By Kristin Peterson
CenUSA
Bioenergy’s extension and outreach team continues to make strides in
development of mobile games, apps and e-books. This summer they presented their
new mobile game, C6Biofarm, at the
Iowa State Fair.
The name C6
comes from carbon’s designation in the Periodic Table of Elements, C6 and
carbon’s status as a building block for most forms of energy.
The C6 team,
as they have become known, is made up of CenUSA extension and outreach staff as
well as a group of undergraduate interns from CenUSA and the National Science
Foundation’s Iowa EPSCoR program studying at Iowa State University.
Aaron Jacobson, a junior in design and
computer science, has been helping to program and design the C6 game. Bre
Branderhorst, a junior in agriculture education, is helping to develop the
curriculum to teach about agriculture and bioenergy through these programs.
Caitlyn Carlson, a junior in biological systems engineering, helped to create
the e-book and app to teach about farming sustainability.
“The main
purpose of C6BioFarm is to help
connect the idea that fuels can be made from renewables and to help increase
options for agriculture,” said Jay Staker, Director
of Extension Science, Engineering and Technology at Iowa State University and a
member of CenUSA’s Outreach and Extension team. “The sub purpose is to help people better understand agriculture
production with STEM
[science, technology, engineering and math] careers
and the economy.”
Staker’s
group is developing CenUSA educational materials for students as young as the
third grade level and all the way through high school. The bulk of the
materials are targeted towards middle school students.
These
materials have been tested throughout the summer in classrooms to gage their
accessibility and interest from youth audiences.
Development
and design for the project is nearly complete and now the C6 team is working on
finishing the programming with the help of the interns, the majority of whom
are staying on with the team with the exception of Carlson. The C6 team hopes
to complete the game and materials by this fall if all goes as planned.
At the 2014
Iowa State Fair, the C6 team introduced the C6 hero’s adventures to a broader
audience. The C6 team also presented their work at CenUSA’s annual meeting in
August. The project has had positive responses from students who are reacting
well to the fun, interactive way of learning and to the heroic C6 character.
The C6 team
has completed the first two chapters of the e-book and is finishing up the
third chapter and the graphics. The e-book offers the opportunity to include
more expansive text and educate an older youth demographic. This book will go
deeper into the material and expand on the ideas from the application and game.
The team looks to spread awareness and promote knowledge gain while allowing
fun and interactive activities for the future farmers and the leaders of
tomorrow.
What
adventures lie ahead for our superhero, C6? Check out the game, application,
and e-books coming this fall or, in the spirit of digital learning, stay up to
date by following @cenusabioenergy or
@C6BioFarm on twitter!
