Mystery Science: Online Game for Kids Kicks Off April 4

Researchers at MIT's Education Arcade and the Smithsonian are hoping to fuel middle-schoolers' interest in science by adding a little intrigue to their lives. On April 4, they will launch a highly secretive, interactive game called Vanished, an environmental mystery with a science-fiction twist.

The game will unfold over the course of eight weeks. During that time, kids will receive clues about a fictitious environmental disaster and will work to discover the cause. Along the way, they'll test, debate, and refine their hypotheses as well as collect data—such as the temperature in their backyards at certain times of the day—that will be entered into a database and used as part of the game. The idea is to make students ages 11-14 primary investigators and learn about the process of science. Certain activities will require participants to visit one of 17 Smithsonian-affiliated museums nationwide to find clues, which they can then share with players who don't live near the museums.

According to LiveScience, game designers took inspiration from TV shows like CSI and Bones (though the science in Vanished will be real, not the Hollywood version).

Adults will curate the game: MIT undergrads will moderate an online forum where kids can offer their solutions to the mystery. Smithsonian researchers will hold video conferences with players to discuss their hypotheses. Kids can also play mini-games that teach the environmental themes of the story without advancing the larger plot and watch day-in-the-life videos explaining what Smithsonian scientists do at work.

But Vanished is also research. Creators are hoping to glean whether kids can learn scientific reasoning through an online game.

Know a kid who wants to try to solve the mystery? Registration started last night.