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Advances in computing have expanded our capacity to solve problems at a scale never before imagined, using strategies that have not been available to us before. Students will need to learn and practice new skills-computational thinking (CT) skills-to take full advantage of these revolutionary changes brought about by rapid changes in technology. ISTE and the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) are collaborating on a project to prepare young learners to become computational thinkers who understand how today's digital tools can help solve tomorrow's problems. CT is vital to all students as we work to raise the level of achievement, prepare students for global competitiveness, and blend academics with real life. 

Is it for an ARG?

Borrowing from the concept framework provided by the Wikipedia entry for Immersion, I think an ARG must have at least the characteristics of emotional/narrative immersion and cognitive/strategic immersion; basically connecting to a participant's interest and level of focus/engagement. From my perspective, the emotional/narrative component is key, because I don't think the act of just tackling a series of puzzles makes something an ARG. And if we then add blended & augmented reality elements, then I think there's the opportunity to allow for sensory-motoric/tactical immersion as well as spatial immersion.

Wow, here's a gameplay clip that captures all three aspects of the immersion experience, sensory-motoric, cognitive & emotional; and it somehow even manages to throw in a bit of cognitive dissonance for extra measure... I think it's a great example of the impact creating these kinds of 'ah ha' moments can have and how these moments can distinguish an ARG as an engaging learning platform: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8AFiaWz7WI

An example of an ARG like game played out in a 1997 movie starring Mike Douglas, Sean Penn, Deborah Kara Unger, et al. Could be watched & studied for various examples of ARG game play & story elements. Along these lines, I think there are probably lots of movies & books from which inspiration could be drawn for an ARG, e.g. genre, storyline or plot development, setting, etc. For example, it occurs to me that another one of my favorite films, Dark City, could also be great inspiration for an ARG with a bit of sci fi noir flavor to it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_City_(1998_film)

Thought this content could be helpful from the standpoint of thinking about the different types of immersion and their elements; and how these might be used in the design of an ARG.

Thought this content could be helpful from the standpoint of thinking about the psychological aspects of play and how they might apply to design & development of an ARG, as well as the playing of ARGs.

Now - can we use to mindmap?

I think the experiment would be worth it on several levels. First, just to get experience exploring this notion of visualizing data in an immersive 3D VW space and what it would take to do this. Also, what we learn & produce might also be incorporated into the gameplay/plot of the storyline for this ARG. And what we learn & produce as far as useful knowledge & hopefully a useful mind-map tool (or tool building approach) could be used for future endeavors.