A procedure in progress
MEET Ellen, a 59 year-old woman with advanced Parkinson’s Disease, waiting for you at http://www.edheads.org/activities/brain_stimulation/. She’s the patient, you’re the surgeon. During a 20 minute or so procedure, your mouse becomes a shaver, scalpel, drill and swab, as you work through each step of Ellen’s brain surgery. At the end, you can get a happy patient and a deeper understanding for what a real neurosurgeon does.
A SENSE OF REALITY. “Giving a middle or high school student a realistic sense of a career like medicine early on can make a big difference in their long term plans,” said Gail Wheatley, Edheads Executive Director; who is also the Director of Electronic Education at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio (www.cosi.org). Wheatley admitted that her own desire to create these types of simulations was inspired in part by her own joyless science education that included a failed attempt at being a veterinarian. The job of bringing the grant proposals to life with trademark levity falls to Edhead’s Creative Director Eric Bort, who also runs his own for-profit development studio called Clearly Trained (www.clearlytrained.com). Together, Wheatley and Bort weave together each simulation as realistically as possible, which includes sitting in and videotaping real surgical procedures that at one point landed Bort on the floor of the operating room, after he passed out. Some things just can’t be simulated.
TWO NEW SIMS. Last year, Edheads (http://www.edheads.org) released two sims, with little fanfare. There was no press releases, conference presentations or mass email blast. What’s unique about the Edheads site is what’s missing. There are no banners, logins or subscription offers. All you need is Flash and a pretty good Internet connection; two things that most school computers have. According to EdHeads founder Gail Wheatley, who I interviewed by phone, Edheads does have the online equivalent of a tip jar for donations, which, together with Google Ad Sense generates “just a few thousand dollars per year” for overhead, which includes to keep a busy server in operation. Other than that, it’s the Public Broadcasting, find a sponsor model that keeps the Edheads lights on. “Creating a simulation like Deep Brain can cost between $50,000 and $150,000 depending on the amount of animation” said Wheatley. “We’ve learned how to stretch a dollar ‘til it screams.”
Since Deep Brain lauched on March 20th 2010, Wheatley told me the site has greaty surpassed their expectations. “The proposal we turned in hoped for 3 million unique visitors in the first three years. We have already received 2,060,042 in four months.” This proven success paves the way for future work, and it gives cash-strapped teachers a rich source of curriculum, at a cost of just 3 cents per year, of somebody else’s money.
REAL PROBLEMS, REAL DATA. Deep Brain Simulation is one of two Flash-based simulations from Edheads released last year that recently was awarded a KAPi prize. The other is a limited business game called Design a Cell Phone, paid for by Motorola Foundation and The Ohio State University College of Engineering that has attracted 536,578 unique visitors in it’s first 2 1/2 months according to Wheatley. In this game, you interpret graphs of market surveys in order design a cell phone that will be appealing to older populations. You click your way through various combinations of screens, batteries, key layouts, learning that extra features increases production costs, which reduces sales. Finally, you take your design to a test group, who gives you feedback on your design and final sales numbers; the perfect application for any middle school math curriculum.
A FEAST AND FAMINE FUTURE. So what’s the next for Edheads? According to Mr. Bort, they have one project funded, due Spring 2010. “It deals with nanotechnology and clothing” said Mr. Bort. “We’re working with Ohio State’s engineering school to take the learner down to a molecular level to try to invent a new stain repellant system.” Ms. Wheatley is particularly excited by the idea of mixing fashion with nanotechnology, to attract the interest of girls. Despite the hit or miss nature of the work, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to recognize a bargain; and by giving free public access to these types of first person simulations, Edheads is giving a new meaning to deep brain stimulation, in this case, for the rest of us.
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