Reviews of simulations, games and virtual labs for STEM education. Each “micro-review” below provides a link to the resource and to the organization that created each resource, a thumbnail image to provide a “flavor” of each item, a mention of the creators or owners (to help you assess credibility and longevity), and the cost (if any).
Annenberg Learner
The Habitable Planet curriculum includes simulators for the carbon cycle, demographics, disease, ecology and energy.
- Creators: Annenberg Learner (Annenberg Foundation)
- Cost: free
BBC Climate Challenge
In the Climate Challenge role-playing policy game, you are the leader of the European Union. Select policies to reduce carbon emissions while retaining enough popularity to remain in office.
- Creator: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
- Cost: free
Bio Inc. – Biomedical Plague
Bio Inc. is a simulation game in which players assume the role of a disease that is trying to kill a patient. Select diseases, risk factors, and factors that inhibit recovery to make your victim as ill as possible. The Windows PC version also allows you to role-play the doctor that tries to save the patient.
- Creator: DryGin Studios
- Cost: free app for iOS and Android mobile devices; $13 for Windows version on Steam
CIMSS & WeatherWise Weather & Climate Apps
This large collection of web apps covers a broad range of topics in weather, climate, and the atmospheric sciences. A visual menu on the CIMSS site and a topic outline on the WeatherWise site both link to an overlapping set of interactives created by faculty at the University of Wisconsin.
- Creators: Tom Whittaker and Steve Ackerman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC)
- Cost: free
Climate Change Mitigation Simulator
Choose your priorities and select mitigation strategies to meet your goals with this simple climate change mitigation simulator.
- Creators: Koshland Science Museum
- Cost: free
Climate Interactive
Climate Interactive has created several simulations and role-playing games related to climate science and policy. Their simulation models include: En-ROADS (energy policy), C-ROADS (international policy), and ALPS (Agriculture and Land Policy Simulator). Their role-playing simulation games include: Climate Action Simulation, World Climate Simulation, and Agritopia (agricultural policy).
- Creator: Climate Interactive (an independent, not-for-profit think-tank that grew out of MIT Sloan in Cambridge, Massachusetts)
- Cost: free
Concord Consortium
The Concord Consortium has various educational simulations and data analysis tools, including: Molecular Workbench, Energy2D (physics) and Energy3D (green buildings), Tectonic Explorer, Global Climate Change Model, Hurricane Explorer Model, Air Pollution Model (aerial), Air Pollution Model (cross-section), Hydraulic Fracturing Model, Water Model, Density, Land Management Model, Sunlight, Infrared, CO2 and the Ground, SageModeler, SmartGraphs, CODAP, and more!
- Creators: The Concord Consortium
- Cost: free
EdGCM
EdGCM is a research-grade Global Climate Model (GCM) with a user-friendly interface that is suitable for use by students and can be run on a personal computer.
- Creators: Columbia University (New York)
- Cost: individual student copy for $29; single user license $199; free 30-day trial demo version available.
Extreme Event Role-Playing Simulation
Role-playing simulation for groups in which players assume roles as city leaders to prepare for and react to a natural disaster. Two scenarios: coastal city struck by hurricane or inland city with river flooding. Low-tech and high-tech (using laptops or tablets) variants available; also uses cards.
- Creators: Koshland Science Museum
- Cost: free
Game Doctor
Game Doctor is a Scottish-based studio focused on developing games and interactive technology for science and health education. Their games include Killer Fungus: Evolution (for iOS, Android, and Mac & Windows computers), Bacteria Combat (for iOS and Android), and Fungal Invaders (for iOS and Mac & Windows computers).
- Creator: Game Doctor (with the University of Aberdeen)
- Cost: free
Gizmos by ExploreLearning
ExploreLearning has created hundreds of simulations for math and science, primarily for students in grades 3-12 (also some college-level). Science simulations cover a range of subjects, with the largest collections in physics.
- Creators: ExploreLearning
- Cost: commercial product – contact ExploreLearning for pricing
Infection Bio War
Players become the disease in Infection – Bio War as they try to wipe out the world’s population before a cure is found. This app for iOS mobile devices (iPads and iPhones) allows players to choose traits for their disease, helping it to spread.
- Creator: Fun Games for Free
- Cost: free
KCVS Climate Solutions
In the Climate Solutions simulation you make choices that determine humanity’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the 21st century. Select options for electricity production and use, transportation, land use, buildings, and materials. Try to reduce GHG emissions by eliminating “wedges” from the emissions graph.
- Creator: The King’s Centre for Visualization in Science (KCVS), The King’s University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Cost: free
Monash Simple Climate Model
A full climate model, simplified for educational use. Includes numerous example scenarios and challenge exercises for students; some involve depictions of alien worlds from science fiction movies and books!
- Creators: Dr. Dietmar Dommenget and colleagues, School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Cost: free
NASA Climate Kids
The games section of NASA’s Climate Kids web site includes Wild Weather Adventure, Whirlwind Disaster, Weather Slyder, Cloud Picture Scrambles, Power Up!, Offset, Weather Word Cross, and Missions to Planet Earth.
- Creator: NASA
- Cost: free
NOAA Games “Planet Arcade”
This collection features several games and puzzles from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Most of the resources are related to water, the oceans, and aquatic environments.
- Creators: NOAA National Ocean Service (NOS) Education
- Cost: free
NOAA SEA Games
The games section of NOAA’s Sea, Earth, Atmosphere (SEA) web site includes several interactives and simple games about the ocean and aquatic habitats.
- Creator: NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management
- Cost: free
Pandemic Board Game
Pandemic is a cooperative board game for 2-4 players. Each player assumes the role of one of seven specialists who work together to try to halt the spread of a global pandemic. Several expansions and spinoffs have been developed since the publication of the original game in 2008.
- Creator: Z-Man Games
- Cost: $40
PhET
PhET hosts a collection of dozens of interactive simulations. Originally focused on physics education, PhET now includes sims for chemistry, math, Earth science and biology as well.
- Creator: University of Colorado at Boulder
- Cost: free
Plague, Inc. – Ndemic
In Plague, Inc. the player takes on the role of a disease and attempts to infect and wipe out the entire population of the world before humans can develop a cure.
- Creator: Ndemic Creations
- Cost: $1 for the app for mobile devices; $15 for the computer or console version
Rice Web Adventures – Health & Medicine
Games in the Web Adventures series enable players to explore medical and health topics, including microbiology, body systems, neuroscience, and forensic science. Web Adventures include: MedMyst (infectious diseases), CSI: The Experience (forensic science), Reconstructors (substance abuse & neuroscience), Virtual Clinical Trials (medical research), and Neuropolis Squad (alcohol & body systems).
- Creator: Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning & School Mathematics Project
- Cost: free
SciJinks Weather Games
The games section of the SciJinks web site features games, simulations, and other multimedia about weather, satellite meteorology, and Earth science. The site is developed by the NASA Space Place team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS). …
Solve the Outbreak – CDC
Become a CDC Disease Detective in Solve the Outbreak and try to save lives as you solve clues and stop outbreaks of disease. Level 1 has twelve outbreak scenarios, while level 2 has eight more.
- Creators: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Cost: free