Life Underground is an interactive outreach experience for 7th and 8th grade classrooms. The goal is for students to visualize microscopic life at a range of terrestrial subsurface conditions. Students take the role of a young student investigating extreme subsurface environments, searching for microbial life.
Creative Director: Tracy Fullerton
Design, Project Management: Elizabeth Swensen
Design, Project Management: Sean Bouchard
Programming: Elliott Mahler
Writing: Kylie Moses, Sam Roberts
Artist: Lucas Peterson
UI Artist: Tonia Beglari
Composing, Sound Design: Aaron Reihs
Life Underground is funded by NASA’s National Astrobiology Institute and is a collaboration with microbiologists and geochemists at USC. The first module will be released to students in a pilot study in Spring, 2016. A second module on the marine subsurface is under development for 2017.
Life Underground reinforces student understanding of the scientific method while allowing them to take the role of a field scientist in caverns deep underground. Players collect samples and conduct experiments in a mobile laboratory in search of extreme microorganisms.