Games-to-Teach: Revolutionizing Education through Innovative Game Design

1. GAMES-TO-TEACH PROJECTWinter 2003 Kurt Squire: Research Manager, MIT Comparative Media Studies Henry Jenkins: Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies

2. Games-to-Teach • Background / historical context • Research & Design commitments • 15 Conceptual frameworks • Issues & Themes • Next steps

3. Games-to-Teach • Background / historical context • Research & Design commitments • 15 Conceptual frameworks • Issues & Themes • Next steps

4. Educational games in context

5. Bell Labs Science Films

6. Edutainment

7. Combating Misconceptions Modeling & Simulation • 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

8. Combating Misconceptions Interactive Narrative • 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

9. Edutainment?

10. State-of-the-Art Gaming

11. Games-to-Teach Vision Contemporary Pedagogy + State-of-the-Art Gaming = Next Generation Educational Media

12. Games-to-Teach

13. Games-to-Teach • Background / historical context • Research & Design commitments • Conceptual frameworks • Issues & themes • Next steps / invitation for participation

14. Games-to-Teach GameDesigners MITFaculty ComparativeMedia Studies Educational Technologists Students

15. Learning Sciences • 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

16. Research on Gaming • 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

17. 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

18. Games-to-Teach • Background / historical context • Research & Design commitments • Conceptual frameworks • Issues & themes • Next steps / invitation for participation

21. Replicate

22. You: The Virus The Enemy: The Body Replicate Your Goal: Replication

23. 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!

24. 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

25. 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

26. BiohazardGoal-Based Scenarios Melodramatic tension Access to tools & resourcesSeductive Failure statesReplaying Events

28. BiohazardSimulated RPGs Choices & ConsequencesTime, ResourcesCharacter Development Developing skills, making contacts, earning reputationSimulated WorldsViruses, synthetic charactersAuthentic toolsSkills, Read-outs, displaysAssessmentStatistics, records, reflectionMultiplayer potential

29. Environmental Detectives Computer simulation on handheld computer triggered by real world location • Combines physical world and virtual world contexts • Embeds learners in authentic situations • Engages users in a socially facilitated context

30. Environmental Detectives 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.)

31. Environmental Detectives Position determined by GPS Zoom in for detail

32. Environmental Detectives Drilling wells • Choose • Sites to sample • Sampling methods • Influence budget, accuracy and timeliness of samples Dig Wells Collect Data Wait for Readings

33. Environmental Detectives 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

34. Environmental Detectives 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

35. Environmental Detectives 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

36. Games-to-Teach • Background / historical context • Research & design commitments • Conceptual frameworks • Issues & themes • Next steps & invitation for participation

37. 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”

38. 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

39. 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

40. Game-Based Pedagogy Game Student Subject

41. Game-Based Pedagogy Just-in-timelectures Peers Web-basedResources Texts Game Student E&MPhysics Demonstrations

42. Game-Based Pedagogy Just-in-timelectures Peers Web-basedResources Texts Game Student E&MPhysics Demonstrations Learning Context

43. 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

44. Future Steps Building a network of teachers, researchers and developers… http://cms.mit.edu/games/education/ ksquire@mit.edu

45. Using Game Conventions 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

46. 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 communities Sharing strategies (ala The Sims) Using Games to “induce” complex problem solving Role Playing Microworlds Strategy / Resource Management

47. Future Steps 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

48. Learning from Successful Games Communities

49. Learning from Successful Games Communities

50. Join Us! • Prototypes 1-10 on the web • Designs, pedagogy, technical notes, art • Documentation and media • http://cms.mit.edu/games/education/ Kurt Squire ksquire@mit.edu