Educational Games
An introductory lecture
Game Theory 10.12.07
Rasmus Harr
rasmusharr@itu.dk
Contents
• A bit of history
• Why educational games got popular during the last 5
years
• The learning theories behind educational games
• The problems of designing educational games
A bit of history
Educational games and the Military
• Chaturanga
• 7th century, India – the
predecessor of Chess
• Koenigspiel & Kriegspiel
• Started as a hobby in
prussian military circles in
17th century, but spread.
• von Reisswitz 1824: LARGE
war game for training and
fun for the German army
Chaturanga
Educational games and the Military
– Start of 20th century: Almost all
countries use war games to train
and educate in military strategy
– World War II extensively “gamed”
– Today:
• Marine Doom
• Delta Force 2
• Guard Force and Joint Force
Employment
• America’s Army
• Full Spectrum Warrior
• Close Combat Marines
• Full Spectrum Command
Business games and simulations
• 1956: US Air Force Monopologs
• Inventory managers managing Air
Force supply system
• 1957: Top Management Decision
Simulation
• University of Washington,
business college class  success
of business games and
simulations has continued ever
since
• Commercial successes also
• The Tycoon-games, Capitalismgames
Railroad Tycoon
Educational Computer Games – the
early days
•
The early years (progressive titles)
– Oregon Trail, MECC, 1971
– Lemonade Stand, 1971
– 1973: Plato: Inspired by Piaget and Dewey –
make math more everyday like ”2 and 2
bananas” – proved to by very effective
– Rocky Boots 1982 (design logical circuits) –
simulation as key to learning environment
– The Robot Odyssey 1984
•
Oregon Trail 1985 (commercial ed.)
The start of behaviorist edutainment too:
– 1979 Electric Company Math Fun
– (The more right answers the faster you progress
through the jungle. If you fail an answer your
gorilla is thrown in the river and cannot get up
before answering a new question correctly.)
Electric Company Math Fun
80s: Adventure games
•
•
•
•
•
1982: Snooper Troops
1984: Winnie the Pooh in Hundred Acres Wood
1985: Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego
1985: Oregon Trail (Commercial edition)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjPL9jwDdhA
&feature=related
1986: Mickey's Space Adventure
•
(Close integration between motivation and
learning)
•
80s Educational games contested entertainment
games in terms of sales (titles described at The
Underdogs, and Mobygames)
Snooper Troops
80s and especially 90s: Edutainment
•
1984: Seven Cities of Gold
•
•
1987: Mavis Beacon teaches typing
A curious offspring: ”Typing of the
Dead”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA7
CKlpdIh0
•
Extrinsic motivation: Learning and game
are split up
•
Edutainment market grows and
behaviorist titles slowly become
dominating pushing other types of
educational computer games out of the
market
Mavis Beacon teaches typing
90s
•
•
•
Educational games move from game
industry to educational publishers
Adventure games grow less popular after
the mid-90s, and ed. games almost die
out
Commercial games with educational
elements:
–
–
–
•
SimCity (1989), Lemmings (1990), SimEarth
(1990), Civilization (1991)
Eco Quest (1992) (designed by Jane Jensen who
later did the Gabriel Knight-series)
The Incredible Machine 1993
Big current edutainment brands are
started in the mid-90s:
–
–
–
–
Freddie Fish (1994)
Putt Putt Saves the Zoo (1995)
MS Magic School Bus Explores (1995)
Pajama Sam (1996)
Pajama Sam
Today: Serious games
The Serious Games’ initiative
2002
Games for other purposes than
merely entertainment
Educational Games
Edutainment
Advergames
Business games
Military games
Political games
Simulation Games
Examples of recent titles
• Making History: The Calm and
the Storm
• GC: Palestine
– Trailer
Making History
• Science.net
• Constructivist and sociocultural approaches
GC: Palestine
Lots of research world wide
• Starting point: Critique of edutainment
• Started out as a serious attempt to use games for learning but ended
in caricatures of games and a conservative use of learning, extrinsic
motivation bad for learning
• Common Belief
• Better learning experiences, better technical platforms – learning
experience is not limited to what happens between player and game
(Squire/Gee – constructionist/socio-cultural learning theories gain
ground)
Why educational games got popular during the last 5
years
Why the rise on popularity of Serious Games?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Computer games more mainstream
More research on computer games
Technology
Learning is high on the public agenda
• Life-long learning, home learning,
supplementary training  a more
flexible approach to learning
Part of the general focus on new
media and learning
Remediation: New media affects and
are affected by other media – does
that also apply for education?
Games: Engagement and motivation
Claims about education and new media
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
21st century skills
Twitch-speed generation
Generation G
Before every child is left
behind
Teaching for Innovation
Staying in front of India
and China
We must look at what
games have to offer vs.
other educational media
10 min. break
• Grab some coffee – after the break its theory!
How do educational games work?
A look at learning theories used on games
Behaviorism
Cognitivism
Constructionism
Socio-Cultural Approach
Behaviorism
•
The player practices a specific area through
repetition while receiving rewards after each
proper response.
•
Extrinsic Motivation and a focus on transfer rather
than construction
•
Pavlov: Experiments with dogs
•
Thorndike: Law of Exercise and Effect
•
Skinner: Drill-and-practice machine. Overt actions,
not reflection, not understanding
•
80s behaviorism was prominent, in the 90s it
became the norm
•
Typing of the Dead a very good example
Behavorism – strengths and weaknesses
• Strengths
– Has been very effective within game design
– Has been effective within area of health
– A study of the game Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus, which compares the game
with watching a documentary (Lieberman 1997, 2001)
• Weaknesses
– Scope of learning: Focuses merely on training of mechanical operations,
therefore limits to what one can learn – memorizing/rote learning of specific
behaviours but no deep understanding (works for writing, typing etc. but not
much else)
– Extrinsic Motivation: Makes kids more interested in playing the game than
learning – ex. getting points for completing a level becomes more important
than learning
Cognitivism
•
•
•
•
•
•
How to enhance the learning of video games by
being aware of the limitations of the humans
cognitive apparatus
Titles: Discovery and inquiry, letting the player
construct his/her own learning representations in
an active dialogue with the game
Schematas with limits and opportunities
Piaget is often referred to as the father of
cognitivism
Neuro-science on organization of materials
– Retrieval, Encoding, Chunking, Modalities,
Transfer-problems, scaffolding of information
Phoenix Quest
Game Example: Phoenix Quest & Super Tangrams
Super Tangrams
Cognitivism - continued
•
Malone and Lepper: 1987 Extrinsic motivation is in the way of the learning experience
•
Challenge
–
•
•
Feedback
Curiosity
–
•
Responsive environment, high degree of choice, ability of player to perform great effects
Fantasy
–
•
Encourage exploration and organization of the information in relation to both the sensory and the
cognitive areas. (via pointers towards large unknown information hidden in game)
Experience of control
–
•
Difficulty level, short-term and long-term goals, uncertain outcomes, and facilitating investment of
self-esteem through meaningful goals
Fantasy elements which appeal to the target group emotionally, metaphors for the learning content,
and be an endogenous part of the learning material
Interpersonal activity
–
Increased motivation resulting from social context of game: Competition and collaboration with peer.
Recognition of peers serves as motivation
Cognitivism - Limitations and potentials
•
Strengths
•
Has a lot to say on the design of the game, and the motivation of the learner
– Flow experiences, audiovisual props, control of learning process
– Marshall Jones: Learning games’ theory for flow – explains a great deal on intrinsic
motivation
– Klawe: Strong elements in video games: unlimited number of activities, visualization,
manipulation, symbolic representations, adaptive sequencing, feedback, and
meaningful, contextualized activities.
•
Learning outcome: Klawe and Sedighian: Super Tangrams and Phoenix Quest (Math teaching)
•
Weaknesses
•
•
Cognitivism often focus on meta-skills: Problem-solving, thus less on content-side
Still focuses on the relation between the player and the game – does not include context of
play
Constructionism
•
Emphasizes the active role of the learner and external
objects in the learning process.
•
Seymore Papert – drawing on Piaget – The Logo
programming language, uses geometric shapes to draw
– for children. - Mindstorms book and Lego toys!
•
Constructionist titles: Microworlds – engage with
artefacts in microworlds and learn about them
•
The constructivist edutainment microworlds simulate a
part of the world allowing the player to explore
•
The focus is not on hard content as such, but rather on
the general skills of creativity, problem-solving, criticalthinking skills, sequential planning, and memory
•
Kafai: Research w. letting kids design games – new
media literacy
My Make-believe Castle
Constructionism - continued
• Strengths
– Includes the context more in the learning
– Works for maths and programming-teaching (Kafai)
• Weaknesses
– Kafai (1996) Design of microworlds is a lot harder than drill-andpractice games
• The topic in the microworld has to be integrated, no well-tested action
formula blueprint as with behaviorist or cognitivist titles
– Does not say much about the game
Socio-cultural approach
•
Video games are not the learning experience per se –
but the tool for creating a learning experience.
•
Rote learning is not what video games is about –
instead they are about mediating discussions,
reflection, facts, and analysis via the surrounding
classroom cultures.
•
Vygotsky: Video game as an embodied tool extends
action of a given agent (learner) and creates
opportunities and limitations for the learner.
•
Different contexts and tools facilitate a variety of
learning experiences.
•
Carsten Jessen’s research: Peer-learning around
gaming. Informal learning processes
•
Squire 2004: Civilization 3 in the classroom for
mediating History discussions
Civilization 3
Socio-cultural approach - continued
•
Proximate development (Vygotsky):
How far can I get alone, how far can I
get with help?
– From actual point of development
to potential point of development.
•
Tools/helper are mediators to
facilitate the learner’s appreciation of
a given activity
•
Video game as an embodied tool
extends action of a given agent
(learner) and creates opportunities
and limitations for the learner.
Tensions between the 4 theoretical frameworks
•
Learning vs. Playing: A whole or two parts? Extrinsic or intrinsic motivation?
•
Freedom vs. control: How much freedom to students? Teachers creating a firm setting w.
educational goals
•
Drill-and-practice vs. microworlds: Benefit of drill and practice is limited, but it is cheap to
create, most research is on micro-worlds, but few games reflect that (Making History and GC:
Palestine)
•
Transmission vs. Construction: Only behaviorism and early cognitivism believes in learning as
transmission, most other theories are about constructing knowledge
•
Transfer: Immersive effects of video games lead to lack of awareness of contents, structures,
and concepts in game – results in weaker learning and transfer. Stealth or explicit learning?
•
Teacher intervention vs. no teacher intervention: Behaviorism and cognitivism neglect
teacher approach even though a lot of research says it is important
The problems of designing educational games
Practical Barriers
• Practical/structural
– Technical limitations
– Limited space
– Time slots for lessons
• Game-related
–
–
–
–
Learning the game
Complexity of the game
Students a wide target audience w. diff. prefs. and skills.
Balance between playing/learning and integration of computer games
with teaching
• Expectations
– The students’ and the teachers’ initial way of thinking about computer
games, history, learning, and teaching.
History teaching as an example
• Procedural skills
Civilization 3, Making History – often counter-factual history –
understand the system behind history (as opposed to facts)
– History the Niall Ferguson- or Jared Diamond way
• Microworld
GC: Palestine – simulate the experience – realism, understand
the places and the people behind a Discovery-like experience
• Often a mix:
– Epistemic Games – both the system and a simulation of the experience
– ex: science.net, games for companies
Design with all 4 theories?
•
Behaviorism
– Examines the narrow relation between video game and students focusing on the role
of motivation (no context at all – very focused on cause-and-effect)
•
Cognitivism
– Examines how knowledge of the human cognitive apparatus can be used to facilitate
learning and motivation (a little more context, focuses on the “why” also, as well as
preferences of the individual player)
•
Constructionism
– Shows us how video games can be used as a shared artifact for constructing
knowledge (a lot more context – how the game is just one tool on the road to
learning, includes a social aspect)
•
Socio-cultural approach
– Examines the environment that emerges around video games in negotiating and
constructing knowledge. Collaboration, debriefing, and discussion (focuses on
EVERYTHING – how the game can be a small part in an educational and cultural
context)
Discussion