The worlds of online alternate-reality games and math class don’t often cross paths, but Maryland Public Television’s latest education project melds middle-school pre-algebra problems to the immersive netherworld of a pet food factory run by monsters, complete with personal avatars and graphic-novel-style storyboards.

The free online game “The Lure of the Labyrinth” was developed over three years by the Owings Mills-based MPT, working together with two education media developers — the MIT Education Arcade and FableVision — as well as a team of Maryland middle-school teachers.

The game is MPT’s most recent foray into online educational programming after creating ThinkPort.org, a portal for classroom resources in Maryland, in 2003.

MPT initially received a $15 million “Star Schools” grant to create digital learning programs in middle-school math from the U.S. Department of Education in 2005, but ended up with $8.3 million for the initiative after the national “Star Schools” program was canceled in 2008, said MPT communications director Mike Golden.

In addition to the game, the money was used to create a simulation at Johns Hopkins University and other math content at ThinkPort, said MPT education marketing director Betsy Peisach.

“A lot of games now are built for entertainment, but the difference with (‘The Lure of the Labyrinth’) is it was built from day one for instruction, for the classroom,” Peisach said.

In “The Lure of the Labyrinth,” students learn that their beloved pet has mysteriously disappeared. They find themselves dropped into a place called the Tasti Pet Factory, filled with monsters creating pet food. Along the way, students select an avatar and rely on a “Tasti Pet Communicator” for maps and advice about negotiating the factory.   

“When (students) are playing the game, they do not realize they are using fractions because they are using critical thinking and problem-solving. Each of the puzzles is a piece of the story (in the game).”

Pat Baltzley, math director for Baltimore County schools, was part of the initial focus group for the game and helped make recommendations at every stage of the design process.

Unlike older educational games, the designers “wanted to have something that was rich in its development,” she said. “It is not really that whole, ‘Let’s just do that little (problem) and then the frog jumps.’ It is more of a critical thinking game, so students can more deeply understand those skills without really knowing they are getting those skills.”

A handful of county teachers have been using the beta version in their classes and offering feedback on it since 2007.

One of them was Ellen Mangels, math department chairwoman and an eighth-grade algebra teacher at Cockeysville Middle School. Mangels even starred in a promotional video for the game and plans to do a presentation about it with MIT Education Arcade creative director Scot Osterweil at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in April.

“I like the fact that when the kids play (the game), every time they play it they get different numbers,” Mangels said. Unlike the traditional routine of all students focused on one math problem, “they have to talk about the concepts (involved).”

For students who have been “digital natives” since early childhood, “The Lure of the Labyrinth” is more motivating than using pencil and paper, Mangels said.

“It’s the whole environment. They are not just solving problems. They are involved in the game,” she said. “All of the students get excited, and then they become masters and want to show others how to do it.”

The game can be found at http://labyrinth.thinkport.org/www/.

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