Video Games and Learning

1. Video Games and Learning

2. Important Facts • Studies continually show that violence and videogames have NO correlation • The gaming industry is one of the largest media industries in the world. Revenue generated last year from the game industry was approximately $12 Billion dollars. • Unlike other industries, the game industry is universally appealing. The movie industry is motivated 60% female to 40% male. The game industry is 50% male and 50% female. • You must educate yourself about video games before you think about implementing it for your class.

3. ESRB: Entertainment Software Ratings Board • The ESRB is the movie equivalent of the MPAA. • Publishers of games carrying an ESRB rating are legally bound to follow the industry-adopted Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices along with numerous requirements addressing how ratings information must be displayed on game packaging and in advertising, as well as restrictions on where ads for M-rated games may appear. The ESRB's Advertising Review Council (ARC) diligently monitors for compliance, and in the event that a game publisher is found to have inappropriately labeled or advertised a product, the ESRB is empowered to compel corrective actions and impose a wide range of sanctions, including monetary fines where and when appropriate.

4. Ratings • E: Everyone (G) – cartoon violence, mild fantasy violence, comic mischief • Everyone 10+ (PG) – mild violence, brief language, alcohol and gambling simulations • T: Teen 13+ (PG-13) – violence, crude humor, fantasy violence, mild lyrics, brief strong language, partial nudity • M: Mature 17+ (R) – Intense violence, blood and gore, nudity, mature sexual themes, strong language • AO: Adults only 18+ (NC-17) – The AO rating has never been on a large scale distribution. No retailers (Wal*Mart, Game Stop, Best Buy) will carry these games.

5. Pros • Games are interactive and problem solving oriented. • Customizable • Focus on a variety of subjects • Help form identity • Excellent use of Manipulation and Distributed knowledge • Often real life parallels

6. Cons • Video Games are expensive • PC’s must be constantly upgraded to upkeep with new technology • Parents tend to be ignorant to the ESRB. • ESRB reports, “According to a survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates in March 2006, 83% of parents with children who play video games are aware of the rating system and nearly three-quarters (74%) say they “check the ESRB rating” for age appropriateness “every time” or “most of the time” when buying computer and video games for their children. Only half of parents check the content descriptors, which are found on the back of game packaging and indicate elements in a game that may have triggered a particular rating and/or may be of interest or concern.

7. General things to look for • Offers meaning interaction such as dialogue with NPCs. As a teacher you want meaningful interaction because it offers additional opportunities to think. • Has a complex storyline with characters users care about. Storylines provide users with a reason for the gaming action to occur. • Offers puzzles requiring effort to solve • Stimulates complex processes requiring adjustment of variables by users to obtain desired results or adjusting variable leads to different results. • Requires knowledge of game elements beyond mouse prompts, number entry (e.g., combining elements to create new tools, understanding complex jargon) • Requires gathering of information to complete/requires synthesis of knowledge in order to complete pr successfully engage elements in the game. • Environment effectively replicates real world or a consistent imaginary world. • NPC’s display AI characteristics • Offers replay ability with varying results.

8. How to find out about video games that are appropriate for your subject • Research! There are tons of online databases (Wilson Web / Ebsco Host that have lists of games that appropriate by subject. • Check online game sites. • Ask your students. They know what is current. Check out what they are into. They might surprise you.

9. Science • Simulation games : aka Co-design • The Sims, Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, Sim Life, Spore • Cognitive research suggests that for humans, perception and action are deeply interconnected. For example, when a person is changing the eco system or water a garden / crop rotation during the season – this causes humans to feel as if their bodies and minds have stretched into a new space (Clark, 2003, 7). • What allows a learner to feel that his or her body and mind have extended into the world being studied or investigated into the world of biology and physics? Part of what does this is “smart tools” that is tools and technologies that allow the learner to manipulate that world in a fine-grained way.

10. Math / Physics • Simulation/Tycoon : aka Economic / problem solving • Sim City, Sim Tower, Civilization, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Myst (series) • Given human creativity, if learners face problems early on that are too free-form or too complex, they often form creative hypotheses about how to solve these problems. The problems learners face early on are crucial and should be well-designed to lead them to hypotheses that work well, not just on these problems, but as aspects of the solutions of later harder problems as well. • Work on connectionism and distributed parallel processing in cognitive science. The fruitful patterns or generalizations in any domain are the ones that are best recognized by those who already know how to look at the domain. Know how complex variables at play in the domain relate and inter-relate to each other.

11. English • Adventure / Role Playing Games (RPG’s) : aka Story driven • Mother 3, Final Fantasy (series), Grim Fandango, God of War, The Legend of Zelda (Fitzgerald) • Mother 3 is the first and only game to win the Pulitzer Prize • Games often parallel Greek mythology, Victorian Era • Storyline is related to narrative, which is a key component of advanced games and simulations. When users immerse themselves in a story line, opportunities for increased thought and narrative processing will take place. Narrative study has been extended successfully to gaming environments and is considered a key means of understanding interactions with complex games (Ryan, 2003, 95).

12. History • Historical Action Games • Rome, Civilization (series), Republic: The Revolution, Medal of Honor (series), Morrowind/Oblivion (series), Rise of Nations • Motivation for humans lies in challenges that feel challenging, but doable and in gaining continual feedback that lets them know what progress they are making. Learners should be able to adjust the difficulty level while being encourage to stay at the outer edge of, but inside their level of competence.

13. Other Subject Areas • Spanish: Ico, Life Line – displays voice communication and the importance of language. • Physical Education: Eye Toy (series), Wii Sports, Dance Dance Revolution, Samba de Amgio – all require physical motion to play and everyone game on this list offers a calorie burning mode • Music: Guitar Hero, Beatmania, Amplitude, Drum Hero, Mad Maestro, Karaoke Revolution – GH / BM / DH shows the complexities of riffs, cords. MM – shows the work in coordinating an orchestra. KR has you sing and measures pitch of your voice to align with songs.

14. Resources • http://www.esrb.com • http://www.gamespot.com • http://www.ign.com • http://www.scholastic.com Gee, Paul. (2003) Good Video Games as Learning Machines, Learning by Design. pp. 1-31 Rice, John. (2007) Assessing Higher Order Thinking in Video Games, Jl. Of Technology Education. Pp. 87-100