A university built in Minecraft

GAMES & LEARNING

COM 427March 18

QUIZ!

1. Gee: “Under the right conditions, ____________, like sex, is biologically motivating and pleasurable for humans (and other primates).”

a) cookingb) playingc) designingd) learning

2. Gee: “One key feature of the virtual characters and objects that game players manipulate is that they are ‘_________’. The character the player controls – Lara Croft, for example – knows things the player doesn’t, for instance, how to climb ropes, leap chasms, and scale walls”.

a) smart toolsb) totally unrealisticc) stereotypesd) assemblages

3. Young et al: “Indeed, if you are looking for data to support that argument, then we are sorry, but your princess is in another castle.”What’s the “princess” refer to in this statement?

a) girl-friendly gamesb) evidence that video games support K-12 learningc) Princess Peach from Super Mario Brosd) Kate Middleton

4. Young et al: “Leveraging video games to teach _________ in varying forms may be the most effective use of educational computer gaming to date”

a) online datingb) languagec) scienced) violence

BONUSWhich of the following subject areas do Young et a. NOT look at in their review of research on educational games?

a) phys edb) mathc) home economicsd) science

Upcoming work

1.GAME JOURNAL #3 • Due LAST NIGHT!

2.DESIGN DOCUMENT (Final project group)

1. Due March 21 (Friday) at 11:592. Time will be given in-class on Thursday

None of these educational outcomes are “LITERAL”.

There is a HUGE body of literature on the educational outcomes of gaming….

- Foster leadership skills

- Help cultivate “technical registers”

- Teach domain-specific ‘content’ - (e.g. SimCityUrban Planning; Call of DutyWW2 History)

- Develop spatial orientation & navigation abilities

- Understand another perspective / point of view / experience

Play ME Play Me play me play mePleeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEase

TO THE EXTENT that the game’s processes are similar to other processes (whether in certain ‘real world’ contexts

or in other games), the game may teach you directly about what it intends to teach you

Games have to teach you how to play…

SIMULATIONS

“Simulations are designed to model real systems as veridically as possible, whereas the object of games is to score points and win.”

GeeGames must do a good job at teaching you. Games therefore incorporate good learning principles.• “Empowered learners” – we ‘pair up’ with experts (characters as ‘smart

tools’); we ‘own’ & ‘co-create’ our play; we can customize the experience• “Problem solving” – games are pleasantly frustrating; getting better is

pleasurable and intrinsically-motivating; problems are ‘fair’• “Understanding” – the more of a systematic view we have of the game, the

better we are

Young et al.There is little evidence that games support student achievement in K-12 education• The best educational games involve ‘deep’ learning & social interaction• The most notable increases are in language learning games (why?)• Science games show the least positive results (why?)

Young et al acknowledge that games need to be contextualized

- In class: gaming is not a ‘magic bullet’“just as students are not given books and told to learn

independently, games cannot succeed as stand-alone solutions to education” (Young et al)

- Out of class: one of the sources of learning related to gaming is involvement with player communities“Much of the “learning” of video game play may come from affinity groups that emerge from game play, consisting of metagame sources such as blogs, wikis, and discussion pages that support hints, cheats, and modding” (Young et al)

If video games are such good learning tools, why is there so little evidence for their educational impact?

1. Formal schooling relies on methods & practices that are completely at odds with how learning works in video games• Standardized testing & predictable outcomes• Short time periods: “most schools trade off extended immersion for

curriculum coverage, individual play, and short exposures, goals that are not well aligned with engaging video game play” (Young et al, P. 80)

• Division of knowledge into different domains

2. Educational games misunderstand the connection between learning & play• Educational games want to teach you & then test you (commercial games:

trial & error, ‘just on time’ instruction)• Play is seen as ‘sugar coating’

EDUCATIONAL GAMES

How can we best HARNESS the power of games to TEACH?

education games educational games

CHOCOLATE-COVERED BROCCOLI

1. What is the intended educational outcome?

2. Where & how does the game use text (written language)

3. How does the game teach you how to play it?

4. Where & how does learning happen in this game?

If you think of this game as a “lesson”, where is the “content” located? One or more of the following?

5. What is the relationship between learning and play?

The Diabetic Dog Game

http://nobelprize.org/educational/

Commercial games Educational games

Agency Exploration Prescription

Feedback Trial and error Right vs wrong

Narrative “Endogenous” “Exogenous”

Blame Designer Learner/player

Final project groups!

Spent (http://playspent.org/playspent.html)- Play on your laptop

Ico - PS2

Z-Type (http://phoboslab.org/ztype/)- Play on your laptop

League of Legends- Nick’s Dell laptop

Portal- Nick’s Mac laptop

Oregon Trail- Nick’s iPad

In groups:1. Play the game (take turns

playing)

2. Fill out the Google Form “COM 427 - Education & Gaming Form March 18 2014”