115 Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 6 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0513-6.ch006 ABSTRACT Dino Lab is a serious game designed to explore the potential of using games in scientifc domains to support critical thinking. Through collaborations with educators and scientists at the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU), game designers and learning scientists at the University of Utah, and Title I middle school teachers and students, the authors have developed a beta version of Dino Lab that supports critical thinking through engagement in a simulation-based game. Dino Lab is organized around four key game stages that incorporate high-level goals, domain-specifc rule algorithms that govern legal plays and resulting outcomes, embedded refection questions, and built-in motivational features. Initial play testing has shown positive results, with students highly engaged in strategic game play. Overall, results suggest that games that support critical thinking have strong potential as student-centered, authentic activities that facilitate domain-based engagement and strategic analysis. INTRODUCTION Dino Lab represents a collaborative effort among educators and scientists at the Natural History Mu- seum of Utah (NHMU), game designers from the Games and Apps Lab (GApp Lab) at the University of Utah, a cognitive learning scientist from the University of Utah, and Title I middle school teachers and students. Dino Lab is an educational, or serious, game that uses digital representations of actual museum objects (i.e., dinosaur fossils) to facilitate engagement in and practice with a set of key cogni- tive processes involved in critical thinking. This chapter describes how museum objects and paleontol- Dino Lab: Designing and Developing an Educational Game for Critical Thinking Kirsten R. Butcher University of Utah, USA Madlyn Runburg Natural History Museum of Utah, USA Roger Altizer University of Utah, USA