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Video GamesVideo Gamesin Education in Education
– Boon or Bane?– Boon or Bane?
Nor Hidayah M. AminCollege of Education
Lehigh University
ContentContentss
Introduction: Development of educational media Video Games in American Culture
Educational settings: Using video games to understand engagement Pac-Man vs. traditional schooling Games: Drill & practice Simulations & strategy games Aggression & social mal-adjustment Future of video games in education
Educational potentials of gaming:
Most research done focused on the social consequences of gaming.
Educators have ignored cognitive potential of games especially in:
▪ Interactive stories
▪ Digital authoring tools
▪ Collaborative worlds
IntroductiIntroductionon
Video games are a powerful force in the entertainment & economic sector.
Price Waterhouse Cooper: US sales of entertainment software reached $8.2 billion in 2004. Sales in 2009 are expected to reach $15 billion.
Video games have pervasively influence the American culture.
Most of the studies conducted about video games in education are done in the Nintendo age - limited & outdated.
VG in US VG in US cultureculture
Malone (1981) generated 3 main elements that make video games fun: Challenge, Fantasy, Curiosity
Educational programs should have:
1. Clear goals that students find meaning
2. Multiple goals structures & scoring to give feedback
3. Multiple difficulty levels
4. Random element of surprise
5. Emotionally appealing fantasy & metaphor
EngagemeEngagementnt
Bowman (1982) uses Csikzentmihalyi’s discussion of “flow”:
Pac-Man is an action system where skills & challenges are progressively balanced, goals are clear, feedback is unambiguous, and relevant stimuli can be differentiated from irrelevant stimuli.
EngagemeEngagementnt
Csikzentmihalyi (1990) describes “flow” as:
- a State of Optimal experience,
-- whereby a person is so Engaged in activity
- that Self-consciousness disappears,
- Time becomes distorted
- and people engage in complex, goal-directed Activity
- not for external rewards
- but simply for the Exhilaration of doing.
S.O.E.S.T.A.E.
CsikzentmihaCsikzentmihalyilyi
PM vs. T PM vs. T SchoolingSchooling
Pac-Man Traditional Schooling
Player controls how much he plays
Students learn at 1 pace, little freedom to control content of learning
Players engaged in quick and varied activity
Students passively absorb info in routine activity
Players can take all the time they need to master the game
TS holds time constant, allowing achievement to vary
Players have feeling of mastering environment – become more skilful
Students learn knowledge abstracted by teacher and regurgitate
PM vs. T PM vs. T SchoolingSchooling
Pac-Man Traditional Schooling
Players work together, sharing tips and secrets
Students perform in isolation, and cannot use one another as resources
Performance is criterion based, each player competes against his ability to master the game
Students are graded normatively, graded against each other
Games are played for intrinsic reward for playing them
Schools are structured around extrinsic rewards such as good grades or fear of failure
Commercial games – military, pilots Edutainment products
BoonBoon
Popular because they can easily be integrated into a didactic curriculum as “enrichment” exercises during independent study time.
Video games – support student’s exploration of microworlds or as a construction tool (Papert, 1981).
Drills & Drills & PracticePractice
Hi-fidelity: to model every interaction in a system in as life-like manner as possible.E.g.?
Low-fidelity: simplify a system to highlight key components of the system.E.g.?
SimulatioSimulationsns
1. Manipulate otherwise unalterable variables – SimEarth
2. Enable students to view phenomena from new perspectives - Hidden Agenda
3. Observe systems behavior over time - Civilization
4. Pose hypothetical questions to a system - Antietam
5. Visualize a system in 3 dimensions - Digital Weather Station
6. Compare simulations with their understanding of a system - SimCity
Tools for Tools for LearningLearning
Provenzo (1991):
1. Violent, aggressive behavior
2. Destructive gender stereotyping
3. Unhealthy “rugged individualistic” attitudes
4. Stifle creative play
BanBanee
Violent, aggressive behavior
Research thus far has been inconclusive.
Calvert & Tan (1994) – video games cause some increase of violent thoughts.
Lin & Lipper (1987) – no correlations between regular video play and violence.
In summary, research on video games has failed to show that video games cause violent, anti-social or aggressive behavior or poor school performance.
Research Research findingsfindings
Destructive gender stereotyping
Few women protagonists have been featured in video games; most women characters in fighting games resemble adolescent male fantasies.
Female gamers = 20% of video games players.
Barbie: Fashion Designer sold 500,000 copies.
Thus, video games creator must focuson character development & collaboration in order to attract girls.
Research Research findingsfindings
Unhealthy “rugged individualistic” attitudes
Image of “lone ranger” is prevalent in video games. Games like Asteroids & Doom capitalize on making the player isolated, taking the world alone.
MUDs (Multiple User Dungeons) & MOOs (a MUD object oriented) are text-based online virtual reality system where players can collaborate in groups to slay villains etc.
Other examples: Avatar, Everquest
Research Research findingsfindings
Stifle creative play Children are not passive consumers of video games. They ‘reappropriate’ it into their own play:
1. They talk about a game on the bus.
2. They act out scenes from a game in the playground.
3. They discuss games on bulletin board.
Ellis (1983) – video games like popular media become the building blocks of children’s world.
Research Research findingsfindings
Since 1980s, gaming technology has improved tremendously. But there is much room for the study of how designs can be incorporated into student centered learning environment. Many educators have been using edutainment products. We need more empirical research into how these environments work.
Interactive fiction and online games are 2 areas that have not been studied at all – instructional technologists can research on how online environments support community development.
FutuFuturere
Bowman, R. F. (1982). A Pac-Man theory of motivation. Tactical implications for classroom instructions. Educational Technology, 22(9), 14-17.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optical Experience. New York: Harper Perennial.
Calvert, S. L., & Tan, S. (1994). Impact of virtual reality on young adults’ physiological arousal and aggressive thoughts: Interaction versus observation. Special Issue: Effects of interactive entertainment technologies on development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 15(1), 125-139.
Ellis, G. J. (1983). Youth in the Electronic Environment: An Introduction. Youth and Society, 15(1): 3-12.
ReferencReferenceses
Lin, S. & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Correlates of children's usage of video games and computers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17. 72-93.
Malone, T. W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, (4), 333-369.
Papert, S. (1981). Mindstorm: Children, computers and powerful ideas. Brighton: Harvester Press.
Provenzo, E. F. (1991). Video kids: Making sense of Nintendo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard.
ReferencReferenceses
Q & AQ & A
