| Be an alien, learn
DNA
Be the first to gather your ship’s lost supplies
and join your alien friends at the launch pad for liftoff.
This may sound like the plot of a sci-fi flick, but
it’s actually the premise for an educational board
game developed by Ksero Corp., a Richmond-based company
specializing in the creation of educational tools for
children.
Metanon:
The Biocode Adventure, distributed by Sunergia Medical
for $36.99, is designed for ages 5 and up. Players assume
the role of one of six alien characters, attempting
to gather “Biocodes” in order to free the
necessary supplies from behind three locked city gates,
repair their crippled ship and return home.
Initial
tests show that the inclusion of elements of strategy
and chance make for a game that children want to play
over and over, learning about genetics as they go. Children
learn without even realizing it since concepts are not
taught in a didactical or curricular way but rather
through the patterns of actual game play, according
to Ksero co-founder Dr. Susan Hardwicke. “They
learn the concepts of DNA without the complicated terminology.”
This
is the first such board game created by Dr. Hardwicke
and Ksero co-founder Dr. Donald Abraham. The two combined
their own budding ideas on alternative education in
2002 to create Ksero, which means, “I know”
in Greek. Dr. Hardwicke likens her company’s mission
to Gummi Bear vitamins, teaching children through a
means of fun but educational games just as entertaining
vitamins teach them about healthy living.
Initially,
Ksero intended on creating CD-ROM games but turned their
energies toward the resurging board game industry, banking
on the relative ease with which such games can be developed.
It seems that with the success of Metanon: The Biocode
Adventure, not only is the sky no longer the limit for
Ksero, but distant planets are not out of range as well.
—
Joshua Covington
Return
to Virginia Business - February 2003
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