Integrated Web Services

For several years now, the Education Department of Cornell's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art has been running an elementary school outreach program called OMNI: China (OMNI stands for Objects and their Makers: New Insights). This study unit for third graders includes a classroom introduction to Chinese art and culture, a study case of materials for further exploration (loaned to the school), a visit to the Museum, and a Chinese brush painting workshop. Cathy Klimaszewski from the Johnson Museum approached IWS about creating a virtual Chinese tomb to help provide context and to tie together much of the learning students were getting from the other components of the OMNI: China program.

From Cathy's initial proposal: "When children view objects in museum galleries they are seen out of context and can be difficult to understand in terms of the lives and times of the culture from which they came. By providing an interactive computer program featuring a "virtual Chinese tomb" that children can explore, with tomb objects they can interact with, they will learn how tomb figures and other related objects were made, used, and revered in Chinese culture, and the importance of art in honoring ancestors."

User-Controlled Exploration

Students are given a task—to locate and answer questions about six objects scattered throughout the tomb. The game controls are very simple—you move and turn by clicking on arrows, and you can always see a map of the tomb with your position and direction indicated. This proved to be a good intermediate between a fully-scripted presentation, which could be boring, and too many controls and options, which could be distracting.

An Animated Guide

A guardian statue from the tomb has been animated, and given a voice, to act as the student's guide. This figure, speaking English in the voice of a native Chinese speaker, introduces the exploration and provides helpful commentary throughout.

Context

Not only is each object found in place in a reconstructed tomb, it's described in the context of Han Dynasty life: what is it? How was it used? How was it made? For example, a painting of a Chinese kitchen of the period accompanies the image of a small stove.

Reconstructive Graphics

The important objects in the tomb are shown as three-dimensional objects that can be flipped or rotated. These graphics were developed from photos of the original objects; however, in some cases the object wasn't well-enough preserved to show texture or detail well. For those, IWS staff worked with the Museum curators to enhance the images appropriately.

Look Closer

The Journey includes various views, often including full rotation, and enlarged details of the tomb objects; students can actually see more about each object than they could at the museum.

Background Music

The Journey uses Chinese music in the background to reinforce the cultural context and help maintain children's interest as they explore.

Kid Testing

A vital component of this project was to test the game with 3rd graders who actually participate in the OMNI: China program. We worked with 3rd-grade teachers at two elementary schools and conducted in-person usability testing, observing pairs of students and recording their progress, comments, and frustrations. 33 students went through the game, and we learned a great deal from their experiences. We made a number of changes to the interface, the feedback, and some of the content based on this data.

Phases of Development

We developed The Journey in three phases, spanning about 18 months:
Phase 1 (spring 2005): Develop a pilot version of the game on CD-ROM, conduct kid-tests with third graders.
Phase 2 (fall 2005): Update the game to include improvements based on the results of pilot-phase classroom testing.
Phase 3 (summer 2006): Create a Web version of The Journey game and build a mini-site for the museum. In addition to providing a link to The Journey game, the site includes extension activities and lesson plans for teachers, related web resources, and a photo gallery of tomb objects from the Johnson Museum's collection.