Drugs and the Brain: Learning the impact of methamphetamine abuse on the brain through a virtual brain exhibit in the museum

Abstract

Drugs and the Brain: A Serious Game, a prototype museum exhibit, was designed to employ virtual models of the brain into a video game format. It was done to create a fun and engaging way of conveying knowledge and concepts about neuroscience, as well as the impact of methamphetamine abuse on the brain. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this prototype exhibit that promises to educate participants from various age, ethnicity, and gender backgrounds, and to establish a stronger concept of drug abuse prevention among children. A quantitative methodology using the pre‐ and post‐experimental designs was conducted on 175 museum visitors. A series of two‐sample paired t‐tests and subsequent ANOVAs were performed to examine the difference between pre‐ and post‐tests and to determine if there was a difference in the results in age, gender, ethnicity, and race. Results showed that both the understanding and attitudes of the participants toward the impact of methamphetamine abuse on the brain improved significantly (p < 0.01).

Keywords:

• Informal education
• Museum
• Public
• Science education
• Evaluation
• Serious game
• Drug use education

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Science Entertainment, Inc. and Virtual Heroes, Inc. for making efforts to construct such an interesting and informative game and also thanks to all subjects for taking part in the study.

Notes

1. The touring museum exhibit was developed by the joint venture of Entertainment Science, Inc. and Virtual Heroes, Inc.