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Crystal Island: Uncharted Discovery

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Crystal Island: Uncharted Discovery is an educational video game created by a team of educators and computer scientists[1] at the Center for Educational Informatics[2] aimed at teaching students upper elementary science education, focusing on landforms, navigation, and modeling.[3] In the game, students play as shipwrecked adventurers on a volcanic island. To escape the island, they must complete a series of quests that test their critical thinking skills and teach them content-related information. Upon completion of the quests, the players gain access to a new area of the island which contains a multi-skill quest that requires students to use the knowledge and skills they learned during the previous quests. Once the final quest is completed, the players gain access to a communication device which allows them to call the outside world for rescue.[1] The game was made with the Unity game engine.[4] It was made by the same creators of the game Crystal Island: Lost Investigation.

Setup

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Teachers are given access to a Crystal Island wiki, which provides them with a suggested schedule and lesson plan, supplemental lessons, and a video tutorial.[1]

Gameplay

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Crystal Island includes a virtual tablet in-game that contains applications to help students with quests. The apps include: an "IslandPedia" containing presentations of scientific concepts, a Problem-solving app which helps players understand the scientific problem-solving method, a Text Message app which presents scripted text messages from in-game characters that remind them of the learning resources provided to help them with the quests and to stay on task, a Camera app which allows students to take pictures of in-game landforms, a Note-taking app which allows students to take both text and image notes, a Quest app which shows the current progress that a student has made during a quest, and a Map app which includes a map scale, compass, and a grid that shows students their current location.[1]

Plot

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Crystal Island begins with an introductory scene which shows the characters of the video game struggling at sea. The characters eventually reach land, and find that they are stranded on a volcanic island. They begin the start of a new life in a village.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Research on teaching and learning with the literacies of young adolescents. Malu, Kathleen F., Schaefer, Mary Beth. Charlotte, NC. pp. 79–80. ISBN 978-1-62396-856-4. OCLC 905855065.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ^ "Support | Crystal Island: Uncharted Discovery". Retrieved 2020-05-14.
  3. ^ "About | Crystal Island: Uncharted Discovery". Retrieved 2020-05-14.
  4. ^ "Research & Technology | Crystal Island: Uncharted Discovery". Retrieved 2020-05-14.