AtomTouch is a molecular simulation app, created through a partnership between UW MRSEC and Field Day Lab, that allows learners to explore principles of thermodynamics and molecular dynamics in a tactile, exploratory way.

The IceCube VR experience puts you in the role of an astrophysicist who journeys deep into space to track down the source of a neutrino detected by the IceCube observatory in Antarctica. At the research station at the South Pole, you will see the large instrument, buried in the ice, detect a mesage from across the universe. Using your “impossibility drive,” you will follow the neutrinos path back to the black hole it was emitted from. Along the way, you will be able to take in awe inspiring views from the edge of the solar system, looking back from the milky way and dangerously close to a black hole. You will be able to see using not only your normal visible spectrum, but also using X-ray vision and neutrino vision, revealing entirely different views of space.

Play as Jo Wilder, a scrappy girl who spends her days with her pet badger Teddy and her grandpa, a historian. When some mysterious artifacts show up at the History Museum, you must unravel the clues to find the real stories behind the artifacts.

Students will engage with the game as a tool for critical thinking and historical inquiry. As the plot unfolds, players come across primary source materials. They use the same skills as real historians: investigation, identification, corroboration and contextualizing evidence. To win each challenge, players must piece together the evidence to argue their case.

Jo Wilder and the Capitol Case is just the spark for a world of deeper learning opportunities that you create with students in your own classroom. Access the educator guide for guiding questions to use with learners, game save codes, standards supported, and more.

In Legend of the Lost Emerald, kids take on the role of maritime archaeologists exploring shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Like real archaeologists, players use sonar and GPS coordinates, dive down to take underwater photos, and search for clues in historical artifacts, like letters and ship manifests, to tell the story of each shipwreck. We teamed up with maritime archaeologists at Wisconsin Sea Grant and amazing teacher fellows from across the state of Wisconsin to design a game that works in the classroom and introduces kids to the tools and practices of the field.

Teachers can use this game to introduce kids to historical practices and themes from ecology, technology, and Wisconsin history. Students will learn about the role of maritime archaeologists, archivists, historians, and museum curators. The game introduces four different time periods in maritime history, ranging from wooden schooners in the mid-1800s to steel freighters in the 1960s.

Named after the collective noun for a group of penguins on land, Wadde: A Penguin’s Tale introduces players to polar research at Cape Royds, Antarctica. We worked closely on this project with Jean Pennycook, a polar researcher and educator who has been studying Adelie penguins at the South Pole for more than twenty years. The game immerses players in a beautiful, distant world they wouldn’t otherwise be able to experience: the Antarctic ice. Take on the role of a penguin, play some adorable mini games, and learn how penguins build nests and defend their eggs against the predatory skua.