Foldit in schools!

[Antikeen]

A friend of mine suggested to use Foldit in schools to teach children about proteins. I think thats a great idea, because Foldit is very simple to use, can be used to explain many details and is fun operate.

[feet1st]

I know some universities have worked with Fold.it. Has anything been done in the way of setting up materials directed more at a high school level? Perhaps a wiki or other means of coordination could be set up that would allow the players to combine their efforts and create some materials such as this.

[Abi]

I can see a bunch of high school students sitting in a class, expecting an easy day with the computer, load this program up, try it for 5 min. and then give up because they can't "beat" it.

[zoran]

Using foldit for education has always been in our plans.  To be a trully effective learning tool, we plan significantly modify some aspects of the game.  This is particularly important since we would like to target middle school students primarily.  By the time student reach high school, according to studies, majority of students have already lost interest for science.  We are also planning a numberof elementary school math and physics games for the same purpose.  Hopefully we can make a difference over time.

[VievaWood]

I'd love to help with any playtesting you need with those games.

And my toddler will probably help too, though I think he's a smidge young for your games.  (that said, he's already rather computer literate, so he can test the young end!)

[Lord of Obscurity]

I would love to be able to do foldit in school, but I doubt many of the people in school would take this seriously.  They would think of it as more of a game than a learning material.  I also worry that the schools would percieve it as a game and not allow it.

By the way, I am currently posting from a school computer.  So, at least my school is not blocking this website, which it does for many other websites.

[jbigz]

I think that Foldit could be easily integrated into science classes with computers. Say, they could teach properties of proteins, and then put them to use in folding them. The teacher could teach techniques on efficient folding, and the students could be scored by a predetermined score. Ex: if you score 9200 or above, you get an A, etc.

Also, @lord of Obscurity, my school blocks Foldit because it is categorized as "games". :P

[btbenj]

Really? Your school blocks foldit? You should comlplain to the administration, foldit is a game, but there is nothing wrong with playing an educational game in school. In fact, Lord of Obscurity, I dont think any school would not allow you to go to Foldit because they perceive it as a game, a game is in my opinion the best way to get middle and highschoolers excited about science. Our school only blocks violent games now, we can go on miniclip and other websites as long as the games are not violent.

My science teacher is very excited about foldit, and wants to start competitions, so hopefully other schools will follow suit.

@Abi, what I was thinking was less "beating" the game, instead variations on the new duel mode, for example each class period competing with each other for the highest score. The class with the highest score gets extra credit, and individual players could get grades based on their efforts.

[Yacob]

This site is blocked at my school. Along with alot of other sites.
Ironic, since it was through a school event that I found out about Foldit.

[Steven Pletsch]

You should get in touch with whomever administers the network, and ask that it be unblocked. If you are not sure who this is, ask a teacher, or go to the administration area, and ask. If you explain what it is, you can probably persuade them to unblock it.