Games-to-Teach Project, MIT Comparative Media Studies G AMES -T O -T EACH P ROJECT Winter 2003 Kurt...

Games-to-Teach Project, MIT Comparative Media Studies

GAMES-TO-TEACH PROJECT

Winter 2003

Kurt Squire: Research Manager, MIT Comparative Media StudiesHenry Jenkins: Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies


• Background / historical context

• Research & Design commitments

• 15 Conceptual frameworks

• Issues & Themes

• Next steps

Games-to-Teach


Educational games in context


Bell Labs Science Films


Edutainment


Combating Misconceptions

• 50% of Harvard graduates can’t explain the seasons

• School knowledge vs. lived experience

• Constructivist pedagogies– Addressing prior beliefs

– Work through conceptions

– Use ideas across contexts

Modeling & Simulation


Combating Misconceptions

• 50% of Harvard graduates can’t explain the seasons

• School knowledge vs. lived experience

• Constructivist pedagogies– Addressing prior beliefs

– Work through conceptions

– Use ideas across contexts

Interactive Narrative


Edutainment?


State-of-the-Art Gaming


Contemporary Pedagogy

+

State-of-the-Art Gaming

=

Next Generation Educational Media

Games-to-Teach Vision


Games-to-Teach


Games-to-Teach



• Conceptual frameworks

• Issues & themes

• Next steps / invitation for participation


Educational Technologists

Students

GameDesigners

MITFaculty

ComparativeMedia

Studies

Games-to-Teach


• Learning is a process of personal construction– Pre-existing beliefs color all understandings– Learning occurs through testing ideas

• Knowledge is socially negotiated– Communities of practice determine “truths”

• Realism is not always best– “Perfect models” are too complex– Simplify conditions to illustrate concepts

• Instruction is preparation for future learning– Transfer studies

• We create meaning with media– We ask questions, wrestle with meaning, explore fantasies– Media consumption is a social experience

Learning Sciences


• Increased motivation (Cordova & Lepper, 1997; Malone, 1985)

• Role of Instructional context (White & Frederickson, 1998)– “Metacognition”– Set up– Reflection

• Effective within inquiry framework (White & Frederickson, 1998)

• Social interactions produce learning (Johnson & Johnson, 1985)

• “Emerging pedagogies” (Squire & Reigeluth, 1999)

– Problem Based Learning (Barrows et al, 1999)– Anchored Instruction (Bransford et al, 1992)– Goal-Based Scenarios (Schank, 1996)

– Case-Based Reasoning

Research on Gaming


Design Commitments

• Appeal to broad audiences– Women in lead design roles– Gender inclusive game designs

• Leverage existing genres• Provide “transgressive play”• Grounded in existing learning sciences research • Address misconceptions• “Induce” contextuality• Designing for sociability (Preece, 1999)

• Recognizing Instructional Context• Embedded Assessment Data


Games-to-Teach




• Issues & themes

• Next steps / invitation for participation


Game Platform Genre Subject Pedagogy

Replicate! PC / Xbox Action / Racing Biology / Virology Visualization

DreamHaus PC Adventure / Design

Architectural

Engineering

Learning by Design

Biohazard PC / Xbox Action RPG Biology Learning by Doing

Hephaestus PC XBox Online

Massively Multiplayer

Robotics Engineering

CollaborativeCommunity

La Jungla de Optica PC Simulated World RPG

Optical Physics Anchored Instruction

Extreme Sports Tycoon Web Multi-player Puzzle

Mechanical Physics

Learning by Design

Cuckoo Time Xbox Party Game Mechanical Physics

Playful Microworlds


Game Platform Genre Subject Pedagogy

Daedalus’ End PC Multiplayer Role-Playing

Engineering Ethics

Role-Playing

Supercharged! PC / Xbox Puzzle / Flying Electromagnetism Simulation

Environmental Detectives

Pocket PC Multiplayer Role Playing

Environmental Education

Participatory Simulation

Revolution! PC Multiplayer Role-Playing

American History Role-Playing

Hola! PC / Xbox Action Adventure

Spanish Immersion

Taken PC Real Time Strategy

Psychology Constructionism

Systems Design Tools PC Creative Toy Systems Thinking Collaborative Modeling

Dreamtime PC / Xbox MMO Cultural Studies Participatory Simulation


Replicate


Replicate

You: The Virus

The Enemy: The Body

Your Goal: Replication


Replicate

• Phase 1: Find the organ– Dodge antibodies– “Read” the body’s responses

• Phase 2: Enter the cell– Fast action controls

• Phase 3: Attack the cell– Navigate through a 3D cell– Find the nucleus– Replicate!


Replicate

• Transgressive Play• Leveraging existing “conflicts”• The body as a game board

– Visualization• Choice Thinking with content

– Customization of viruses

– Specialization and differentiation (role playing)

• Elucidate misconceptions – Viruses & Temperature

• Concessions in realism– Relative size, speed


BiohazardBiology through Pathology

- Action Role Playing - ER! + Outbreak + Deus Ex - Doctor / Disease control- Simulated Diseases- Pathology - Observation, experimentation- Content

- Inheritance Patterns- Viral Structure and Replication- Reproduction, - Growth and Development- Structural, Physiological, and Behavioral Adaptations


BiohazardGoal-Based Scenarios

Melodramatic tension Access to tools & resourcesSeductive Failure statesReplaying Events


Setting Disease Objectives

Busy Hospital Meningitis Central nervous system and brain, immune systems

Urban Setting Rabies etiology, epidemiology and pathogenesis of rabies, a rhabdovirus, DNA and profiling.

South African Hospital

Ebola liver, hypovolaemic shock, homeostasis, cardiovascular system, cellular metabolism

New York City Neighborhood

Tuberculosis respiratory system, transportation of respiratory gases. Epidemiology of TB in North America.

London Bubonic Plague

the lymphatic system, lungs and pneumonia, sepsis, adult respiratory distress syndrome

Boston University

Chickenpox (Steven-Johnson Syndrome); eyes, fluid and electrolytes, integumentary system.

Alien Spacecraft

Escherichia Coli 0157

gastrointestinal system, Haemolytic-uraemic syndrome, the renal system.


BiohazardSimulated RPGs

Choices & ConsequencesTime, Resources

Character Development Developing skills, making contacts, earning reputation

Simulated WorldsViruses, synthetic characters

Authentic toolsSkills, Read-outs, displays

AssessmentStatistics, records, reflection

Multiplayer potential


• Combines physical world and virtual world contexts

• Embeds learners in authentic situations

• Engages users in a socially facilitated context

Computer simulation on handheld computer Computer simulation on handheld computer triggered by real world locationtriggered by real world location



Proof of Concept

– Players briefed about health problems

– Givenbackground information and “budget”

– Goal: Determine source of pollution by drilling sampling wells and remediate with pumping wells

– Work in teams representing different interests (EPA, Industry, etc.)



Position determined by GPS Zoom in for detail



Drilling wells• Choose

– Sites to sample

– Sampling methods• Influence budget, accuracy and timeliness of samples

Dig Wells Wait for Readings Collect Data



Other Simulation Events

• Triggering of media events at specified locations– library →

web documents– machine shop →

video interview

• “Racing” virtual players• Sharing and interpreting data

with team members



Game Conclusion

• Pinpoint location and cause of pollution

• Scenario 1 (middle school)– Present evidence to a jury

• Scenario 2 (MIT students)– Drill remediation wells and take

new samples– Requires complex dynamic

underlying model



Game Extensions• New Adaptations

– Customize location, toxin, etc.• New Dimensions

– Played across entire city– Played across months or weeks– Altered Spatial Scale

• Entire building represents human body• New Domains

– Historical Simulations• Walking the freedom trail

– Epidemiological Studies• Tracking disease through population

• New Tools– Authoring your own AR Simulations



Games-to-Teach


• Research & design commitments


• Issues & themes

• Next steps & invitation for participation


Design Themes

• Leveraging “contested” spaces• Managing success & failure

– Provide early successes, non gamers– Failure learning

• Graduated difficulty & complexity• Simulation underpinning

– When do you cheat?– Where do you draw boundaries

• Provide & anticipate transgressive play– Explore “what if scenarios”

• What decisions is the player making– Practicing useful skills– Thinking “like an expert”


Microworld Simulation

• Playing by an “arbitrary” set of rules– Designing solutions, inferring meaning, testing system boundaries – Experiencing complex interactions from simple rules

• Visualization– New ways of seeing information– Supercharged, Replicate

• Level Design is critical– Force players to confront properties of a system– Power-ups, “health” clocks

• Encouraging deep understanding– Fostering metacogntion– Encouraging reflection through social interactions (i.e. discussion)

• Learning by design / creation– Designing solutions– Designing levels for others to play– Recording and publishing levels for critique


Role Playing Games

• What are the core concepts & skills?– What interesting roles (could) use these skills

• Evaluating information from advisors– Choosing Advisors, information, interactions– Access to information as a constraint– Hidden Agenda, Civilization

• Use RPG conventions– Build a character over time– Choose between skills, tools, statistics– Multiple solution paths

• Use established pedagogical models– Anchored instruction, Problem-based learning, Goal-based scenarios

• Building “teachable moments” – Failure starts a learning cycle– Failure learning– Recording & replaying actions


Game-Based Pedagogy

Game

Student Subject


Game-Based Pedagogy

Game

Just-in-timelectures

Peers

Texts

Demonstrations

Web-basedResources

StudentE&M

Physics


Game-Based Pedagogy

Game

Just-in-timelectures

Peers

Texts

Demonstrations

Web-basedResources

StudentE&M

Physics

Learning Context


Walkaways

• Games are social experiences– Explain what you did– Critique other games

• Games allow hypothesis formation & testing – Failure leads to learning

• Trust game conventions– Power-ups, character development– Differentiated roles,

• Games vs. Simulations– Game designers cheat & this is good.

• Games are motivating


Building a network of teachers, researchers and developers…

http://cms.mit.edu/games/education/

[email protected]

Future Steps


Contested spaces– Leveraging contests in content

Power – ups– Ways of making students choose– Ways of manipulating variables

Character development – choosing skills / items– Creating emotional investment– Inducing creative thinking

Differentiated Roles

Using Game Conventions


Leveraging Social Interactions

If learning is participation…– What is legitimate participation in social practices– Simulations vs. reality

Social interactions– Explaining strategies– Teacher’s “just-in-time” lectures

Collaborative communities of practice Online communitiesSharing strategies (ala The Sims)Using Games to “induce” complex problem solvingRole PlayingMicroworldsStrategy / Resource Management


Internal Development– Supercharged! (Electromagnetism)– Environmental Detectives (Environmental Studies)– Replicate! (Biology & Virology)

Developing with partners- Biohazard (Emergency Response workers)

New content partners– Royal Shakespeare Company– Colonial Williamsburg

Future Steps


CommunitiesLearning from Successful Games


Join Us!

• Prototypes 1-10 on the web– Designs, pedagogy, technical notes, art– Documentation and media– http://cms.mit.edu/games/education/

Kurt Squire

[email protected]


• Game Data– Levels completed, time per - problem, solution paths

• Observations– Notes & Video-taped

• Pre & Post - tests– Content “Interviews”– Written tests & Surveys– Dynamic tasks (zero, near, & far transfer)

• Interviews with Instructors• Comparisons with “traditional groups”

Assessment


Contact Information

• Information:– http://cms.mit.edu/games/education/

• To participate in pilot program– Email: cms-g2t-pilot

• Contact:– Henry Jenkins: [email protected]– Randy Hinrichs: [email protected]– Kurt Squire: [email protected]


Questions


• Importance of instructional context – set-up, debriefing, and reflection

• Leveraging collaboration (e.g. Koschmann, 1996)

– Reflection

• Power of local culture & conditions (Squire et al., 2002) – Adoption & Adaptation

• Teacher support and professional development– Communities of teachers

Game-Based Pedagogy


Game-Based Pedagogy

Yuro Engestrom, 1992


• Immersive Learning Environments– Students developing and testing hypotheses

• Role playing Games– Solving “authentic problems”– Access to authentic tools / resources

• Visualization and Simulation– Leveraging potential contests– Spatial Conquests– Remediating physical laws

“Endogenous Game Play”


• Control, Challenge (Malone, 1981)

– Instantaneous feedback– Adjusted Difficulty level – Choice

• Fantasy, Exploration– Narrative, whimsy, fantasy, discovery

• Social Contexts– Collaboration, Competition

Engaging Media


555 respondents listed at least 1 favorite game. – Final Fantasy series (I-VIII) 55 – Starcraft 46 – Civiliation I/ II 29– Zelda 24– Tetris 22 – Quake 21– Super Mario Brothers 21– Tournmanet 12– Snood 12– Madden Sports 8– The Sims 6

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