Museum launches first educational computer game – Grand Rapids Business Journal

Visitors will now be able to learn in a new augmented reality experience as Grand Rapids Public Museum adds a digital learning game. 
To help visitors learn and interact with exhibits in person and remotely, Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) launched the Sturgeon Excursion game, the latest step in the museum’s 10-year digital strategy to make its content more accessible through interactive technology. 
GRPM, in partnership with YETi CGI and supported by the Wege Foundation, developed the digital learning platform, which uses smartphones or tablets equipped with an internet connection and camera. Through this new digital experience, visitors can explore and interact with exhibits in the museum or remotely. 
GRPM is using a platform called PublicOS to build prototypes like Sturgeon Excursion, which is the first interactive digital gaming application using the platform. 
Sturgeon Excursion is available to field trip students, general visitors of all ages and online. 
Museum visitors can access the game by scanning any of the QR codes the museum has placed in its core exhibits on the third floor. Exhibits with the code include “Anishinabek: The People of this Place,” “West Michigan Habitats” and “Grand Fish, Grand River.” The game can also be accessed in a desktop version from anywhere on the “Grand Fish, Grand River ” page on GRPM’s website. 
Within the Sturgeon Excursion game, players get to meet the lake sturgeon, learn the indigenous history of the region and discover ways to care for the quality of the Grand River watershed. Users are able to grow their virtual lake sturgeon by answering questions and gathering food, eventually enabling their sturgeon to travel down the Grand River to Lake Michigan. 
“The Sturgeon Excursion game brings together science and technology, creating a new learning experience for users to form a deeper connection to the museum’s exhibits, collections and Grand Rapids history,” said Stephanie Ogren, GRPM’s vice president of science and education. 
Sturgeon Excursion also is available in Spanish.
“This new platform will allow more people to access the museum’s resources to spark their curiosity and learn, whether they’re exploring the GRPM in person or from the comfort of their home,”  said Dale Robertson, president and CEO of GRPM.
The museum is currently developing its next digital addition, a prototype called River of Time, also on PublicOS. River of Time is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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