Maryland Public Television, in collaboration with MIT’s Education Arcade and educational media producer FableVision, has applied the latest research in game theory and design to produce a free learning tool to help all students learn pre-algebra concepts regardless of their math ability. “Lure of the Labyrinth” is an online middle-school math game developed to reach today’s tech-savvy students in a contemporary way. Using the immersive characteristics of digital games, it blends a compelling storyline with multi-level puzzle play to build pre-algebra skills in proportions, fractions, and ratios; variables and equations; and numbers and operations. Math is cleverly woven throughout an underground, monster-inhabited world. Students disguise themselves as a monster avatar plunging into a shadowy factory on a rescue mission to save their missing pet. “Lure of the Labyrinth” can be played individually or in teams; an online communication device allows players to exchange ideas and game strategies and encourages collaborative game play.
http://labyrinth.thinkport.org