A Serious Game for Geo-Education in the Arouca Geopark Territory

2020 ◽  
pp. 161-188
Author(s):  
Tiago Martins ◽  
Júlio Coelho ◽  
Vitor Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Usability Tests ◽  
Great Acceptance ◽  
Functional Prototype ◽  
Guided Tours

This chapter describes the development of a prototype of a serious video game and its maintenance platform for the geo-education in the Arouca Geopark Territory. This serious video game, which is the focus of this project, aims to assist the guides in their visits to the Arouca Geopark, providing an educational and modular tool. It was possible to supply some needs of the Arouca Geopark, identifying which components are necessary for this platform and which tools must be used for its development. A functional prototype of this platform was developed and subjected to usability tests, the results of which were positive and revealed great acceptance by the intervening group. With the development of this technology, it is intended that the guides and visitors of Arouca Geopark can enjoy an educational tool, able to help guides to provide more stimulating guided tours, thereby improving visitors' retention of information.

Development and Performance Assessment of a Digital Serious Game to Assess Multi-Patient Care Skills in a Simulated Pediatric Emergency Department

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 550-570
Author(s):  
Cindy Luu ◽  
Thomas B. Talbot ◽  
Cha Chi Fung ◽  
Eyal Ben-Isaac ◽  
Juan Espinoza ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Diagnostic Accuracy ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Rank Correlation ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Number Of Patients

Objective. Multi-patient care is important among medical trainees in an emergency department (ED). While resident efficiency is a typically measured metric, multi-patient care involves both efficiency and diagnostic / treatment accuracy. Multi-patient care ability is difficult to assess, though simulation is a potential alternative. Our objective was to generate validity evidence for a serious game in assessing multi-patient care skills among a variety of learners. Methods. This was a cross-sectional validation study using a digital serious game VitalSignsTM simulating multi-patient care within a pediatric ED. Subjects completed 5 virtual “shifts,” triaging, stabilizing, and discharging or admitting patients within a fixed time period; patients arrived at cascading intervals with pre-programmed deterioration if neglected. Predictor variables included generic multi-tasking ability, video game experience, medical knowledge, and clinical efficiency with real patients. Outcome metrics in 3 domains measured diagnostic accuracy (i.e. critical orders, diagnoses), efficiency (i.e. number of patients, time-to-order) and critical thinking (number of differential diagnoses); MANOVA determined differences between novice learners and expected expert physicians. Spearman Rank correlation determined associations between levels of expertise. Results. Ninety-five subjects’ gameplays were analyzed. Diagnostic accuracy and efficiency distinguished skill level between residency trained (residents, fellows and attendings) and pre-residency trained (medical students and undergraduate) subjects, particularly for critical orders, patients seen, and correct diagnoses (p < 0.003). There were moderate to strong correlations between the game’s diagnostic accuracy and efficiency metrics compared to level of training, including patients seen (rho = 0.47, p < 0.001); critical orders (rho = 0.80, p < 0.001); time-to-order (rho = −0.24, p = 0.025); and correct diagnoses (rho = 0.69, p < 0.001). Video game experience also correlated with patients seen (rho = 0.24, p = 0.003). Conclusion. A digital serious game depicting a busy virtual ED can distinguish between expected experts in multi-patient care at the pre- vs. post-residency level. Further study can focus on whether the game appropriately assesses skill acquisition during residency.

scholarly journals Implementation and Evaluation of a Serious Game for Working Memory Enhancement

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (24) ◽  
pp. 9128
Author(s):  
Agisilaos Chaldogeridis ◽  
Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Memory Enhancement ◽  
Targeted Interventions ◽  
Mental Abilities ◽  
Key Aspects

The amount of information which can be stored in the human brain is limited and dependent on memory capacity. Over the last few years there has been a trend in training cognitive skills, not only to prevent cognitive decline, which is inevitable as a person grows older, but also to increase or at least preserve mental abilities that will allow a person to function at a higher cognitive level. Memory is one of those key aspects among cognitive skills that has a significant role in a person’s mental performance. Specifically, focus is given to Working Memory (WM), as evidence has shown that it can be increased by applying targeted interventions. An intervention program like this is the main object of this current paper. Using a Serious Game (SG), we designed and created a video game which targets WM training. Its effectiveness was tested and evaluated through an evaluation process where forty people participated in a seven-week training program. Post-results showed that participants had an increase in their WM performance, especially those who had lower scores at the pre-test, while those with high pre-test scores just preserved their initial status. Additionally, all participants agreed that the game is fun and enjoyable to play and that it helps them to increase WM performance.

scholarly journals Construct Validity of a Serious Game for Laparoscopic Skills Training: Validation Study

10.2196/17222 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e17222
Author(s):  
Wouter IJgosse ◽  
Harry van Goor ◽  
Camiel Rosman ◽  
Jan-Maarten Luursema
Keyword(s):  
Construct Validity ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Time Variable ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Laparoscopic Skills ◽  
Serious Gaming ◽  
Laparoscopic Procedures ◽  
Laparoscopic Skills Training

Background Surgical residents underutilize opportunities for traditional laparoscopic simulation training. Serious gaming may increase residents’ motivation to practice laparoscopic skills. However, little is known about the effectiveness of serious gaming for laparoscopic skills training. Objective The aim of this study was to establish construct validity for the laparoscopic serious game Underground. Methods All study participants completed 2 levels of Underground. Performance for 2 novel variables (time and error) was compared between novices (n=65, prior experience <10 laparoscopic procedures), intermediates (n=26, prior experience 10-100 laparoscopic procedures), and experts (n=20, prior experience >100 laparoscopic procedures) using analysis of covariance. We corrected for gender and video game experience. Results Controlling for gender and video game experience, the effects of prior laparoscopic experience on the time variable differed significantly (F2,106=4.77, P=.01). Both experts and intermediates outperformed novices in terms of task completion speed; experts did not outperform intermediates. A similar trend was seen for the rate of gameplay errors. Both gender (F1,106=14.42, P<.001 in favor of men) and prior video game experience (F1,106=5.20, P=.03 in favor of experienced gamers) modulated the time variable. Conclusions We established construct validity for the laparoscopic serious game Underground. Serious gaming may aid laparoscopic skills development. Previous gaming experience and gender also influenced Underground performance. The in-game performance metrics were not suitable for statistical evaluation. To unlock the full potential of serious gaming for training, a more formal approach to performance metric development is needed.

scholarly journals Crafting minds and communities with Minecraft

F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 2339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin C. Riordan ◽  
Damian Scarf
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Autistic Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
First Person Perspective

Minecraft is a first-person perspective video game in which players roam freely in a large three-dimensional environment. Players mine the landscape for minerals and use these minerals to create structures (e.g., houses) and mould the landscape. But can Minecraft be used to craft communities and minds? In this opinion piece, we highlight the enormous potential of Minecraft for fostering social connectedness, collaboration, and its potential as an educational tool. We highlight the recent use of Minecraft to aid socialization in individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and promote civic engagement via the United Nations Human Settlement Program. We further provide novel links between Minecraft and recent on work on the role of social cures and community empowerment in enhancing mental health, wellbeing, and resilience.

scholarly journals RATIONALE AND TEACHING OBJECTIVES FOR A CANADIAN ENGINEERING ETHICS GAME

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Roncin
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Engineering Ethics ◽  
Defining Issues Test ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Teaching Objectives ◽  
Decision Points ◽  
Tyler's Rationale ◽  
Ethics Courses

This paper uses Tyler’s rationale as a framework for analyzing the teaching objectives surrounding the design of a video game to teach Canadian engineering ethics.The two keys challenges in this area are defining what should be taught in engineering ethics and then how it is evaluated in order to demonstrate improved understanding. Traditionally, engineering ethics courses are taught as either codes of conduct, or based on case studies with very constrained courses. The evaluation that follows then uses the Defining Issues Test (DIT) or an instructor’s evaluation.However, the above methods could be improved by focusing on engineering ethics as a situated, embedded, and applied discipline. That is, one in which decisions are made as part of a team, embedded in a workplace whose goals will likely be in conflict with the engineers, and whose outcomes are unknown at the time decisions are made.By using a serious game in which the players are protagonists affords us the opportunity to present thick cases with multiple decision points and opportunities for players to demonstrate their ethical bias. Additionally, the progress of players and their interactions with non-playing characters can reveal information on their assumptions and ethical bias.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Usefulness of a Serious Game to Raise Awareness about Mental Health Problems in a Sample of High School and University Students: Relationship with Familiarity and Time Spent Playing Video Games

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cangas ◽  
Navarro ◽  
Aguilar-Parra ◽  
Trigueros ◽  
Gallego ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
High School ◽  
Video Games ◽  
University Students ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Psychological Disorders ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Control Group

Background: One of the main challenges in the field of mental health today is the stigma towards individuals who have psychological disorders. Aims: This study aims to analyse the usefulness of applying a serious game developed for the purpose of raising awareness among students about mental health problems and analyse whether its usefulness can be influenced by the type of video games or the time that students usually devote to playing with this type of entertainment. Method: The serious game introduces four characters who display the symptoms of different psychological disorders. A total of 530 students participated in the study, 412 of whom comprised the experimental group and 118 the control group, 291 came from secondary school classes and 239 were university students. Results: The findings show that this serious game significantly reduced total stigma among students. Variables like time habitually spent playing video games or video game preference had no bearing on the results. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the serious game is an appropriated tool to reduce stigma, both in high school and university students, independently of the type of video games that young people usually play, or time spent playing video games.

scholarly journals Towards a Serious Game to Help Students Learn Computer Programming

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Muratet ◽  
Patrice Torguet ◽  
Jean-Pierre Jessel ◽  
Fabienne Viallet
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Computer Programming ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Government Health ◽  
Defence Industry ◽  
Programming Skills

Video games are part of our culture like TV, movies, and books. We believe that this kind of software can be used to increase students' interest in computer science. Video games with other goals than entertainment, serious games, are present, today, in several fields such as education, government, health, defence, industry, civil security, and science. This paper presents a study around a serious game dedicated to strengthening programming skills. Real-Time Strategy, which is a popular game genre, seems to be the most suitable kind of game to support such a serious game. From programming teaching features to video game characteristics, we define a teaching organisation to experiment if a serious game can be adapted to learn programming.

scholarly journals An Approach to Accessible Serious Games for People with Dyslexia

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2507
Author(s):  
Angel Jaramillo-Alcázar ◽  
Eduardo Venegas ◽  
Santiago Criollo-C ◽  
Sergio Luján-Mora
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Cognitive Disorder ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Development Method ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
The One ◽  
Game Developers

Dyslexia is a cognitive disorder that affects the evolutionary ability to read, write, and speak in people, affecting the correct learning of a large percentage of the population worldwide. In fact, incorrect learning is caused because the educational system does not take into consideration the accessibility parameters that people with dyslexia need to maintain a sustainable educational level equal to others. Moreover, the use of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, has been deployed in education programs, offering many benefits; however, the lack of accessibility of those devices creates new barriers to students with dyslexia that hinder their education. With the aim of reducing these barriers, this paper presents an approach to the development of accessible serious games games for children with dyslexia. As a case study, a serious game based on a previously proposed serious game development method and a new set of accessibility guidelines for people with dyslexia is presented. The main purpose of the serious video game is to improve the treatment of dyslexia, through the collection of data obtained from two puzzles designed to train certain cognitive areas that affect this disability. This article has a double contribution: on the one hand, the guidelines and the method that can help video game developers and therapists to develop accessible serious games for people with dyslexia and, on the other hand, the two specific serious games that can be used by therapists, family members and people with dyslexia themselves.

scholarly journals Diagnostic Markers of User Experience, Play, and Learning for Digital Serious Games: A Conceptual Framework Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Wen Tan ◽  
Nabil Zary
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Diagnostic Criteria ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Test Validity ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Future Research ◽  
E Learning

BACKGROUND Serious games for medical education have seen a resurgence in recent years, partly due to the growth of the video game industry and the ability of such games to support learning achievements. However, there is little consensus on what the serious and game components in a serious game are composed of. As a result, electronic learning (e-learning) and medical simulation modules are sometimes mislabeled as serious games. We hypothesize that one of the main reasons is the difficulty for a medical educator to systematically and accurately evaluate key aspects of serious games. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to identify markers that can evaluate serious games and distinguish between serious games, entertainment games, and e-learning. METHODS Jabareen’s eight-phase framework-building procedure was used to identify the core markers of a serious game. The procedure was modified slightly to elicit “diagnostic criteria” as opposed to its original purpose of a conceptual framework. Following the identification of purported markers, the newly developed markers were tested on a series of freely available health care serious games—Dr. Game Surgeon Trouble, Staying Alive, and Touch Surgery—and the results were compared to the published test validity for each game. RESULTS Diagnostic criteria for serious games were created, comprising the clusters of User Experience (UX), Play, and Learning. Each cluster was formed from six base markers, a minimum of four of which were required for a cluster to be considered present. These criteria were tested on the three games, and Dr. Game Surgeon Trouble and Staying Alive fit the criteria to be considered a serious game. Touch Surgery did not meet the criteria, but fit the definition of an e-learning module. CONCLUSIONS The diagnostic criteria appear to accurately distinguish between serious games and mediums commonly misidentified as serious games, such as e-learning modules. However, the diagnostic criteria do not determine if a serious game will be efficacious; they only determine if it is a serious game. Future research should include a much larger sample of games designed specifically for health care purposes.

scholarly journals The educational effectiveness of serious games

2019 ◽  
pp. 131-155
Author(s):  
Hassen Ben Rebah ◽  
Rachid Ben slama
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Serious Game ◽  
Computer Application ◽  
Competition Strategy ◽  
Educational Effectiveness ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Educational Field

A serious game is a computer application that combines a serious intention of a pedagogical, informative and a communicational type with playful springs of the video game (want to win, collaboration, competition, strategy). This two-dimensional approach has transformed the game from a simple means of entertainment to a robust-integrated tool growing in the world of training and learning. Serious games include the engagement of video games with the worlds of educational and computer simulation to integrate the user in a safe and entertaining learning environment. Many techniques have been used to ameliorate computer graphics and technology in the last few years to make this type of game more adaptive to the learning context. In this study, we are interested in presenting the pedagogical contributions of serious games as well as the different possible approaches of their integration in a learning situation and this is based on a variety of case studies and examples of experimentation. We will start with definitions of other video games that have some valuable characteristics of learning in order to contrast and relate them with serious games. Subsequently, we discuss the definition of serious game and the benefits of its use in education. We will, then, examine approaches to integrate serious games into classrooms with an emphasis on the assets and liabilities of each approach. To finish, we conclude on the trends that will follow the serious games technology in the educational field as well as some recommendations to be taken into consideration in order to better exploit these tools in a pedagogical context.

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