Moon Adventure Game Summative Evaluation Report (2023)

Summative evaluation study of the Moon Adventure Game focused on both public and professional audiences. 

Public questions:

• Who and how many members of the public do educational products reach?

• How do the educational products impact the public’s engagement and learning related to space exploration, science, and engineering?

Professional questions:

• What kinds and how many professionals does the project reach?
• How do the educational products impact professionals’ attitudes related to engaging the public in learning about space exploration, science, and engineering?
• What kinds of partnerships are formed between museums and community organizations through the project?

Findings:

• After playing the game, participants felt:

  • More interested in Moon science and space exploration,

  • More knowledgeable about Moon science and space exploration,

  • More confident that they could learn more about Moon science and space exploration in the future, and

  • A stronger sense of science identity.

• Participants practiced 21st century skills related to collaboration, problem solving, critical thinking, and innovation through playing the game.

• Professionals reported high levels of confidence, comfort, and motivation to engage publics in learning about Moon science and space exploration, and about half said that the Moon Adventure Game had a strong influence on these attitudes.

The Moon Adventure Game is a challenge-based immersive game, inspired by “escape room” experiences, which asks visitors to take on activities to help them think about what people might need to live and work on the Moon. The game was distributed to 350 NISE Network partner organizations across the US in the December 2020. For more information about the game, visit https://www.nisenet.org/moongame.

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Authors: Alexander Lussenhop, Ann Atwood, and Elizabeth Kunz Kollmann, Museum of Science