docEducational Games - Games that Teach, not Preach
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Educational Games - Games that Teach, not Preach
Educational Games G Games th thatt T Teach, h nott Preach P h Paul Waelchi [email protected] WHICH GAME IS A BETTER TEACHER? Game Design: Learning Principles y y y y Small increasingly gy difficult problems Successive challenges Provides tutorial practice Skills taught just in time http://transgamingg.org/gamesdb/screeenshots/images/10004.jpg Analytical thinking http://www.wakinnglimb.com/Images/ggta5.jpg Problem Solving http://xbox3600media.ign.com/xbox3360/image/article/696//696080/viva-pinata-200060315055453427-0000.jpg Adaptation p Clear goals http://www.ixbt.com/news/games/_console/god_of_war2_screen/l/2.jpg Practice of skills http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/708/708417/dance-dance-revolution-universe-20060512023606429-000.jpg Monitored practiced http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/article/694/694805/brain-age-train-your-brain-in-minutes-a-day-20060309070735068.jpg Continuous feedback www.game-joint.com/images/guitar-hero-2/1.php Individual Indi id al adj adjustment stment by patryck.net: http://www.flickr.com/photos/patryck/355720006/in/set-72157594476721951/ Motivation http://www.zeldauniverse.net/games/z10/maps/ganon.gif Learning through Video Games y How to learn ◦ Game design as educational theory y What to learn ◦ Procedural literacy and gaming experience Game Design: Learning Principles Simulate specific p experiences p provide p understanding to other learning relationships p y Games are a metaphor & model y Learning Principle - Just in Time y y y New skills introduced when needed Provide context for skills Solving abstract problems ◦ Pieces fitting together IF A GAME PROVIDES A TUTORIAL WITHOUT A CONTEXT, HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE TEACHING? Game Design: Learning Principles y Identity ◦ Create personal investment ◦ “Captures” Captures a player Vs. Game Design: Learning Principles yInteraction Game Design: Learning Principles y Production Game Design: Learning Principles x Which genres lend themselves to this? x What genres could? Game Design: Learning Principles C t i ti Customization Photos via jackcheng, http://flickr.com/photos/jackcheng/ Game Design: Learning Principles y Risk Taking Infinite p patience http://criticalmass.sourceforge.net/oldweb/pics.v09/gameOver.jpeg Write down one ggame for each of the learning principles discussed that provides a clear example. example Write down one class where these principles are experienced. Game Design: Learning Principles y Agency Game Design: Learning Principles Well – Ordered Problems y Build on previous skills for solving current p ob e s problems y Scaffolding y Game Design: Learning Principles y Challenges ◦ “Cycles of Expertise” Game Design: Learning Principles y Situated Meaning ◦ Knowledge gained from concepts, reading and terminology reading, Game Design: Learning Principles y Pleasantly Frustrating ◦ Edge of abilities Go back through g the last 6 principles p p and an element from your case study game for each of these Game Design: Learning Principles y Explore, Think, Rethink Game Design: Learning Principles y Distributed Knowledge ◦ Understanding skills needed to succeed across players l / NPC NPCs Game Design: Learning Principles y Cross Functional Teams ◦ Collaboration necessary for success Game Design: Learning Principles y Performance before Competence ◦ Thrown into action before mastery ◦ Is competence possible in controlled environments? Game Design: Learning Principles y System Thinking ◦ Relationships, not specific facts Small group activity ◦ Look at notes from former check points ◦ How does the case study game match up to the principles? ◦ Identify 8 more principles in your case study games ◦ Be prepared to discuss results What to learn – Procedural Literacy y Games create opportunities pp for pplayers y to empathize with real world situations that theyy would not normallyy experience p y Ayiti:The Cost of Life – free online Procedural Literacy y Interaction with abstract models of specific real or imagined processes in g gameplay p y Ian Bogost y “Video ggames teach biased perspectives p p about how things work. And the way they teach such p perspectives p is through… g direct engagement and criticism.” The Redistricting Game – http://www.redistrictinggame.org/ Games that Teach Video ggames do more than just j provide p meaning and metaphor yC Create eate meaning ea g for o worlds wo s and a relationships y Games that Teach - Procedural y Learningg experiences p go g beyond y simulation x History RTS games may help teach specific events, but more learning l i hhappens ffrom the h process x Less about the moments and more about the underlying conditions Procedural Experience y McDonald’s Game vs. PETA’s Super Chick Bros. ◦ Serious content doesn’t mean serious experience Procedural Experience Window dressingg y Abstract rules y Serious skin doesn’t doesn t make serious game y “rules” and “fiction” y JJasper p JJuul’s ◦ Procedural representation using traditional gameplay can still evoke powerful learning experiences ◦ Genocide Tetris Developing Procedural Literacy xWhat are the rules of the system? Developing Procedural Literacy xWhat is the significance g of these rules? Developing Procedural Literacy xWhat claims about the world do these rules make? Developing Procedural Literacy • How does the pplayer y respond p to those rules? What do games teach? How to think y How to play y How to view each other y How to view the world y How do games teach? y Game design g = learningg principles p p y Procedural Literacy – learn by doing
