kurt squire: research manager, comparative media studies, mit henry jenkins: director, comparative...
TRANSCRIPT
Kurt Squire: Research Manager, Comparative Media Studies, MIT
Henry Jenkins: Director, Comparative Media Studies, MITRandy Hinrichs: Group Research Manager, Learning Sciences & Technology, Microsoft
GAMES-TO-TEACH PROJECT
Summer 2002
G2T Project Goals
• Explore the potentials of “next-generation gaming”• Why gaming?
– Lively Art (Jenkins, 2001)– Culture work (Laurel, 2001)– Appealing pedagogical properties
• Create a vision for game-based learning – Lead cross-industry dialogue– Ground speculative discussions– Learning Sciences + Comparative Media Studies
• Explore research questions– Development issues, gender, assessment– Competition / Collaboration
G2T Activities
• Design research– Interviewing teachers, game designers
• Collaboration with games industry– Brainstorms, reviews
– 15 leading game designers
• Working with content partners– Colonial Williamsburg, FAS, CMU, MIT Professors Peter Senge, John
Belcher, Bruce Blumberg, Steven Pinker, Pauline Maier…
• Design 15 conceptual frameworks– Link emerging pedagogies and game play
• Developing four prototypes– Supercharged, Replicate, Environmental Detectives,
– Biohazard / Hot Zone (with Carnegie Mellon)
ElectromagnetismSupercharged!
• Cognitive Challenges– Subject non-intuitive– No first-hand experience of phenomena– Routinized knowledge of mathematical procedures– “Qualitative” Physics (Forbus, 2001)
• Motivational Challenges– Relevance
• Supercharged– Platform flying simulation game
• Goals– Robust qualitative understandings– Deep understanding of core relationships– Use laws to identify problem types– Visualize abstract concepts
Grokking Electromagnetism
Supercharged!
1. Show goals2. Place Charges
– Ship / crew dialogue3. Flying Driving
– Real-time control– Gather power - ups
4. “Win” Review Path– Visualize level– Publish / share levels
5. Assess & Review– Aggregated Data
Game-Based Pedagogy
Game
Just-in-timelectures
Peers
Texts
Demonstrations
Web-basedResources
StudentE&M
Physics
Problem Sets
Classroom Context
Game Platform Genre Subject Pedagogy
Hephaestus PC XBox Online
Massively Multiplayer
Robotics Engineering
CollaborativeCommunity
DreamHaus PC Adventure / Design
Architectural
Engineering
Learning by Design
Biohazard PC / Xbox Action RPG Biology Learning by Doing
La Jungla de Optica PC Simulated World RPG
Optical Physics Anchored Instruction
Extreme Sports Tycoon Web Multi-player Puzzle
Mechanical Physics
Learning by Design
Cuckoo Time Xbox Party Game Mechanical Physics
Playful Microworlds
Daedalus’ End PC Multiplayer Role-Playing
Engineering Ethics
Role-Playing
Replicate! PC / Xbox Action / Racing Biology / Virology Visualization
Supercharged! PC / Xbox Puzzle / Flying Electromagnetism Simulation
Environmental Detectives
Pocket PC Multiplayer Role Playing
Environmental Education
Participatory Simulation
• Game Data– Levels completed, time per - problem, solution paths
• Observations– Notes & Video-taped
• Pre & Post - tests– Content “Interviews”– Written tests & Surveys– Dynamic tasks (zero, near, & far transfer)
• Interviews with Instructors• Controlled comparisons with “traditional groups”
Assessment
• Students bring in experiences with media– Game / genre conventions
• Leveraging game conventions for pedagogical ends– Power Ups-Ways of altering variables– Resource management – tools / resources
• Win / Loss– Ways of addressing misconceptions– Inducing metacognition through social interactions
• Shareable artifacts– Publishing winning / creative solutions
• Emotional Engagement
Game Properties
Join us!
• Information:– http://cms.mit.edu/games/education/
• To participate in pilot program– Email: cms-g2t-pilot
• Contact:– Henry Jenkins: [email protected]– Randy Hinrichs: [email protected]– Kurt Squire: [email protected]
Join Us!
• Prototypes 1-10 online– Documentation and media– Designs, pedagogy, technical notes, art– http://cms.mit.edu/games/education/
• Robust qualitative understandings• Experts use laws to identify problem types• Deep understanding of core relationships• Ability to visualize abstract concepts• Can use knowledge to solve everyday
problems
Grokking Electromagnetism
• Broader Challenges– Functional use value – “Why learn this?”– Developing interest in science– Identity of “Self as scientist”– Science as “memorization of immutable facts.”
Grokking Electromagnetism
• Why Supercharged?– Robust, real time, interactivity– Depict abstract relationships in 3D– E&M laws as basis for flying / driving game– Familiar gaming genres and science fiction
• Challenges to Supercharged– Qualitative, not quantitative interactions– Constrained to computer– Getting learners involved in hard thinking & creating
ElectromagnetismSupercharged
Pocket PC
• GPS / Wireless / Location – based gaming• Multiplayer real time role playing game• Observing, testing, analyzing, predicting• Implementation Contexts
– Edgerton Center– Terrascope Project– MIT Classrooms– Cambridge Schools
Game-Based Pedagogy
Game
Just-in-timelectures
Peers
Texts
Demonstrations
Web-basedResources
StudentE&M
Physics
• Importance of instructional context – set-up, debriefing, and reflection
• Leveraging collaboration (e.g. Koschmann, 1996)
– Reflection
• Power of local culture & conditions (Squire et al., 2002) – Adoption & Adaptation
• Teacher support and professional development– Communities of teachers
Game-Based Pedagogy
• Immersive Learning Environments– Students developing and testing hypotheses
• Role playing Games– Solving “authentic problems”– Access to authentic tools / resources
• Visualization and Simulation– Leveraging potential contests– Spatial Conquests– Remediating physical laws
“Endogenous Game Play”
• Control, Challenge (Malone, 1981)
– Instantaneous feedback– Adjusted Difficulty level – Choice
• Fantasy, Exploration– Narrative, whimsy, fantasy, discovery
• Social Contexts– Collaboration, Competition
Engaging Media