Play Styles and Learning

Author(s):  
Carrie Heeter

This chapter reviews player types found in commercial MMOs and educational games and a palette of play styles and learning is proposed from which game designers and educators can more easily imagine (or perhaps “paint”) their target audience. Two studies show how the palette might be applied. Study 1 examines the impact of different in-game reward schemas on player types. Study 2 compares classroom play with one child per computer versus paired play of the same educational game. Educational game design and the way a teacher structures in-class educational game play both influence emergent play and learning. Player archetypes (more commonly called player types) help game designers imagine the needs and interests of potential players. Considering learner types would be similarly useful. Learning styles relevant to educational game design and classroom use are described, including intrinsic and extrinsic achievement orientation, motivation, individual traits, and competition and other social factors.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung Yoon

UNSTRUCTURED This paper is a case study on the design of an educational game for the prevention of cyberbullying and an analysis of its educational effect. I selected a game titled “Angry Daddy,” which was developed based on the request of Korean government authority and analyzed the mode of development of the game and its educational effect. For this research, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Moreover, advice regarding the game design was obtained from many experts belonging to various fields. Based on the analysis of the game design and its educational effect, it was confirmed that the following factors are important to design an educational game meant for the prevention of cyberbullying and to enhance its educational effect: First, cooperation between content experts and game development experts is essential to develop an educational game. Second, it should be verified whether the contents and the format of the game are appropriate by analyzing the play test results of the target audience. Third, it is essential to prepare a manual to guide teachers to apply the game to the field. Fourth, it was confirmed that educating students on sensitive topics like cyberbullying is very effective when educational games that make them feel and experience the outcomes of bullying are utilized. This research is expected to be helpful for future design of educational games and the research and development of the format of cyberbullying prevention education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 72-89
Author(s):  
Mirela Gutica ◽  
Stephen Petrina

Evaluating the subjective playing experience and engagement in learning is important in the design of advanced learning technologies (ALTs) that respond to the learners' cognitive and emotional states. This article addresses students' attitudes toward an educational game, Heroes of Math Island, and their responses to the emotional agent, an animated monkey. Fifteen students (seven boys and eight girls) from grades six and seven participated in this quasi-experimental study (pretest, intervention, post-test, followed by post-questionnaire and interview). This research presents a detailed analysis of students' subjective reactions with respect to Heroes of Math Island and to the underlying mathematics content, their learning gains and emotions triggered during gameplay, and design issues resulting from the evaluation of the game and of its emotional agent. The findings from this study inform how ALTs and educational games can be designed in order to be effective and provide emotional engagement, enjoyment, and learning.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Kickmeier-Rust ◽  
Elke Mattheiss ◽  
Christina Steiner ◽  
Dietrich Albert

One of the trump cards of digital educational games is their enormous intrinsic motivational potential. Although learning game design is often understood on a one-fits-all level, the actual motivational strength of an educational game strongly depends on the individual learners, their very specific goals, preferences, abilities, strength and weakness, personality, and experiences with gaming. Considering motivation being a fragile and constantly changing state, it is important to continuously assess learning and gaming processes and the oscillations of motivation and immersion within a game. With this premise in mind, the authors developed a psycho-pedagogical approach to a non-invasive embedded assessment of motivational states and learning progress, feeding into a dynamic, ontology-driven learner (and gamer) model. To evaluate the approach, the demonstrator games were subject to intensive quantitative and qualitative experimental research. Results show that a meaningful personalization and an individual support are key factors of the success of learning games.


Author(s):  
Stephen Tang ◽  
Martin Hanneghan

Play has been an informal approach to teach young ones the skills of survival for centuries. With advancements in computing technology, many researchers believe that computer games1 can be used as a viable teaching and learning tool to enhance a student’s learning. It is important that the educational content of these games is well designed with meaningful game-play based on pedagogically sound theories to ensure constructive learning. This chapter features theoretical aspects of game design from a pedagogical perspective. It serves as a useful guide for educational game designers to design better educational games for use in game-based learning. The chapter provides a brief overview of educational games and game-based learning before highlighting theories of learning that are relevant to educational games. Selected theories of learning are then integrated into conventional game design practices to produce a set of guidelines for educational games design.


2013 ◽  
pp. 63-101
Author(s):  
Marion A. Hersh ◽  
Barbara Leporini

This chapter presents an overview of accessibility and usability for educational computer-based games and the first survey of the accessibility and usability of digital educational games. The overview includes a discussion of accessibility and usability, both in general and in the specific context of educational games, as well as a brief presentation of issues relating to game design, including of mobile games. Since there are no previous studies of the accessibility and usability of educational computer-based games, studies of the accessibility and usability of the related areas of virtual learning environments, digital games for entertainment and PDF documents, are also presented. The overview of accessibility and usability and the results of the survey are used to draw up a structured list of 62 guidelines and recommendations, organised into three categories at the first level and ten at the second level. These guidelines and recommendations are illustrated by an example of their application to a fictitious new educational game.


Gamification ◽  
2015 ◽  
pp. 576-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Tang ◽  
Martin Hanneghan

Play has been an informal approach to teach young ones the skills of survival for centuries. With advancements in computing technology, many researchers believe that computer games1 can be used as a viable teaching and learning tool to enhance a student's learning. It is important that the educational content of these games is well designed with meaningful game-play based on pedagogically sound theories to ensure constructive learning. This chapter features theoretical aspects of game design from a pedagogical perspective. It serves as a useful guide for educational game designers to design better educational games for use in game-based learning. The chapter provides a brief overview of educational games and game-based learning before highlighting theories of learning that are relevant to educational games. Selected theories of learning are then integrated into conventional game design practices to produce a set of guidelines for educational games design.


Author(s):  
Michael D. Kickmeier-Rust ◽  
Elke Mattheiss ◽  
Christina Steiner ◽  
Dietrich Albert

One of the trump cards of digital educational games is their enormous intrinsic motivational potential. Although learning game design is often understood on a one-fits-all level, the actual motivational strength of an educational game strongly depends on the individual learners, their very specific goals, preferences, abilities, strength and weakness, personality, and experiences with gaming. Considering motivation being a fragile and constantly changing state, it is important to continuously assess learning and gaming processes and the oscillations of motivation and immersion within a game. With this premise in mind, the authors developed a psycho-pedagogical approach to a non-invasive embedded assessment of motivational states and learning progress, feeding into a dynamic, ontology-driven learner (and gamer) model. To evaluate the approach, the demonstrator games were subject to intensive quantitative and qualitative experimental research. Results show that a meaningful personalization and an individual support are key factors of the success of learning games.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 18-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Ault ◽  
Jana Craig-Hare ◽  
Bruce Frey

Reason Racer is an online, rate-based, multiplayer game designed to engage middle school students in the knowledge and skills related to scientific argumentation. Several game features are included as design considerations unrelated to science content or argumentation. One specific feature, a competitive racing component that occurs in between challenging tasks, is the subject of this analysis. The effect of two conditions on 72 ninth grade students' performance was analyzed: game play with a competitive racing component (Race) and game play without a competitive racing component (No-Race). A counterbalanced design was used with two randomly assigned groups playing the game using two different science scenarios. When students played with a racing component interspersed between challenging tasks they completed the tasks more quickly and accurately than when they did not experience the racing component. These findings are discussed in terms of game design and the use of game features not related to academic content.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 1372-1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon P. Rose ◽  
M. P. Jacob Habgood ◽  
Tim Jay

The recent shift in compulsory education from ICT-focused computing curricula to informatics, digital literacy and computer science, has resulted in children being taught computing using block-based programming tools such as Scratch, with teaching that is often limited by school resources and teacher expertise. Even without these limitations, Scratch users often produce code with ‘code smells’ such as duplicate blocks and long scripts which impact how they understand and debug projects. These code smells can be removed using procedural abstraction, an important concept in computer science rarely taught to this age group. This article describes the design of a novel educational block-based programming game, Pirate Plunder, which concentrates on how procedural abstraction is introduced and reinforced. The article then reports an extended evaluation to measure the game’s efficacy with children aged 10 and 11, finding that children who played the game were then able to use procedural abstraction in Scratch. The article then uses game analytics to explore why the game was effective and gives three recommendations for educational game design based on this research: using learning trajectories and restrictive success conditions to introduce complex content, increasing learner investment through customisable avatars and suggestions for improving the evaluations of educational games.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 218
Author(s):  
Rima Rahmaniah ◽  
M Hudri ◽  
Irwandi Irwandi ◽  
Moh Fauzi Bafadal ◽  
Nurmiwati Nurmiwati ◽  
...  

ABSTRAKBermain, dari segi pendidikan adalah kegiatan permainan menggunakan alat permainan yang mendidik serta alat yang bisa merangsang perkembangan aspek kognitif, sosial, emosi, dan fisik yang dimiliki anak atau yang disebut dengan permainan edukatif. Adams (1975) berpendapat bahwa permainan edukatif adalah semua bentuk permainan yang dirancang untuk memberikan pengalaman pendidikan atau pengalaman belajar kepada para pemainnya, termasuk permainan tradisional dan moderen yang diberi muatan pendidikan dan pengajaran. Maka guna mengurangi trauma anak pada dampak bencana gempa pada tahun 2018 lalu, tim pengabdian bersama mahasiswa melaksanakan kegiatan pengabdian sebagai kegiatan psikososial dengan mengajak dan mengajar anak-anak terdampak tersebut dengan memberikan permainan edukatif dengan tahapan kegiatannya dimulai dari pemutaran film animasi gempa bumi, sesi tanya jawab, dan bermain edukasi untuk mengurangi trauma anak mengenai kejadian bencana yang terjadi di tahun 2018 lalu untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan, keterampilan dan self awareness anak usia sekolah sampai menengah yang ada di desa Aik Berik Kecamatan Batukliang Utara Kabupaten Lombok Tengah. Kegiatan ini akan dilakukan selama 8 (delapan) pekan dalam 2 (dua) bulan dengan menggunakan metode observasi atau pengamatan langsung,  dan metode tindakan. Target hasil capaian dan simpulan dalam kegiatan ini sebagai berikut: a) Adanya pemahaman tentang mitigasi bencana pada anak-anak dan masyarakat yang akan menemani anak-anak mereka  untuk meningkatkan self awareness mereka tentang bencana, b) Dimilikinya pengembangan pengetahuan, ketrampilan dengan menggunakan permainan edukatif untuk mengurangi trauma akan dampak gempa yang terjadi tahun 2018  lalu, dan c) Dimilikinya pemahaman tentang kesiapsiagaan akan mitigasi bencana yang bertujuan pengurangan dampak bencana atau usaha-usaha yang dilakukan untuk mengurangi korban ketika bencana terjadi baik korban jiwa maupun harta Kata kunci : permainan edukasi; psikososial. ABSTRACTIn terms of education, playing is an activity by using games that can stimulate the development of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical aspects of a child or what is called an educational game. Educational games are all forms of games designed to provide educational experiences or learning experiences to the players, including traditional and modern games that are given educational and teaching content. So in order to reduce child trauma on the impact of the earthquake in 2018, the team of devotees along with students carried out community service activities as a psychosocial activity by inviting and teaching affected children by providing educational games with stages of activities starting from the screening of earthquake animated films, question answer sessions, and education games to reduce child trauma regarding disasters that occurred in 2018 and to improve the knowledge, skills and self awareness of school-to-middle-aged children in the Aik Berik village, Batukliang Utara District, Lombok Tengah District. This activity would be carried out for 8 (eight) weeks in 2 (two) months using the observation method or direct observation, and the action method. The target and conclusion in this activity are as follows: a) An understanding of disaster mitigation for children and the community that will accompany their children to increase their self-awareness about disasters, b) Having the knowledge development and skills by using educational games to reduce trauma to the effects of the earthquake that occurred last 2018, and c) Having an understanding of disaster mitigation preparedness aimed at reducing the impact of disasters or efforts made to reduce casualties when disasters occur both fatalities and property. Keywords : educational game; psychosocial.


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