National Geographic's JASON Project debuts new edugame...

The JASON Project, the 5th-8th grade science curriculum founded by famed oceanographer and discoverer of the Titanic Bob Ballard, continues to ramp up its offerings. The first unit introduced was a weather curriculum called Operation: Monster Storms, this summer an Ecology curriculum, Operation: Resilient Planet was launched, and in November a new game developed with Filament Games was introduced (still in Beta) to complement the Ecology unit.
In the Operation: Resilient Planet Game, students navigate the deep ocean in a Remotely Operated Vehicle, guided by real-life National Geographic Explorer Enric Sala, on a "mission" to analyze the effect of a growing shark population on monk seals in Hawaii. Players receive points by successfully deploying their realistic tools and instruments, effectively collecting data and constructing scientifically sound arguments. High scorers are posted in the JASON Mission Center, an online gathering place where players can also discuss the game on moderated message boards .
My favorite part: as the press release says, players "analyze specimens... including the contents of shark vomit!" Now who can resist that?