Media Release

Local Student Completes Internship at Cornell Theory Center

April 13, 2005
Ithaca, NY

Contact:
Laura Cima
607.254.8757

Christine Cretser, of Trumansburg, N.Y., the daughter of Audrey and David Cretser, has spent portions of the last two months at the Cornell Theory Center (CTC) completing an internship through which she learned about the newest movement in education: serious games. Cretser is a senior at Trumansburg High School.

According to an article written by Richard Bruce in EE Times (March 26, 2004), "Games aren't just child's play anymore. Advances in computer graphics and communications have given rise to a growing market for "serious games"—nonentertainment applications developed by public-policy advocates, educators, corporate management, the health care industry and nonprofit foundations. The serious-game movement has already seen success in commercial products such as SimCity, Civilization, Hidden Agenda and other titles launched as learning tools in schools and universities around the world."

To complete the internship, Cretser is offering a user's perspective on lesson plans designed for use with CTC's SciFair online educational outreach program, sharing ideas for options that she believes would capture and hold the attention of her peers. She is reviewing activity plans created by Cornell undergraduate mentors for participating team members. The SciFair program, currently in place at 10 sites across the country, provides students with an online, multi-user environment in which they build virtual science fairs to communicate complex science concepts that are being researched by world renowned Cornell professors. The program includes a slate of lesson plans that are written to meet state standards for math, science, and technology at different grade levels.

"Christine's input is invaluable to our outreach staff as we work to refine the lessons coming from our mentors," said SciCentr/SciFair Director Margaret Corbit. "We have a variety of teens testing and providing feedback this semester, and we are very grateful to them for their hard work."

Cretser said her experience has been both worthwhile and fun. "This experience has really convinced me that I want to work in the computer field," said Cretser, who will attend Tennessee Technical University in the fall. "I have always been interested in video games. Computers are the next step, and based on this, I also want to look into learning more about computer graphics."