Conceptual Play Spaces: A 21st Century Curriculum

Sasha BarabIndiana University

National Science Foundation (Career & Role)John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Dev & Scaling)

Why educators should care about games?

… fosters a sense of …

• intentionality (user actions happen in relation to an adopted task), • legitimacy (user actions happen in relation to a situationally

meaningfully goal), • agency (the user has freedom and choice in determining actions), • consequentiality (user actions have effect on the context), • accountability (bad decisions result in sub-optimal game outcomes),

and • reflexivity (the user reflexively monitors choices in relation to the

unfolding situation).

http://QuestAtlantis.Org

MissionThe Quest Atlantis team is committed to bringing together the power of videogames, academics, and

participation in socially-meaningful activities. Participation in this game is designed to enhance the lives of children while helping them grow into knowledgeable, responsible, and empathetic adults.

Current Funding• National Science Foundation CAREER Grant (700K)• National Science Foundation ROLE Grant (1.7M)• National Aeronautics Space Administration (450K)• MacArthur Foundation Digital Media Grant (500K)• Food Lion North Carolina Scaling Grant (500K)• MacArthur Foundation Scaling Grant (1.8M)

Other Background• Over 15,000 users worldwide• US: Indiana, Boston, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, California, Florida• Int: Australia, Singapore, Denmark, New Zealand, China, Canada, Croatia• NPS –Virtual Parks Program

Quest Atlantis – A Brief History

Our goal is to change a number of problematic narratives that are central to children’s lives. – rewriting the narrative of videogames as something pro-social and

about things that have significance in the real world. – rewriting the narrative of content such that students appreciate its

real-world value. – rewriting the narrative of schools as something that involves content

and stories that are personally engaging. – rewriting the narrative about what it means to be a person in the

world, providing students with pro-social identities and trajectories of participation.

Can’t be Boutique research and must support larger numbersUnderstand challenges of scaling globally

Project Goal

Design-Based Research

Whereas young people become accomplished in geometry and mathematics, and wise within these limits, prudent young people do not seem to be found. The reason is that prudence is concerned with particulars as well as universals, and particulars become known from experience, but a young person lacks experience...

(Nichomachean Ethics 1142 a).

Narratizing Disciplines Disicplinizing Narratives

Erosion: The mechanical process of wearing or grinding something down (as by particles washing over it)

Sport FishingOutfit

Sport FishingOutfit

Indigenous Farmers

Indigenous Farmers

Logging CompanyLogging

Company

AA BB CC

TurbidityTurbidity 66 2727 2222

Dissolved Oxygen

Dissolved Oxygen 5.55.5 4.54.5 4.04.0

Temperature

Temperature 17.517.5 22.522.5 22.022.0

NitratesNitrates 3.153.15 0.960.96 2.082.08

Phosphates

Phosphates 3.63.6 1.71.7 3.13.1

pHpH 6.66.6 7.07.0 7.37.3

Regulating Farmers:Expansion of logging worsens

siltation and fish decline

Regulating the Loggers: Farmers must expand farming to cover lost rent income (extreme eutrophication, algae

blooms, continued fish decline)

Outcome MeasuresDistal

Proximal

Close

Immediate

•Erosion•Evidence

[t (17) = 10.05, p < .001]

[t (17) = 9.41, p < .001]

Other Studies/Stories

Comparison StudiesSixth Grade Taiga Implementations

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

2006Conventional

Text (62)

2006 QuestAtlantis (54)

2007 QuestAtlantis (94)

Implementation (Number Students)

Sco

re G

ain

Eff

ect

Siz

e (S

tan

dar

d D

evia

tio

ns)

Proximal Open-Ended

Distal Multiple-Choice

Learning & Engagement = 80% Accuracy in Group Membership Prediction

Other Studies (cont).Significant learning gains in History unit(PreM = 10.3, PostM = 47.5) (t(19) = 10.28, p < .01)

• Significant learning gains in Language Arts unit– Pre-Post Learning Gains (F (1, 40) = 4.32, p < .05)– Procedural versus Learning Questions (t(15) =5.95, p = .043). – Voluntary Activities (t (40) = -16.41, p =.006)

Significant differences in perspective taking between Quest condition and worksheet (t(14) = 2.62, p < .05)• Sig. differences between genders (p<.05)

Sig. differences in amount of writingGirls (M = 137 words), Boys (M = 85 words) (p < .05)

Condition

WorksheetQuest

Word

s W

ritt

en

40

30

20

10

Gender

Male

Female

Mathematics: Justifying Claims

Conceptual Play

… involves:

– (a) projection into the role of a character who, – (b) engaged in a partly fantastical problem context, – (c) must apply conceptual understandings to make sense

of and, ultimately, transform the context. – (d) and should provide opportunities to examine one’s

participation in terms of the impact it had on the immersive context.

Van Gogh Bedroom Quest

In Atlantis, we know that this is a famous room, but we really want to know more. For example, we know that the artist van Gogh painted a picture about it, but we don't understand why he painted it the way he did. Your Quest is to help us learn more about the room, the artist, and the painting, and most importantly, we want to know how you feel.

Here is what we hope that you can help us understand: The painting was created by van Gogh, but why did he make it? How do you feel about the painting? What is the most strange and interesting fact you can tell us about the artist, the room, or the painting?

Helping Sally (lesson/mission)

Teacher Toolkit

Worked Examples

1. What are the curriculum implications?2. What are the Professional Development challenges?3. What is missing from such a curriculum?4. Is engagement in such fictional worlds likely to

support or hinder transfer?5. As a pedagogical medium, is this more useful for

beginners or also experts?

http://inkido.indiana.edu/barab_we/

Research Issues1. What are the challenges and opportunities in scaling a game-based learning

environment? 2. What components of QA are easily scaled and which ones are more challenging? 3. How do diverse students and teachers from different states and countries actualize the

environment differently? 4. How do the opportunities to learning and the meaning making practices look different

in this environment than in other curricular environments in these schools?

Assertions

– Transactive Engagement & Conceptual Play• Useful elaboration on situated notions• Beyond situating content actions, learners, experience• Learning involves whole persons (head, hands, heart)

– Content-Context Reciprocity • Invariant/variant relations• Narratizing Disciplines• Disciplinizing Narratives

– Conceptual Play Spaces • Exciting new pedagogy• key challenges is balancing

Implications

– Raise the Bar on what constitutes a “Curriculum”• Intentionality • Legitimacy• Agency• Consequentiality• Reflexivity

– Games as 21st Century Curriculum• Little Big G• Trivial Play Ideological Worlds• Bits and bytes Embodied Empathy• Basement play Multi-user worlds/emergent cultures

The Quest Atlantis Project

• Read More

• Project Website

http://inkido.indiana.edu/Barab

http://QuestAtlantis.Org