The Carnegie Science Center has won $200,000 in the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition for a new project designed to get more girls engaged in science and gaming technology.

The project, Click!Online, will be a Web-based game for girls featuring a fictional "spy school" called the Click! Agency. Through the agency, girls will network to solve mysteries in biomedical science, environmental protection and expressive technology. Meanwhile, online "senior agents" will mentor the players, emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving, group sourcing and social action to solve real-world challenges. Spy girls can share results with each other around the world.

The Science Center's award was one of 10 announced Monday, chosen from a pool of 800 applicants from 32 countries. They will share $1.7 million to use on games, mobile phone applications, virtual worlds and social networks.

The prize is funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which also gives the so-called "genius" awards to innovators in many fields.

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.