HudsonAlpha’s online educational activity Touching Triton was the subject of a recent podcast with EdReach Network, an educational media network. EdReach provides a platform for passionate, outspoken individuals aiming to strengthen their voices by highlighting innovation in the field of education through reporting critical education news, providing commentary, and offering criticism of the educational issues of the day.
HudsonAlpha educators Kelly East and Adam Hott sat down with Zack Gilbert, host of EdReach Network’s EdGamer podcast, on August 27 to talk about Touching Triton and the use of real world data in the development of educational games. The podcast went live on August 30.
Touching Triton is a free online educational activity currently in development by Educational Outreach at HudsonAlpha. The activity will give students and teachers the opportunity to have an engaging conversation about common complex disease risk influenced by family history, environmental factors and genomic data. Students learn to synthesize data from these sources to inform lifestyle choices and medical intervention strategies in the setting of a long-duration space flight mission.
Real world data is found throughout the activity both in the information students interact with and the behind the scenes calculations that govern mission outcome. The use of this data is thought to enhance students’ engagement with the storyline and understanding of complex genetics.
Gilbert is a middle school history teacher and uses games as learning devices throughout his courses. Touching Triton got his attention at the Games Learning and Society Conference held in Wisconsin each summer. Hott said making connections with professionals such as Gilbert are important to advancing the mission of HudsonAlpha.
The EdGamer podcast is available online as part of the EdReach Network. It is also available on iTunes.
