Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

2.15.10 | “Ivan Illych is dead. Police claimed he drowned while fishing in Lake Mendota. You think it might have been something else.”

Watch three earth science students race against the clock in this augmented reality game from Local Games Lab.

Students must provide the police examiner (played by a real person) enough data to open an investigation into the causes of the death. In the process players use their handhelds to talk with virtual characters to learn life histories, access documents describing chemicals, conduct simulated tests for PCBs, TCE, and mercury, and must piece together an argument about the cause of the death.

These students think Ivan may have been poisoned. Are they right? You need to play Mad City Mystery to find out.