform, as well as the UbiqBio project, which features four games that teach various topics in high school intro biology classes.

MITAR Games

Playing an AR Game

The MIT Teacher Education Program, in conjunction with The Education Arcade, has been working on creating "Augmented Reality" simulations to engage people in simulation games that combine real world experiences with additional information supplied to them by handheld computers.

Palmagotchi

A Screen from Palmagotchi

Palmagotchi combines the ideas of virtual pets (such as the popular Tamagotchi toy) and the evolutionary story of Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands. Players maintain families of birds and islands of flowers. They monitor and feed birds in order to keep them alive. They also mate their birds with other players’ birds in order to get offspring with desirable traits that maximize their chances of surviving various hazards in the game.

Vanished

Vanished is a "curated game," a format derived from alternate reality games (ARGs) for museums, being developed by Education Arcade for the Smithsonian museums in Washington D.C., with NSF funding. The game ran from April 4 through May 22 2011, and targeted middle school age kids in informal settings like afterschool programs.

The Radix Endeavor

The Radix Endeavor is a multiplayer online game for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning in high school.

The game is funded by the Gates Foundation, and under development at the MIT Education Arcade in collaboration with Filament Games. The initial phase will cover topics in biology, algebra, geometry, probability, and statistics, providing students with a collaborative, social experience in a systems-based game world where they can explore how the world works and discover important scientific concepts. The project began in late 2011 and will be released in a public pilot phase in the fall of 2013.