Students Using Indigenous Knowledge in Video Game Creation to Develop Design Thinking Skills

This chapter describes an educational intervention to introduce and develop design thinking skills with two groups of Australian Indigenous high school students in Far North Queensland and reports on the first phase of the data collection. The initial data collection involved interviewing key personnel at the two sites to gauge their perceptions about the feasibility of the project. This project represents the first time that Australian Indigenous students have participated in videogame creation with an emphasis on using Indigenous knowledge to develop design thinking skills along with literacy and numeracy skills. During the intervention, Year 10 students will be introduced to design thinking skills in the context of developing computer video games using Australian Indigenous knowledge (e.g., a simulation game involving a fictitious island in the Torres Strait).

Field Report

This chapter reports on the transformation of a classical seminar paper presentation course into a completely virtual classroom experience beginning with the planning phase and ending with the students’ final evaluations. The virtual course included homework lessons and online examinations. Findings on what is actually needed to accomplish this goal are provided, while demonstrating what barriers arose in the process and how they were solved. The course topic was the psychological impact of violent video games and included learning in virtual environments. An up-to-date internet multiplayer game was applied encompassing comprehensive communication features and non-violent interactivity of the players with each other as well as the environment. Beyond the classical paper presentations held via voice chat, accompanying missions for the game were designed to demonstrate the crux of the matter in a playful style. This included both real world procedures well known to the participants such as map reading and vehicle driving as well as rather uncommon ones like flying a helicopter and complex missions with different roles needed like emergency rescue or organized mass killing. This way, participants were able to compare their known real world experiences with virtual ones and evaluate the relevant psychological theories in a comprehensive virtual world. Further, participants could reflect on learning in general and especially on the learning of aggression in virtual environments in a depth that would hardly have been possible without experiencing the interactive phenomena by themselves.

Motivating the Demotivated Classroom

Findings from the educational literature and experimental observations, as well as case studies from field studies will be presented and discussed, in order to demonstrate how games are able to constitute a powerful educational and motivational medium in a SEN classroom.

A Reference Architecture for Game-Based Intelligent Tutoring

Educational computer games may improve learning experiences and learning outcomes. However, many off-the-shelf games still fail at smoothly integrating learning content into gameplay mechanisms. In addition, they do make an effort at adapting educational content to individual learners. Learner models and adaptivity, as applied by Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs), address this problem. A solution to the integration dilemma would ideally be found at the software architecture level. Assuming the perspective of the software engineer, this chapter reviews published game-based ITS architectures. The most promising approaches are partially integrated architectures, which replace sub-systems of Clancey’s (1984) classic ITS architecture with corresponding game elements. In order to provide a reference to developers, this chapter follows up on these ideas and proposes a unifying game-based ITS architecture based on genre studies of computer role-playing games.

Engaging the Un-Engageable

Computer games offer an extremely engaging experience and are an overwhelmingly popular pastime for today’s youth. As such, they make an attractive medium for educators seeking to utilise new media to create new engaging learning experiences and provide for those with special needs. Effective integration of game-play and education is extremely difficult to achieve. This problem has plagued the educational games industry since its inception. This chapter will examine this problem with reference to a study which attempts to utilise the motivational power of computer games to aid the education of some of the most challenging students; children who are exhibiting behavioural disorders (oppositional defiant behaviour, attention deficit). Such children can find it almost impossible to focus on traditional educational activities but will give the right computer game their full attention for extended periods. Computer games can engage these children, but can this power be utilised for more than entertainment?

How Digital Gaming Enhances Non-Formal and Informal Learning

This study presents the results of three investigations on the use of digital gaming in non-formal (leisure institutions) and informal (household context) education. These are: (1) an empirical enquiry on the uses and perceptions of Spanish teenagers in relation to digital technologies as tools for leisure and socialization, (2) an intervention in a public school in Barcelona, in which this chapter analyzes the introduction of video games in the context of leisure activities, and (3) a workshop for families to discuss the cultural and social significance of the use of video games in the household. The results of these experiences have allowed for observation of the youth in their environment and verification that their uses of technology and attitudes towards digital gaming have a great potential for non-formal and informal learning.

Unifying Instructional and Game Design

Games have impacted education, research, and industry in multiple ways, altering notions of interaction. Traditionally, instructional design and educational research have dominated academic studies of pedagogy, teaching, and training. There are many parallels between the fields of game design and education, as both draw inspiration from the study of engagement, interaction, and motivation. State-of-the-art research and trends show great potential to cross-pollinate and uplift each area. This chapter synthesizes instructional and game design concepts based on current research, comparing and contrasting key elements. Towards the goal of providing a road map for readers, the chapter demonstrates three active case studies that illustrate how both fields greatly influence each other, leading to positive outcomes. These cases demonstrate that many concepts in both fields have direct parallels. The chapter concludes with a discussion of potential future directions and trends.

Designing Games to Motivate Student Cohorts through Targeted Game Genre Selection

The objective of this chapter is to develop guidelines for targeted use of games in educational settings by presenting a typology of learning styles, motivations, game genres, and learning outcomes within disciplinary student cohorts. By identifying which academic outcomes best align with the motivations and learning styles of students and which game genres are best suited to those motivations and outcomes, the authors elucidate a typology to assist serious game designers’ and educators’ pursuits of games that both engage and instruct. The result will guide the implementation of games in the classroom by linking game genre and game mechanics with learning objectives, and therefore enhance learning and maximise education outcomes through targeted activity.

Computer Games for Algorithm Learning

Data structures and algorithms are important foundation topics in computer science education. However, they are often complex and hard to understand. Therefore, this chapter introduces a new learning strategy that benefits from computer games’ popularity and engagement to help students understand algorithms better by designing computer games that visualize algorithms. To teach an algorithm, an educational computer game, namely an Algorithm Game must have a game-play that simulates the behavior of the visualized algorithm and graphics depict the features of its data structure. Algorithm games attract students to learn algorithm using active engagement, enjoyment, and internal motivation. Algorithm Games attributes and genres that make them suitable to visualize algorithms have been specified. Various concepts in computer game design have been applied in the development of several algorithm games prototypes for algorithms, such as Binary Search, Bubble Sort, Insertion Sort, Selection Sort, Linked List, and Binary Search Tree Operations.

Promoting Sexual Health Education via Gaming

The spread of contagious STDs, HIV/AIDS, and unintended pregnancies amongst marginalized youth in developing nations is a source of concern. This study examines the use of an educational interactive game to educate Peruvian youth about sexual and reproductive health. 102 teenagers living in the barrios of Lima played an interactive educational multimedia game. The research design consisted of pre- and post-intervention surveys. The study utilized social cognitive theory to determine the influence of prior knowledge, self-efficacy and game-playing on respondents attitudes. In this particular case, prior attitudes, knowledge, resistance to peer-pressure and game-playing were significant predictors of attitudes towards sexual health. Implications and strategies for teachers utilizing interactive games for promotion of sexual education are discussed.