Public Health
How do you teach epidemiology, outbreak response, and medical ethics so they stay with people? At Spencer Striker Digital Learning, the answer is to make the learner the protagonist. You investigate the outbreak. You face the quarantine dilemma. You stand inside a city in crisis and decide what a physician sworn to the Hippocratic Oath should do next.
These games and immersive experiences build public health literacy through story, interaction, and meaningful choice. They span mobile games, narrative web apps, and full virtual reality, and they are used by STEM educators, science teachers, and history teachers alike. Every title is grant-funded and free to use in any classroom, library, museum, or living room.
Dr. Sara | Disease Detective (2021)
An interactive mobile game that puts players in the shoes of the world's greatest disease detective, teaching epidemiology, critical thinking, and public health literacy through hands-on outbreak investigation. Free for iPhone and Android.
Free on Google Play and the App Store.
Dr. Sara 2: Zero-G Protocol (coming soon)
Dr. Sara: Zero-G Protocol sends the world’s top epidemiologist into her most urgent case yet: a mysterious bioluminescent rash spreading aboard the International Space Station. Consulting from Earth through tense communication delays, Dr. Sara must guide the crew through zero-gravity investigations, space-science puzzles, and mounting political pressure to uncover whether the outbreak comes from an alien microbe, a failed experiment, or something far closer to home.
Plague of Athens | Virtual Reality (2023, 2024)
An immersive VR learning experience that achieves a striking verisimilitude of living through one of history's great pandemics, confronting players with the ethical dilemmas of ancient Athens in 429 BCE.
Available for Meta Quest, Steam VR, and Pico.
Bronze Medal winner, 2024 Reimagine Education Awards.
Black Death Interactive (2024, 2025)
"Forty Days" tells the story of Giana, a baker's daughter in Venice during the Black Death, facing the era's most common and cruel dilemma: flee to safety or stay and care for her sick father. A narrative-driven learning experience available for iPad and as a responsive web app.
Best of Category winner at the 2024 Horizon Interactive Awards.
Plague of Athens | Chromebook (2022)
A browser-based digital learning experience built for classroom Chromebooks, following Nikos, a physician during the Plague of Athens, through cutting-edge web animation and interactive storytelling.
Anthem Award Bronze Medalist.
Available for desktop Chrome Browser.
Recognition (selections)
2024 Davey Awards, Gold Medal, Best Immersive Experience: Plague of Athens VR
2024 Horizon Interactive Awards, Best of Category: Black Death Interactive
2024 Reimagine Education Awards, Bronze Medal, Immersive Education: Plague of Athens VR
2023 Anthem Awards, Bronze Medal: Plague of Athens for Chromebook
2022 Reimagine Education Awards, Gold Medal, Middle East: Plague of Athens
2022 AVA Digital Awards, Platinum Winner: Plague of Athens
Nominations include the EdTech Digest Cool Tool Awards (Dr. Sara; Plague of Athens VR), the Bett Awards for Best Open Educational Resource, and Best Educational App at the Reimagine Education Awards
Funding
The public health portfolio has been supported by competitive funding from the Qatar National Research Fund, Northwestern University's Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO), a Northwestern University Provost Faculty Grant, and the Alumnae of Northwestern University.
Press (selections)
Learning History Through Living It: Northwestern Professor Employs VR in Education, The Peninsula, November 24, 2024
Global Pandemics App Shares Fantastic Tales, MiddleWeb, June 1, 2022
Making Science Fun: What Game-Playing Tells Us About Designing a Learning Experience, QF Stories, January 4, 2022
Global Pandemics: Plague of Athens Review, World History Teacher’s Blog, April 25, 2022
Immersive History Takes You to the Plague of Athens, E-Learning Corgi, April 29, 2022
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