Throwback Thursday: Staying Strong

Both my grandfathers served in World War II. My maternal grandfather was a pilot, but growing up I didn’t know anything about his service. He certainly didn’t talk about it – a symptom of both the times and his return and reintegration to his family. It wasn’t until late in his life, when he was dealing with a series of strokes and the accompanying dementia, that he began to tell his family stories from the war.

Times are different now. Perhaps as a society, we encourage transparency about these experiences within families and beyond. There are resources that encourage an open, healthy dialogue in a military family – especially ones with children.

Paula K. Rauch, MD, a child psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, developed a method for dealing with illness and loss that resonated with military families across the country.

“When one member of a family serves, every member serves,” Dr. Rauch says. As she can’t be on every base, a one-of-a-kind solution to share her Staying Strong message was created.

FableVision partnered with Rauch and Mass General’s Home Base program to design and develop the site, StayingStrong.org. The website is a robust resource with video, animations, a community forum, and educational tools to help military families navigate deployment challenges.

FableVision worked with Rauch to understand how military families would use the site. The animated segments are relatable, tackling social and personal issues military kids may encounter at different age levels from preschool to high school. Through Staying Strong, military families across the country have access to the mental and emotional care Rauch offers at Mass General.

The hope is that with resources like Staying Strong, families will feel supported with a care network for generations to come.

Throwback Thursday: Here's to Health!

This week Boston's Back Bay will be full of health nuts and gaming nerds – in the same room! FableVision President Gary Goldberger is headed over a few streets to the tenth annual Games for Health Conference. The Games for Health Project is dedicated to exploring the wonderful possibilities of health education through interactive games, and you know us – that's one of our favorite things. The conference is all about demoing games, sharing research, hosting discussions, and seeking advice, all in the pursuit of propelling health education.

And that made us think about all the health games we've produced here at FableVision – there's quite a few – and how they have hopefully had a positive effect on gamers and students. Here's a few games we think have made a healthy difference in users' lives.

Caduceus: Staff of the Alchemist
Client: Children's Hospital Trust

Created for the Generation Cures website, players enter into the fantasy world of Alterica where a deadly disease has infected massive amounts of people. Users must play mini-games to advance the storyline, all in pursuit of finding a cure and saving the sick people. Caduceus helps tweens care about medical research and have compassion for sick people. Learn more about Caduceus here, or visit the project page on our website.

H-E-B Body Adventure Exhibit
Client: Witte Museum

The Witte Museum has a brand new interactive exhibit with six different health-related activities. Museum goers receive a POWERpass card to log their results from each activity as they travel station to station. FableVision contributed two activities to the exhibit, All About You and Build a Balanced Meal. At the All About You stop, visitors do some preliminary work, answering questions about their day-to-day health habits as well as taking a picture or choosing an avatar to travel with them to all the activities. In Build a Balanced Meal, visitors must do exactly that – build a healthy meal to fuel their character as they virtually walk along San Antonio's historic River Walk. Learn more about the H-E-B Body Adventure exhibit here, or visit the project page on our website.

CaveBro
Client: Florida Virtual School (FLVS)

"Me want food – now!" Okay, CaveBro, we'll get you some food, but let's make sure it's healthy first! In this interactive online game, players must feed the CaveBro a balanced meal or else he'll get a tummy ache. You would too if you had five helpings of ice cream! This game teaches players what constitutes a nutritious, balanced meal and how much of eat food item they should be eating. Learn more on on FLVS’ website. CaveBro is still in the prototype phase. 

Sid the Science Kid: Super Duper Antibodies game
Client: Jim Henson Company and PBS Kids

With a “BAM” and a “Take That,” kids fight off the flu virus in Sid the Science Kid’s Super Duper Antibodies featured on the PBS Kids site. Developed by FableVision, the game explains that a vaccination is a “tiny bit of the flu virus” that teaches the body how to fight the flu. Kids click on the syringe to inject the vaccine and then travel into the body to fight the virus. At the end Sid cheers, “Adios flu virus, you can’t make me sick!” Play the game for yourself on the Sid website.

Throwback Thursday: Women's Adventures in Science

For this week's Throwback Thursday blog post, we're celebrating National Teacher Appreciation Week with a shout out to science teachers. FableVision works with its partners to develop unique teaching tools to reach learners of all ages and my younger self can connect with one project in particular.    

I was more of a humanities person in grade school: excelled at reading and writing, struggled with math and science. Most of that was purely interest-based, but I'd be lying if I said I was encouraged in science and math more than just to get a passing grade. The phrase "STEM," which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, didn't exist when I was a student. Now, "STEM Education" is an everyday buzz word. What if I'd been encouraged in different knowledge fields beyond the bare minimum? What if I'd had programs and games and communities both in school and online that were supportive (and even hopeful) about my future in STEM fields? Heck, what if I'd had GoldieBlox (or something like it) to play with?

FableVision works with many organizations that provide STEM education to students. One of my favorites is iWaSwondering.org, a project of the National Academy of Sciences. The website was designed for children 8-12 years old — especially girls — who research suggests often dismiss career options in STEM fields.

FableVision created a site that showcases the accomplishments of contemporary women scientists with games, interactive comic books, scrapbooks, and other resources.

The site draws from and accompanies the publication of a 10-volume series of biographies entitled Women’s Adventures in Science, co-published by Joseph Henry Press (an imprint of the National Academies Press) and Scholastic Library Publishing.

The games section of the website includes Robot Game, where the user makes a robot and then tests its reactions. The game is based on the research by Cynthia Breazeal, who created robots that mimic emotions and learn how to communicate.

The Robot Game is a great example of how FableVision incorporates curriculum content into a simple, clever design with a familiar gameplay mechanic.

Perhaps sites like this are important for all kids to have access to, not just girls aged 8-12. At FableVision we are cheering on teachers who are using technology to reach the little girl who claims "math is just too hard," to explore STEM and dream big.