Nurbits: Playing for Success in Neuroscience

Nurbits：为神经科学的成功而努力

• 批准号: 8250712
• 负责人: Stephen Paul Borden
• 金额: $ 18.24万
• 依托单位: IS3D, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-24 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8250712
• 关键词: Address; Age; Alzheimer' s Disease; Area; Arts; Attention; Autistic Disorder; Azerbaijan; Books; Botulinum Toxins; Calcium Channel; Categories; Characteristics; Child; Collaborations; Color; Communication; Computer software; Computers; Croatia; Decision Making; Development; Disease; Economically Deprived Population; Education; Educational process of instructing; Educational workshop; Electrons; Elements; Ensure; Environment; Enzymes; Esthetics; Event; Failure; Feedback; Goals; Healthcare; Heart; Industry; Language; Latvia; Learning; Marketing; Mechanics; Mental Depression; Minority; Nature; Nervous System Physiology; Neurons; Neurosciences; Neurosciences Research; Neurotransmitters; Outcome; Parkinson Disease; Phase; Play; Process; Production; Reporting; Research; Route; Schools; Science; Shapes; Slovakia; Solid; Spain; Specific qualifier value; Staging; Students; Synapses; Synaptic Cleft; System; Testing; Time; Toxin; Training; Travel; Underrepresented Minority; United States; United States National Institutes of Health; Visual; Work; animation; base; career; commercialization; demographics; design; girls; high school; innovation; innovative technologies; interest; middle school; neurophysiology; neurotransmission; neurotransmitter release; neurotransmitter reuptake; peer; programs; prototype; science education; sound; success; teacher

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this project is to create a fun, engaging, and informative videogame called "Nurbits" that will spark the interest of middle and high school students in neuroscience. Nurbits will be a puzzle/rhythm game based on the principles and processes that underlie synaptic neurotransmission. This game will incorporate our core technologies and an innovative game design to draw students into an environment where they can learn through play, experimentation, and failure. The primary focus of this project will be on game mechanics, design aesthetics, color and sound, to ensure that Nurbits captures the attention and interest of the students in a playful manner and avoids taking on any of the characteristics of the "edutainment" category of games that fail miserably with students of this age. Rather than announcing itself as a game about neuroscience, Nurbits will begin as a simple, yet inviting game about communication among chips on a computer circuit board. During the early levels of Nurbits, the students will make decisions about which colors, shapes and sounds 'electrons' must have in order to deliver information between adjacent chips to achieve a desired outcome (e.g., release of electrons having a specified color, shape and sound). In doing so, the students will learn by failing, a process that helps them identify the ruls that govern the interactions between the chips. As gameplay increases in complexity, the computer chips will gradually become more organic in nature, the sounds will become more robust, and the "electrons" will morph into neurotransmitters. At later levels, students will contrl communications between neurons by regulating the concentrations and effects of neurotransmitters on the adjacent neuron. At the highest levels of gameplay, these events will be regulated by elements that represent calcium channels involved in neurotransmitter release, mechanisms responsible for reuptake of neurotransmitters from the synaptic cleft, and enzymes that breakdown the neurotransmitters. By disrupting specific aspects of neuronal function, it will be possible to introduce students to the abnormalities that underlie diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, depression, or the ill effects of toxins such as Botulinum toxin. As a result, teachers will have a fun and engaging way to teach basic neuroscience concepts and encourage students to consider possible careers in this area. This project will address the growing problem of lack of diversity in the science work force by partnering with schools with high percentages of economically disadvantaged underrepresented minority students, and an all- girls school in Atlanta. These students will be directly involved in field-testing Nurbits in ts formative stages and providing input regarding ways to ensure that Nurbits appeals to these two demographics that are woefully underrepresented in science in the US. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Currently, very few high school students in the United States express any interest in careers in neuroscience, despite the devastating impact of diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, autism and depression. This is especially true for girls and under-represented minority students, whose representation in the health care workforce is extremely low. This project will address these problems by creating an engaging, fun and informative game called Nurbits, that will teach students the fundamental principles of neurotransmission and thereby increase their interest in neuroscience.

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目的长期目标是创建一款有趣、引人入胜且信息丰富的视频游戏，名为“Nurbits”，以激发中学生和高中生对神经科学的兴趣。 Nurbits 将是一款基于突触神经传递原理和过程的益智/节奏游戏。该游戏将结合我们的核心技术和创新的游戏设计，将学生带入一个可以通过玩耍、实验和失败来学习的环境。该项目的主要重点将放在游戏机制、设计美学、色彩和声音上，以确保 Nurbits 以有趣的方式吸引学生的注意力和兴趣，并避免呈现“寓教于乐”类别的任何特征。对于这个年龄段的学生来说，这些游戏都惨遭失败。 Nurbits 不会宣称自己是一款关于神经科学的游戏，而是一款简单但引人入胜的关于计算机电路板上芯片之间通信的游戏。在 Nurbits 的早期阶段，学生将决定“电子”必须具有哪些颜色、形状和声音，以便在相邻芯片之间传递信息以实现期望的结果（例如，释放具有指定颜色、形状和声音的电子）。声音）。在此过程中，学生们将从失败中学习，这个过程可以帮助他们识别控制芯片之间交互的规则。随着游戏玩法复杂性的增加，计算机芯片本质上将逐渐变得更加有机，声音将变得更加强劲，“电子”将演变成神经递质。在后续级别，学生将通过调节神经递质对相邻神经元的浓度和影响来控制神经元之间的通信。在游戏的最高水平上，这些事件将受到代表参与神经递质释放的钙通道的元素、负责从突触间隙重新摄取神经递质的机制以及分解神经递质的酶的调节。通过破坏神经元功能的特定方面，将有可能向学生介绍帕金森氏症、阿尔茨海默氏症、抑郁症等疾病或肉毒杆菌毒素等毒素的不良影响背后的异常情况。因此，教师将以一种有趣且引人入胜的方式来教授基本的神经科学概念，并鼓励学生考虑该领域的可能职业。该项目将通过与经济上处于不利地位、代表性不足的少数族裔学生比例较高的学校以及亚特兰大的一所女子学校合作，解决科学劳动力缺乏多样性这一日益严重的问题。这些学生将直接参与 Nurbits 形成阶段的现场测试，并就如何确保 Nurbits 吸引这两个在美国科学领域代表性严重不足的人群提供意见。 公共健康相关性：目前，尽管阿尔茨海默氏症、帕金森氏症、自闭症和抑郁症等疾病造成了毁灭性的影响，但美国很少有高中生对神经科学职业感兴趣。对于女孩和代表性不足的少数族裔学生来说尤其如此，她们在医疗保健劳动力中的代表性极低。该项目将通过创建一款名为 Nurbits 的引人入胜、有趣且信息丰富的游戏来解决这些问题，该游戏将向学生传授神经传递的基本原理，从而提高他们对神经科学的兴趣。