how games teach - mace 08

How Games Teach

Doug AdamsALTEC

Resources and Files

This PowerPoint:http://www.slideshare.net/dadams.altec

My Wiki page:http://dadams-altec.wetpaint.com• Technology Expectations in Education

– Games and Education

Why Games?

21st Century Skills

Scientific American Magazine July, 1903

“ The letter of a century ago still has a certain literary value. Nowadays we only ‘correspond’ or we ‘beg to state.’ It still remains for our children to discard the forms of polite address which have come down to us. The letter of the future will be a colorless communication of telegraphic brevity.”

The Millennial Generation• “Millennials”• “Generation Y”• “N-Gen”, “Generation Next”• Oyayubizoku ( 親指族 ) = “Thumb Tribe”

Young Japanese have become so adept at their phones — manipulating a set of cursor keys or a button-sized joystick by thumb — that some people refer to a new 'thumb culture'. (The Daily Telegraph, August 7, 2000)

• “Digital Natives”

“Kids say e-mail is, like, sooooo dead.” – CNET News, July 18, 2007

Characteristics of Digital Natives

• Active• Multi-tasking• Non-linear thinking• Ubiquity• Technical Fluency• Feedback• Individualization• Risk-takers• Collaborative

Attitudes in the Millennial World

“Our knowledge comes from the intelligence of the mob. There are websites that let us view user ratings on news, bookmarks, definitions, wines, burritos, beers, and videos. I want to have that same experience when searching for my first home. Show me what the community thinks. Give me the data the way I am used to receiving it…. ”

-- Beam Me Up Jimmy - A Look At Tomorrow's 1st Time Home Buyer http://realestatetomato.typepad.com

What is a Game?

A competitive activity in which players follow a set of rules– Single player (player versus self), multi-

player, computer controlled player– Active: player actions affect outcomes– Rules

• Define victory conditions• Describe legal play• Differentiate games from one another

SimulationsSimulation: a reproduction or representation of

reality• Some simulations are games

– Sim City– Zoo Tycoon– “Serious games”

• Some simulations may not be games– Economic models– Cinematic re-enactments– Anatomical or geographical exploration

• Incidental Learning

Incidental Learning• Systems-based reasoning - reasoning about some

phenomenon in terms of a system • Understanding feedback - understands relationships

among system components • Model-based reasoning - evokes a model to understand

some system in the virtual world • Model-testing & prediction - compares model’s

predictions to actual observations • Mathematical modeling - proposes mathematical model

to describe relationships in system • Mathematical computation - explicates some

mathematical computation not given by game

-- Constance Steinkuehler, UW-M, 2007

Gaming in EducationDo not, my friend, keep children to their studies by

compulsion, but by play -- Plato, Republic.Games have been widely used in education

throughout history– Athletics– Debates– Spelling bees– Classroom Jeopardy

Most common uses are assessment and practice– Incidental learning minimized

Gaming in Education

• The 1970s saw a dramatic increase in the use of games for educational purposes– "As the true character of gaming as a unique

communication form becomes clear, its use… will become pervasive” Richard Duke (1974), The Future’s Language

• In the 1980s there was a focus on basic skill development – Reader Rabbit & Math Blaster

How Games Teach

1. Activity – a game depends on learner not being passive

2. Engagement – longer time on task, greater involvement, rewards

3. X2: Exploration and Experimentation – support creativity, scientific thinking, opportunity for (relatively consequence free) failure

How Games Teach

4. Frequent achievement – smaller tasks with individual rewards, motivating

5. Expanding competence – scaffolding and breadcrumbs

6. No right answer7. Working within a set of rules8. Language – signs, symbols, slang all

promote language skills. Game literacy = world literacy

How Games Teach

9. Social nature 10. Identity and empathy – students identify

with characters and situations11.Simulation – students can explore

situations that are otherwise impossible12.Practice – drill and repetition

How Games Teach

13.Application – learn and apply new knowledge

14.Context – relationship between objectives and game content

15.Feedback cycle – analysis > decision > feedback > analysis

How Games Teach

16.Multimodal – text, images, sounds, symbols, actions

17.Reflection – emphasis on thinking, problem solving rather than “twitch”

18.Mastery – Experienced players teach new players, experts become mentors

19.Challenge – game players seek out difficult or challenging tasks

90% of what they learn when they teach someone else

5% of what they’ve learned from a lecture

10% of what they’ve learned from reading

20% of what they’ve learned from audio-visual presentation

30% of what they learn from a demonstration

50% of what they learn when engaged in a discussion

75% of what they learn by doing

Students retain…

Source: NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science

Limitations of Games

• Content– Alignment with standards– Inaccurate information (most games aren’t

designed to be “educational” at all!)– Fidelity of simulation

• Transfer of skills– Content skills– Thinking skills– Pedagogical skills

Club Penguin

But how will people live in a world that is so…

VIRTUAL?From Scientific American, Aug, 1902:

[C]hildren cope more easily with the new necessities of life, and new arrangements which perplexed their parents become habits easily borne. Thus we may imagine future generations perfectly calm among a hundred telephones and sleeping sweetly while airships whizz among countless electric wires over their heads and a perpetual night traffic of motor cars hurtles past their bedroom windows. As yet, our nervous systems are not so callous.

Doug Adamsdadams@altec.org

http://altec.org