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For teachers and trainers

How to use the Open Science Quest

While these stories can certainly be enjoyed individually, they can also be presented to a group for a more engaging experience. To do so effectively, while sharing the story on the screen, read the text and available options aloud. Encourage the group to collectively decide which option they would like to pursue. In smaller groups, allow for a discussion among the participants before making a choice. For larger groups, you can employ a show of hands or use an external polling tool (e.g. Slido or Mentimeter).

If you are incorporating the Open Science Quest into a curriculum, you can specify which episodes students should do and ask them to write an overview of what they learned through the stories.

Exercise - try creating an interactive story

If you would like to understand practically what it takes to create an interactive story, here is an exercise you can do.

  1. First step, if you have not done so already, is to play a few times Episode 1 - ORCID. The story was constructed into two 'acts'. In Act 1 it is all about 'setting the scene', discovering who your character is, where you are, what is the issue and the aim of the story. Learners also get to familiarise themselves with the tool and experience how choices have consequences in the story. Act 2 starts when the engineers have decided to repair the hyperdrive. This act has for purpose to present ORCID and make them understand various scenarios of why it is important for researchers to have an up-to-date ORCID profile.

  2. To simplify the creation process, I will set a few instructions to follow. You are welcome to do whatever you want obviously, but it sometimes helps to have some restrictions in place to not lose focus of what you're trying to achieve - teaching about a topic.

    • Act 3: you received the model from the author, but you cannot open it (proprietary file format) and/or once you do, you cannot make sense of it (lack of documentation). The learning objective of this act is getting familiar with the FAIR principles;
    • end of Act 3: the engineers have to successfully compile the model on their pad, run it and get the new parameters which fixes the issue with the hyperdrive overheating;
    • make use of the onboard AI as an ally in your story (do not make it a villain);
    • use at least one decision choice that is meaningful and has an impact on the story (it doesn't have to be the ship exploding). But this choice should branch back at the end (i.e. only one ending);
    • have one "free text" parameter that the player has to enter (e.g. the parameters needed to repair the hyperdrive);
    • avoid using randomisation (e.g. dice throwing) or knowledge quiz in your story;
    • you should mention at least once the "FAIR principles", but avoid giving a formal definition - aim towards integrating it 'organically' within the story.

  3. Once you have layed out the whole of Act 3, try creating it in Twine.