Discovery Agents: Getting Youth Active Outdoors in a Digital Age
Kids today spend increasingly less time outdoors, are not getting nearly enough physical exercise, and are glued to their screens. Discovery Agents has found a revolutionary way to utilize the technology that kids can’t get away from and turned in into a tool for outdoor recreation and education. Discovery Agents is a place-based mobile game that motivates kids to get outside and actively learn about the world around them. Discovery Agents works with forest rangers, park interpreters, and environmental educators to enable them to create engaging gamified "Missions" that kids can only play by moving and exploring their public lands. This hands-on session will allow participants to try out the program for themselves and develop their own very own Pokemon GO style mobile game. Bring your laptop and mobile device and create, publish, and play Discovery Agents and explore the power of gamification in outdoor recreation and education!