Factors That Explain Adolescent and Young Adult Mobile Game Play, Part 1

The first of two chapters, a study is presented that quantitatively examined the adolescent and young adult “casual” video game player. A total of 1,950 South Korean students self-reported their game play on mobile phones by answering a 92-item questionnaire designed to capture data on technology ownership; preference for game genre and titles; where and how often games were played; what factors influence game selection, what game features were the most desirable, the rationale behind playing games, and psychophysical changes experienced as a result of playing; as well as, spending habits with regard to game purchases. The findings supported many of the claims made about the casual player, revealing, for example, that mobile games are predominately played for short periods of time, in between activities, and as a means to combat boredom. Adding credence to the idea that mobile game play can be viewed as a casual activity. Results also revealed potentially positive benefits, to include improved mood and feelings of well-being along with better mental attention and focus.

Augmented Reality in Informal Learning Settings

Cultural heritage sites and museums are faced with an important challenge – how best to balance the needs of engaging visitors in meaningful and entertaining experiences, while at the same time exploiting the affordances of exhibits for instructional purposes. In this chapter, we examine the use of augmented reality in the context of informal learning environments, and how this type of technology can be used as a means to enhance learning about history. The research case studies are reviewed in terms of the use of historical locations, experience mechanics, narrative/plot, and role-playing (the later two representing game-based elements) in the design guidelines of instructional activities and applications (Dunleavy & Dede, 2014). In doing so, we critique the theoretical, methodological, and instructional underpinnings of studies that evaluate augmented reality applications and draw several recommendations for future research in this field.

Game Design as a Complex Problem Solving Process

Problem solving is one of the most essential skills for individuals to be successful at their daily lives and careers. When problems become complex, solving them involves identifying relationships among a multitude of interrelated variables, to achieve multiple different possible solutions. Teaching Complex Problem Solving (CPS) skills in formal education contexts is challenging. In this research, we examined if through an innovative game-design course middle school students improved in their CPS skills. Our results showed that students showed significant improvements in their CPS skills, especially in terms of system exploration, t(10) = 2.787, p = .019; system knowledge, t(10) = 2.437, p = .35; system application, t(10) = 2.472, p = .033. In addition, there was a statistically significant change in students' interest for CPS after attending the GDL program, t(6) = 3.890, p = .008. We discuss implications regarding use of game-design tasks as contexts to teach CPS skills in formal and informal educational contexts.

Game Dimensions and Pedagogical Dimension in Serious Games

Designing serious games is a complex process because finding the right balance between the ‘serious' and the ‘game' dimensions is vital, as pointed out in some meta-analyses (Wouters, et al. 2013). If educational content prevails over the entertainment element, users' motivation may decrease and this can have a negative impact on the effectiveness of learning. On the other hand, if entertainment predominates over content, this can also limit learning opportunities. Another major concern identified regarding the use of digital games in education is the difficulty in assessing effectiveness in achieving the learning goals. This chapter discusses and analyses different models for guiding the design cycle of serious games with the aim of supporting not only the design process but also the implementation and assessment of serious games in education. This contribution emphasises the importance of in-game assessment and the need for further research on adaptive serious games.

Stories, Games, and Learning through Play

Stories are the mechanism through which humans construct reality and make sense of the world around them. Yet, literature on the effects of narrative in game-based and other learning environments is quite variable, and the relevance of narrative to the learning sciences is not well-researched. Identifying precisely how narrative intertwines with human experience of the lived-in world requires the application of a situated cognition framework to understand user-content-context interactions as dynamic and co-determined. This chapter uses examples drawn from a narrative-structured, game-based learning program to accomplish that goal, discussing in-context, on-the-fly dialogic interactions between narrative “producers” and “recipients.” While there is still much to learn, the leveraging of narrative to help recipients grapple with complex social, cultural, and intellectual issues may be one of the most important—and overlooked—means of inducing game-to-real world transfer.

Design of Fantasy and Their Effect on Learning and Engagement in a Serious Game

Researchers are interested in exploring the use of fantasy design in educational games to promote learning. This chapter first reviewed the literature on fantasy designs and relevant principles along with the studies examining the use of fantasy designs to enhance learning. An experiment was then conducted, in which two sets of fantasy designs were implemented in a serious game, to examine the effect of different types of fantasy (portrayal fantasy vs creative fantasy designs) on learning and game engagement. The results using multiple regressions showed that portrayal fantasy design was more effective both for enhancing learning and engagement. Students who used portrayal fantasy models showed better improvement in their content knowledge and scored better on game engagement. Visualization analysis showed the portrayal fantasy group spent more time in using the tool containing all fantasy designs than the creative group. Findings and future research directions are discussed.

A Game-Based Approach to Teaching Social Problem-Solving Skills

This chapter describes a game-based approach to teaching social problem solving skills. This chapter presents the background, literature review, development and evaluation of a social problem-solving game, Socialdrome, for use with primary school going children in Singapore. The game sought to intentionally teach children to identify and manage feelings, exercise self-control, solve social problems and negotiate conflict situations. This chapter has two objectives. First, we describe the design of Socialdrome, which is in alignment with instructional design and game design principles. In Study 1, we reported a formative evaluation of the game. This led to further refinements of the game. Second, we presented Study 2, an investigation of the learning outcomes and user acceptance arising from using Socialdrome. Here, a summative evaluation of the game in a formal classroom setting was reported. We concluded with directions for future work.

Learning from Social Collaboration

This chapter focuses on the challenge of evaluating game-based learning. It argues that linking game-based learning with the characteristics of a specific game or game-produced engagement is challenging. It further proposes a framework in which the game-based learning process is approached by considering (business) simulation games as Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) environments and presents an approach on how learning can be approached and evaluated from this perspective. In addition, it highlights how simulation game mechanics appears to be a potential way to promote learners' socio-emotional processes and give rise to social interaction and to structure collaboration among the learners in the game context. The proposed framework of this chapter takes into account both cognitive and socio-emotional perspectives of learning. The results of the chapter will present a contemporary view on the roles of sociability, collaboration and engagement in game-based learning.

The Role of Metacognition in Learning via Serious Games

This chapter focuses on three recommendations from the National Research Council (2011) for conducting research that may increase the impact of serious games on student achievement. At the core of these recommendations is an emphasis on the role of metacognition in learning. The first recommendation examines the player's self-awareness as a learner and how a sense of agency can be nurtured by serious games to promote self-regulated learning. The second examines the mediating processes within the individual that influence learning with games. This section describes embodied cognition, which examines the interactions among body, mind, and game environment that can lead to learning. The third examines the problem of transfer of learning. This section offers suggestions on how transfer from gaming contexts to academic contexts can be facilitated. The chapter concludes with an examination of whether research in response to these recommendations can positively impact learning via the serious game.

What Cognitive Psychology Can Tell Us About Educational Computer Games

Developers of educational computer games often have incomplete knowledge of the cognitive abilities of learners, yet this knowledge can be useful in informing game design. This chapter reviews two important cognitive abilities that underlie learning: working memory and attentional capacity/executive function. From a description of the developmental course of each ability, we derive a set of recommendations for game developers to follow when designing games for learners of different ages. The chapter next reviews the psychology of transfer of training, including two major theories on the issue. The doctrine of identical elements appears to give the better description of how transfer occurs from training environment (the educational computer game) to target environment (real world performance of the learned skill). It is recommended that games embody, as closely as possible, the end behavior they hope to produce, as this will produce maximal transfer. Finally, we review some controversial research demonstrating distant transfer in computer video gaming.