Virtual Tweens ltd. All rights reserved Confidential When Was the Last Time You Saved a World? Children’s Informal Science Learning in a Multi-User Virtual

Virtual Tweens ltd. All rights reserved

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When Was the Last Time You Saved a World?

Children’s Informal Science Learning in a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE)

Ron Blonder & Sherman Rosenfeld

The Weizmann Institute of Science

Rehovot, Israel


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An avatar, a personalized virtual character which represents the player in the game

• Playing games in order to gain money,

• Purchasing clothes and accessories for their avatar

• Chatting with other avatars in the MUVE

MUVEs: Multi-User Virtual Environments

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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ekoloko MUVE: For children age 8-12 Focuses on ecology and the natural

environment

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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ekolokoThe largest community for kids in

Israel• 250,000 registered users

• 45,000 new registered users per month

• Active users spend on average 4.5 hours per week

• Over 1,500,000 games played in ekoloko every week

• Over 15,000,000 different activities performed every

week

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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Developing quality content• Science content experts:

• Identify interesting content for kids

• Provide valid scientific concepts

• Creative experts:

• Prepares general storyline

• Translates the scientific content into storyline narratives

• Content is implemented through:

• Community quests

• Adventures

• Games

• Trivia questions

• Newspaper

• NPCs CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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• Knowledge: To increase the scientific knowledge of the young players regarding ecology and the natural environment,

• Affect: To develop positive attitudes of these users towards ecology and the natural environment, and

• Behavior: To promote user behaviors which represent a positive approach to the natural environment.

Educational Design Goals

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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Challenge: Extremely Large Number of

Users

e.g., during one week in April 2009

Number of recorded playing events: 416,000

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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Research Questions:

(1) How do the kids use the ekoloko MUVE?

(2) To what extent does the ekoloko MUVE influence the

knoeledge, affective andbehavioral

Development of the players?

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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• User Baseline Data: Age, gender, experience

• Analysis of Game Use: Frequency and duration

• Knoeledge: Trivia scores

• Affective Goals: CHEAKS questionnaire

• Behavioral Goals: “ekos” donation and activity in community events

Research tool: Data Mining

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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Results

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How do the kids use the ekoloko MUVE?

N=416,000 playing events

8

76

43

15

14

5

1003

10041

12 1001

1002

18

11

2217

92

10 16

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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How do the BOYS use theekoloko MUVE?

76

43

15

14

5

1003

10041

21001

1002

18

11

22

17

9 2

10 16

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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How do the GIRLS use the ekoloko MUVE?

8

76

43

15

14

5

1003

10041

121001

1002

18

11

22

17

92

1016

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Gender Comparison

76

43

15

14

5

1003

10041

21001

1002

18

11

22

179 2

10 16

8

17

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Using ekoloko: Focus and duration

increase with experience

3

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Patterns in Using ekoloko: Frequency vs. Duration

Data• Most of the games – Same duration for both; Higher frequency for boys.

• Jeans Factory (8) – Higher duration for girls, same percentage for both

• Farting Lambs (17) – Higher duration for boys, same percentage for both

• Focus and duration increase with experience

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Cognition:Age differences

N=4160,000

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CognitionNovices Vs. Experts

N=4160,000

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Cognition Gender differences

N=4160,000

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Summary: Cognitive Effects

• Accumulative for age and expertise

• Equal for both genders

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Attitudes:Design Criteria

• Develop a storyline theme of good vs. bad as the

basis for hundreds of narratives

• Place strong emphasis on activities that encourage

interaction

• Individual path: Kids take responsibility and make an

impact in the world

• Community path: Community events, eko-rangers

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Attitudes:Highly environmental positive

ItemPositive Negative

To save water, I would be willing to use less water when I bathe.

84%7%

I would not be willing to save energy by using less air conditioning. (reverse)

64%22%

I would not give 250 kokos of my own money to help the wild animals. (reverse)

62%23%

I would be willing to separate my family’s trash for recycling.

79%8%

I would be willing to stop buying some products to save animal’s lives.

76%10%

I would be willing to go from house to house asking people to recycle.

53%21%

N=1228

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Attitudes:Gender differences

ItemPositive girlsPositive boys


82%85%

I would be willing to save energy by using less air conditioning .

69%59%

I would give 250 kokos of my own money to help the wild animals .

80%74%


79%83%


77%75%


52%55%

kids N=1228

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Attitudes:Time in the game

ItemBeginnersMediumExperience


83%86%84%


64%73%68%


58%64%80%


82%80%79%


75%79%79%


54%53%57%

N=1228

CHAIS, 2010, Israel


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Attitudes:Time in the game

ItemBeginnersMediumExperience


83%86%84%


64%73%68%


58%64%80%


82%80%79%


75%79%79%


54%53%57%

N=1228

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Summary: Attitudes

• Players have a strong emotional

attachment with the environment

• Players develop stronger attitudes

towards the ekoloko environment, the

longer they play

• No consistent gender difference CHAIS, 2010,

Israel


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Behavior

Community Event:

In order to prepare a proper dump site, money is needed and

the players are asked to contribute their money they have

earned in ekoloko.

Question: What variables (e.g., age, gender, game level,

weeks in ekoloko, etc.) correlate with levels of donations?

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Behavior

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Behavior

Kids completed the quest before the dead-line: They acted as a community

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Behavior

Two Answers:

(1) Weeks in ekoloko and game level correlate with

donation level. The more time players spent in this ecological

MUVE, the more likely they would behave in an ecologically-

responsible way

(p<.0001, Pearson Correlation Coefficient test, N=19,070)

• This result correlates with the attitude

survey CHAIS, 2010,

Israel


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Behavior

(2) Gender effect: boy players contributed

twice as much money as girl players.

Hypothesis: External motivation played

an important role through a high-

score table.

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Conclusions &Implications

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Conclusions

1. We can use analytical tools (e.g., frequency vs. duration analysis) to make

sense of large amounts of data regarding

• Game use

• Cognitive, affective and behavioral effects

For different populations of users (e.g., gender, age, experience)

2. Another important outcome is interesting and non-obvious

“emerging questions” that can guide future research.

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Implications

1. Research Methodology: We propose that our research can

be used in data-mining educational MUVEs.

2. Informal learning: This kind of research can increase our

understanding of kids’ behavior in informal learning environments called educational MUVEs.

3. Educational Design: It can also be useful for MUVE

designers.

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The kids absorb values and knowledge

through fun activities in an

environment that they choose to be

in

CHAIS, 2010, Israel

Documents

Virtual Tweens ltd. All rights reserved Confidential When Was the Last Time You Saved a World? Children’s Informal Science Learning in a Multi-User Virtual