How the nonprofit GlassLab teamed up with NASA to make a game that teaches argumentation (interview)

GlassLab and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) collaborated recently on a Mars exploration game that teaches middle school students how to make an argument.

Mars Generation One: Argubot Academy is a tablet-based iOS game that transports kids to Mars, where they build the first human settlement using information from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and the Mars Exploration Program. They have to make claims based on evidence, construct valid arguments, assess arguments, and then make decisions based on them.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.