Antarctic Expedition - contribution of a digital serious game,

accessible to the blind and deaf people Dotta, S.; Pimentel, e.; Braga, j.
Federal University of ABC, silvia.dotta@ufabc.edu.br

Digital serious games, like educational ones, aim to bring changes in the real world. The
game strength as a media to science popularizing lies in its rules and procedures. By
learning the game rules, the player learns how to proceed in the world outside of it. Fun
also plays an essential role in scientific literacy, as it promotes the dialogue of knowledge
with practical actions, in a ludic way. Based on these premises, we developed an
educational RPG (Role Play Game) for interdisciplinary science teaching.

In the Antarctic Expedition game, accessible to the blind and deaf,

the player assumes the role of a tourist who, when visiting the
Advance Scientific Education and the
continent, collaborates with some scientific research. The game demystification of science by inserting
has four missions: citizen science of bird and whale identification, the player in scientific research
processes conducted in Antarctica
and Brazilian research in vegetation and paleontology.
The game rules simulate real research processes. For example, in
the paleontology mission, the player must follow all the steps to
collect and identify fossils. Handling samples properly is one of the
rules, when destroying a sample, the player loses the game and
must restart it.
The player's interaction with the game is the most significant
element of learning. He learns by talking to naturalists, playing
mini-games, and engaging in research.

The Game follows the INTERA methodology, which considers the development of
learning objects (OA) as a project and therefore contemplates the complete life
cycle of an OA, from creation to use in the classroom.The methodology explicitly
addresses the desirable characteristics and the reusability of learning objects.
Expedição Antártica meets the pedagogical needs, by proposing the user
(teacher and student) throughout the process and when carrying out the
educational evaluation.

The game's development enhanced the learning of all involved, offered new
research opportunities in various areas, and expanded the knowledge about
Universal Design.In addition to Antarctic researchers' participation, there was
The same game for everyone: the inclusion of people with disabilities in the process.As challenges to be faced,
translation into LIBRAS (Brazilian we mention the communication between the teams; the considerable flow of
sign language), screen reading, validation; finding a balance between learning and fun; gather users; and
audio description, keyboard aspects of universal design.Tests and validation with users, graduates, and
movement, configurable letters, teachers are being carried out, and the next stages of production will include
auto-contrast. the availability and pedagogical evaluation.