The increased usage of educational video games with their strong graphical and technical potential raises the question of how to optimize the instructional elements of gameplay. In this article, the instructional goal was analyzed with the theoretical background of both motivational psychology (goal-setting theory) and cognitive psychology (goal-free effect).
We compared different goal types within an educational video game specifically produced for this context, using MINECRAFT as a content creation tool.
Within a quantitative, empirical experiment, 87 students divided into three goal groups (specific learning goal, specific performance goal, goal-free condition) played the video game for nearly three hours per test session to gain knowledge about basic elements of computer science and basic electric engineering.
The results show effects of goal-setting on cognitive load and affective measures. Having specific learning goals lowered extraneous and intrinsic cognitive load. Additionally, players following a specific learning goal reported having significantly more fun, indicating the affective impacts of goal-setting.
The outcomes of this study have practical implications for the creation of educational video games and theoretical implications for further work within the field of instructional psychology.
At the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees, climate activists and researchers began to look for alternative measures. Climate engineering (CE) - the deliberate manipulation of the planetary environment to decelerate climate change - emerges as a possibly effective, albeit risky and conflictual, option.
This article aims both at simulating a plausible international scenario of negotiation over solar climate engineering deployment, and at utilizing the rules of Model United Nations (MUN) for collaborative learning in a university class. Furthermore, the article intends to provide a framework for simulations about CE that could easily be reproduced.
MUN is an established and well-tested foundation for a simulation with students, including preparation leading up to the simulation and feedback rounds afterwards. We repeated the simulation three times, recorded the sessions as well as the debriefings, and gathered interesting insight by comparing the results.
For our CE simulations, we discovered: 1. Divergent interests (e.g. global north vs global south). 2. Power struggle (e.g. role of the veto powers). 3. Scientific and political ignorance (e.g. decision-making under uncertainty). 4. Risk politics (e.g. trade-offs between climate change risks vs. CE risks).
MUN qualifies well for simulating a CE crisis. However, known lacks in MUN settings (like underrepresentation of non-state actors) must be discussed during the debriefing. These simulations illustrate possible future conflicts over CE without being prescriptive in any way.
Training of medical professionals is important to improve care during mass-causality events. Therefore, it is essential to extend knowledge on how to design valid and usable simulation-based training environments.
This article investigates how distributed cognition and simulation theory concepts can guide design of simulation-based training environments. We present the design and user evaluation of
A prior Distributed Cognition in Teamwork (DiCoT) analysis of the Emergo Train System (ETS) guided the design process. The design objective of
Eight expert ETS instructors participated in a formative system evaluation. The Technology Assessment Model (TAM) questionnaire was used to measure usefulness and ease of use. Observations and post-test interviews were conducted to contextualize the measures.
The results showed that
The study indicates that a design methodology based on distributed cognition and simulation theory can be successfully combined to guide simulator (re)design and strengthen simulator validity.
The evidence from past research suggests that business simulation games (BSGs) do offer a meaningful educational experience. One characteristic lacking across past research studies is the trait of indecisiveness.
This study sought to explore whether business students would self-report a change in their perceptions of their indecisiveness after participating in a business simulation games (BSG). In addition, whether higher performance simulation decision makers would self-report being less indecisive (i.e. able to make decisions in a timely manner) than lower performance simulation decision makers.
Using a pre-test and post-test design with a comparison to an untreated control group, the change in 386 business students’ perceptions of their indecisiveness was assessed using a self-reporting questionnaire.
The findings showed a statistically significant reduction in the level of perceived indecisiveness as a result of the simulation experience. The higher performance students reported being less indecisive than lower performance students while both higher performance and lower performance students reported a reduction in perceived indecisiveness. The level of self-reported perceived indecisiveness amongst a control group of 137 business students indicated no significant change.
If the combination of practice and positive reinforcement increases the comfort level (reduce feelings of risk and threat) of decision makers then perceived indecisiveness should decrease as a result of simulation participation, which may generalize across situations demanding decisions.
Using digital games for educational purposes has been associated with higher levels of motivation among learners of different educational levels. However, the underlying psychological factors involved in digital game based learning (DGBL) have been rarely analyzed considering self-determination theory (SDT); the relation of SDT with the flow experience has neither been evaluated in the context of DGBL.
This article evaluates DGBL under the perspective of SDT in order to improve the study of motivational factors in DGBL.
In this paper, we introduce the LMGM-SDT theoretical framework, where the use of DGBL is analyzed through the Learning Mechanics and Game Mechanics mapping model (LM-GM) and its relation with the components of the SDT. The implications for the use of DGBL in order to promote learners’ motivation are also discussed.
Serious games are often used in formal school contexts, in which students’ lack of control over the playing situation may have repercussions on any motivational gains.
The first aim was to investigate to what extent n = 579 fifth grade students in Mexico who received a mathematics serious game played it voluntarily. Then, we explored how students who played voluntarily (n = 337) differed from those who did not by either gender or pre-test mathematical skills or motivation. The second aim was to find out whether two play contexts, the group of voluntary players and a second group consisting of students playing at school as a compulsory part of their regular mathematics lessons (n = 482), differed in game experience, game performance, and cognitive and motivational outcomes.
Students from the volunteer group who played had higher pre-test mathematical skills and math interest than those who did not play. Students in this group did not otherwise differ. Compared to students from the volunteer group who played, students in the school group played for longer, completed more tasks, and enjoyed playing the game more. However, their advanced mathematical skills did not improve as much.
Motivation did not improve regardless of play context, suggesting serious games should be implemented for their learning content rather than because they are assumed to be motivating.
Aim. The objective of this study was to collect evidence of transfer-of-training to professional performance provided by two stand-alone PC-based flight games.
Background. These realistic games, Falcon 4.0 (F-16 specific) and Microsoft Flight Simulator (civil aircraft), are designed for entertainment purposes, lacking any purposeful or explicit instructional support.
Method. This quasi-experimental study used three pre-existing groups of gamers (n = 37; Falcon 4.0 gamers, Microsoft Flight Simulator gamers and control group: gamers without flight game experience) that performed three typical F-16 flight tasks in a high-fidelity fixed-base flight simulator.
Results. The Falcon 4.0 gamers performed substantially better on almost all tasks compared to the control group, and to a lesser degree to Microsoft Flight Simulator gamers. The Falcon 4.0 group showed near- and far-transfer on almost all flight performance measures: the game had prepared them for the generic and specific military aspects of the test flight tasks. Performance of the Microsoft Flight Simulator gamers indicated only far-transfer, i.e., transfer of more generic flight skills from the game to the test flight tasks.
Conclusion. Both near- and far-transfer of job related competences may occur by playing realistic entertainment games.
Background. COMMUTER BRIDGE is a n-person social dilemma game that allows participants to experience situations in which individual rationality leads to collective disaster.
Aim. Participants are asked to imagine they are commuters who must every day reach a place in the shortest possible time.
Method. The game is divided in two phases: in the first phase, participants can choose between two routes whereas in the second phase they are given a third possibility by the construction of a bridge that, paradoxically, increases traffic.
Results and conclusion. Participating in this activity will enhance understanding of social dilemmas, help discover the limitations of communications, and develop insights about personal fallacies in strategic reasoning.
Background. Despite the increasing attention given by scholars and designers to time as a game variable, an overlooked topic is subjective temporality in play.
Aim. This article addresses the issue of subjective temporality in play, with a focus on gaming simulations. The purpose of this article is to shed light on how different ludic elements can influence players’ diachronic identities.
Method. The related concepts of sameness and selfhood are applied in analyzing CITIES: SKYLINES, EUROPA UNIVERSALIS IV and PILLARS OF ETERNITY. A quantitative survey was distributed online among users of the three case studies (n:387 participants). Instrument items included playing habits, sameness and selfhood and the triggering gaming traits.
Results. Specific categories of features are able to foster selfhood and sameness experiences with various outcomes in terms of the subjects’ satisfaction, interpretation and autonomy.
Conclusions. Implications of the study are noteworthy for a) practitioners interested in deepening time routines in games through an audiences’ lens and b) researchers, who may take inspiration to stress and expand the topic with further focuses and research designs.
Background. This article reflects on the use of a simulation of peace talks between Israeli and Palestinians in an upper-level undergraduate course at a liberal arts university in the United States. The university was commissioned to test an externally developed proposal and implementation plan for peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinians (the "IMPLEMENTATION PLAN").
Aim. (1) To contribute to student’s academic learning and understanding of the conflict; (2) to find strengths and weaknesses of the model.
Method. Analysis of data collected using a convergent parallel mixed method approach involving surveys, exit interviews, and guided reflection papers.
Results.
Student Learning Outcomes. The data supports a deeper understanding of the nature of the conflict as well as the complexity of peace negotiations. Students reported a higher level of engagement with the subject matter as a result of the simulation. The model encouraged innovative thinking and new solutions, which might be of interest in real life application. Challenges to student learning were mainly related to (1) student identification with their roles and (2) a need to compromise and finding quick answers.
Model. The simulation demonstrated the strengths of the IMPLEMENTATION PLAN, namely to the focused, structured negotiation process with narrowly defined "tracks." Challenges include the structure of the simulation, the question of applicability of the model to a real life situation, as well as the long-term implementation strategy of negotiation outcomes.
Conclusion. The simulation of the IMPLEMENTATION PLAN greatly benefited student learning and led to thought-provoking outcomes concerning negotiations. However, the findings suggest the need for flexibility and modification of the model.
Purpose. The purpose of this article is to propose a new debrief checklist for the Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS®) curriculum.
Background. The current debrief checklist provided in the TeamSTEPPS® curriculum focuses on how the team performed, while leaving out the order of events that transpired during the team’s time together. A failure to discuss the order of events can lead to improper or inadequate documentation, which can result in clinical error and increased litigation.
Aim. In this article, I explain how the shared mental model, acquired during an actual or simulated clinical event needs to progress to the team debriefing to improve documentation. I propose an improved debrief checklist that is based on practice in numerous healthcare facilities and simulation centers worldwide.
Conclusion. The TeamSTEPPS® curriculum should be updated to the new debrief checklist with the shared goal of reducing litigation and billing errors, while increasing patient safety.
Background. As revealed by national surveys and comparisons with other countries, Italian students may have difficulties in learning mathematical content, and geometry in particular.
Aim. This research aimed at ascertaining if, with respect to traditional methods, the structural characteristics of simulation games designed on the basis of specific theoretical and methodological choices can: (a) facilitate comprehension and improve the retention of geometric concepts; (b) increase pupils’ motivation to learn geometry; (c) affect perceived social and scholastic self-efficacy.
Method. This mixed method research included an experimental and a control group and a qualitative analysis of an open-ended examination.
Results. Our research with Y4 primary pupils (n=104) indicates that students who learned geometrical concepts via the simulation game had a higher level of both content retention and level of abstraction compared with those in the control group.
Conclusions. The results of this study highlight the didactic effectiveness of simulation games with reference to the cognitive aspects of the learning process and indicate the need to develop design models for geometry-based simulations.
Objective. Humans systematically make poor decisions because of cognitive biases. Can digital games train people to avoid cognitive biases? The goal of this study is to investigate the affordance of different educational media in training people about cognitive biases and to mitigate cognitive biases within their decision-making processes.
Method. A between-subject experiment was conducted to compare a digital game, a traditional slideshow, and a combined condition in mitigating two types of cognitive biases: anchoring bias and representativeness bias. We measured both immediate effects and delayed effects after four weeks.
Results. The digital game and slideshow conditions were effective in mitigating cognitive biases immediately after the training, but the effects decayed after four weeks. By providing the basic knowledge through the slideshow, then allowing learners to practice bias-mitigation techniques in the digital game, the combined condition was most effective at mitigating the cognitive biases both immediately and after four weeks.
Background. Previous research has highlighted the pedagogical effectiveness of a simulation-based approach to EAP (English for Academic Purposes) instruction.
Aim. The purpose of the article is describe the use of the ARIZONA IMMIGRATION LAW simulation in some EAP courses and examine its benefits and drawbacks.
Method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the instructors and written questionnaires with the students.
Results. The findings suggested that although the simulation raised some challenges in terms of design and accessibility of the topic, it brought three benefits to the EAP courses: developing students’ academic language skills, conducting research as a pathway for knowledge construction, and strengthening students’ abilities as critical thinkers.
Conclusions. These findings underscore the usefulness of a simulation-based EAP pedagogy to promote students’ use of the language skills to identify the main points of an argument, research and evaluate sources, defend well-organized arguments, and co-construct knowledge of a timely issue.
Recommendations. The author concludes with some implications for simulation design and adaption.
Aim. This article presents the Gamer Response and Decision Framework as a tool for understanding how people interpret, make decisions, and learn during their video gaming experiences.
Background. The Gamer Response and Decision Framework combines Rosenblatt’s Reader Response Theory with a variety of other concepts and frameworks related to new literacies, multimodality, learning theory, psychology, and video gaming. This Framework illustrates that every individual has unique experiences, knowledge, skills, agency, self-efficacy, and goals, and these components influence how people interpret and make decisions during video gameplay, which affects how the game unfolds as a unique experience for each gamer. Together these ideas illustrate that no two gamers have the same experience when playing a video game. Understanding video gameplay experiences is important as it represents a dynamic process in which gamers interpret a wide variety of multimodal symbols, experiment and learn in these digital environments, and solve complex problems in order to progress in the game.
Conclusion. The Gamer Response and Decision Framework can be used to understand, investigate, and analyze video gameplay experiences and has significant implications for our understanding the thought, decision-making, and learning processes that gamers experience. In the future, researchers in a variety of fields including education, game studies, and game design can use this framework to analyze how people interact with video games.
Background. Debriefing is an intrinsic part of games for learning and proper debriefing can also be beneficial to research games. However, the literature on how to debrief research games is sparse and only provides the professional with an abstract topic guide.
Aim. The purpose of this study was to design a framework for the debriefing of research games that are used in ongoing innovation processes.
Method. We used the literature on debriefing and experimental research and our experience as game designers to build a framework that tackles the context, substance and method of debriefing research games.
Results. Our framework provides three contributions. First, it shows how the context in which a research game is applied sometimes impacts the functionality of the game in negative ways. This can be helped by designing both the game and the debriefing together. Second, we operationalize validity to a greater extent, as this is the core of a good research game. Third, we provide a methodology for debriefing professionals that opens up the black box of the gaming simulation session.
Conclusion. The debriefing framework provides a method to collectively assess the validity, reliability and robustness of the causal claims associated with the research conducted.
Background. Several authors from different fields have already mentioned the educational potential of role-playing games (RPG). As tabletop role-playing games (TRPG) present some similarities with small adult groups in learning and personal development situations, what about their transformative potential?
Aim. The purpose of this article is to describe the tabletop role-playing game’s emerging context, a few of its specificities and functions, to show links with several education, play and game, and personal development theories, and to raise awareness about its transformative potential.
Methods. Three complementary approaches were used: a literature review (academics and role-players), action-researches through a transformative role-playing game ("TF-RPG" – a TRPG plus a debriefing), and data cross-analysis.
Results. Participants are involved in the TF-RPG through four levels of reality, namely the character, player, person, and human being, which can be associated with four dimensions of learning: knowing, doing, being, and relating. The unveiling of links between the TF-RPG experience and their personal journey offers the participants various ways of learning and paths towards personal development.
Conclusion. TRPGs are particularly effective to foster knowledge acquisition, develop role-play skills, strengthen team building, encourage collaborative creativity, and explore one’s personal development.
Introduction and statement of problem. Despite the success of music games with instrument-shaped controllers, little is known about what makes these kind of controllers entertaining. The aim of this article is to shed light on the enjoyment mechanisms of such music games and their particular controllers.
Review of the literature. The literature’s theoretical foundation lies in the concept of natural mapping, i.e. the similarity of actions performed in the real world and their representation within the videogame. A review of the literature finds that most approaches are too simplistic, as they limit game enjoyment with natural mapping to higher intuitiveness. In contrast, challenge can also foster game enjoyment.
Methodology. Two parallelized sample groups (N=20) played three levels of a music game with increasing difficulty with either a Guitar Hero controller or with a real guitar. Perceived difficulty and game enjoyment were collected via questionnaires.
Analysis. A 2x3 mixed-design ANOVA was conducted for significance testing. It revealed a significant increase in enjoyment and perceived difficulty both for advanced game levels and the real guitar. A posteriori multiple regression showed that the increase in enjoyment with the real guitar could not be attributed to the higher challenge it produced alone.
Conclusions and recommendations for further research. The results suggest that intuitiveness is not the single factor for music game enjoyment with natural controllers. Further research might investigate the role of simulation and identification with attractive roles, as both could act as sources for game enjoyment and natural mapping might facilitate these factors. Applications for learning and teaching should consider debriefing as a method to facilitate transfer of the game experience into the real world.
Background: Writing about the theory and best practices of using history-themed video games in the classroom stretches back at least to the 1980s. However, the literature on the subject is scattered, making it difficult for history educators considering the use of historical games.
Purpose: This article provides an introduction for history educators to the use of computer-based historical games in history education. In this article, I provide differing definitions for types of historical games and discuss the importance of such distinctions for the history educator. I provide the strengths and biases inherent in the medium of computer-based historical games.
Results: This article surveys best practices from the literature concerning the use of historical games in history class. The article concludes with a brief survey of potentially useful historical games.
Background. Game designers have long been developing strategies to foster engagement, pleasure and a variety of sensations in game experiences, increasingly applying their research to areas beyond games. This has led to a growing recognition of the use of game elements in non-game settings. In parallel, service designers have been seeking to improve user experience and engagement in services.
Method. Drawing on relevant literature about game design, the authors develop a framework that gathers a variety of game design research endeavors to form a practical tool to support service development from a user experience perspective. Its application is exemplified and simulated in a methodological approach to Action Design Research on a selected service.
Results. The service is then analyzed and compared ‘before and after’ the utilization of the framework, with no measurement of results. At last, a simplified method to gamify services, the GSF Application Model, is presented,
Conclusions. This article presents and describes the development of the Gamification Service Framework, an IT artifact designed to solve a class of problems related to the service field: the gamification of services. The central aim is to provide a new tool for service designers to use game design concepts in their practices, by structuring services in an analogous way to games.
Background. Empirical evidence suggests that digital gameplay can enhance social interaction and improve cognition for older adults. However, if digital games are to be effectively used as interventions to address age-related challenges, it is important to explore older adults’ experiences in playing them.
Aim. The purpose of this survey design study was to identify digital gameplay patterns, perceived socio-emotional and cognitive benefits, and difficulties encountered in the gameplay experiences of older adults.
Method. Adults aged 55 or older, recruited from seniors’ centers and local shopping malls in a Canadian city, responded to a printed, mainly closed-ended questionnaire.
Results. 463 respondents reported that they actively play digital games. Most played alone rather than with others, and most rated themselves as intermediate or expert players. Players self-reported cognitive benefits but few socio-emotional benefits and few difficulties.
Conclusions. The results of this study show promise for the use of digital games to provide innovative and engaging activities for enhancing older adults’ aging processes. Significant associations were found between player skill level and reported benefits.
Recommendations. To perceive these benefits, older adults need to play frequently enough to develop beyond a beginner level. Education, facilitation, and support may be needed to encourage older adults to realize socio-emotional benefits from digital gameplay.
BLOCKYLAND is a city building game based on the concept of cellular automata (CA), and urban cellular automata. The game has CA-like processes that invert the role of players from passive observers in other CA applications to active thinkers. The processes challenge players to apply logical thinking and decision making from the perspective of serious games. The players’ mission is to build a city by applying the provided CA rules. Two types of CA rules are provided: 1) The logical rule, whereby players apply to build the city according to the preset conditions, and 2) The optional rule, whereby they may apply to upgrade an existing building for an extra score.
This article aims to present the design and development of CA-based game, BLOCKYLAND and describe its effectiveness as an instructional tool to enhance logical thinking.
Results from the mixed-method pilot study show that BLOCKYLAND enhanced players’ logical thinking after the gameplay. Additionally, from the extensive debriefing following the game, participants stated that the game aided them with transforming their game experiences into learning experiences and relating the logical thinking practice into real-life application.
Conclusion. As a combination of logical thinking practices and a serious game, BLOCKYLAND has several implications for educational stakeholders; both theoretical and practical.
Background. Business simulations are being played by a growing number of students. One potential scope for their implementation is the introduction of game-based programs at an early stage of the education ladder. Teaching programs with computer-aided simulations are new tools addressed to both secondary school teachers and students.
Aim. This article describes a secondary school program supported by a business simulation game. The program was designed to teach students fundamental knowledge in the fields of economics and business.
Methodology. The article gives insight into the design process and the final product of this teaching and learning program. Demand modeling, econometric decision modeling sample, insights into game scenario design, and the teaching program material offer a broad picture of the scope and nature of this project.
Results and Recommendations. The project illustrates the process of educational game design in a setting of many limitations. Application of user-centered design and flow methodologies was helpful in designing and implementing this game into a teaching program for secondary school students. The students benefit from an optimal experience owing to a goal-oriented, evolutionary model of demand and costs developed for the purpose of implementation of the project.
Background. Complex, dynamic systems require flexible workforces with skills and attitudes responding to the dynamic work environment. Traditional, formal classroom-oriented learning approaches often do not sufficiently support the development of such skills and attitudes and do not provide situated learning activities.
Aim and Method. We propose the concept of Microgames as an active, situated learning approach. A Microgame is a simulation game that can be played in a short time period and that starts from a specific problem in the organization defined by a problem owner. To illustrate the concept, we introduce a case study with a Microgame called Yard Crane Scheduler.
Results. The study’s results indicate that the Microgame used in our study represented an engaging experiential experience. It was able to foster the awareness of the players for interdependent planning tasks. Due to its shortness, the game’s reality is somewhat limited. To compensate for this limitation, a structured debriefing phase enables players to exchange information on successful planning strategies, enhancing the learning experience by a social learning activity.
Conclusions. Microgames are a novel approach towards situated, experiential learning. Its limitations, mainly caused by the constrained time for game play, have to be taken into account when defining learning goals. Despite this limitation, the Yard Crane Scheduler Microgame has been evaluated as an engaging and valid tool. Further research will investigate distinct design decisions and learning effects associated with the concept of Microgames.
Background: Services have tangible and intangible aspects. Services are organized as a system of conceptual ideas (space of possibilities) and are enacted through social and physical arrangements (possibilities of space). Games are employed in service design to expand the space of possibilities with new insights; however, the possibilities of space are sometimes not recognized, experienced, or realized through these games.
Method: Game sessions were organized to support the co-design of three services: medical imaging diagnosis, hospital care, and environmental education/leisure. A case study for each project is provided, with the focus on the spaces produced by the participants’ interactions.
Results: Even as participants were designing services for the future, they realized the possibilities of space in their current services and made use of these soon after the game sessions. Transformative actions initiated in the co-design sessions went beyond play, reaching the work activities that sustain the services.
Conclusions: Games in service design can be insightful as much as transformative. Game spatiality, in particular, can lead participants to make use of the possibilities of space not conceptualized before, which are outside of the space of possibilities.
Background. The majority of bidding models, such as those developed by Friedman and Gates focus on the mark-up decision. Despite a large body of literature, particularly related to the construction industry, these bidding models largely ignore human behavior.
Aim. This article has two aims. The first is to contribute to the potential use of business games to study the results of auction behavior in a construction business environment. The second is to investigate the winner’s curse and its effects on individual companies and the market.
Method. The methodology for this study is rooted in game theory. The reasoning which leads to the winner’s curse is explored through a behavioral multi-actor experiment. I developed a database-driven, online multiplayer auction game which served as a laboratory experiment. The study included 42 participants. Data were collected during the game, and debriefing results were analyzed.
Results. The results show that contractors suffer from the winner’s curse for a variety of reasons including their own bidding strategy, strong competition within the construction market, and inaccurate estimates of project costs. These reasons affect the behavior of contractors and the intention to win the project’s bid as well as their willingness to take risks.
Conclusion and Recommendations. The approach outlined in this article contributes to decision-making research in the context of the ‘reverse’ auction low bid method. I recommend that future researchers consider second-price, sealed-bid auctions (Vickrey auctions); this type of auction is also easy to implement.
Background. Much literature has theorized on the potential educational benefits offered by game-based learning (GBL). However, recent meta-data analyses of studies conducted on the efficacy of GBL offer mixed results. Furthermore, many of the studies available rely more on close reading, inference, small sample sizes, and qualitative responses than on quantitative, data-driven analyses.
Aim. This article describes a proof-of-concept study designed to assess the effects of GBL on enjoyment, engagement, and learning in higher education using a large sample size and quantitative measures.
Method. The study uses a large data set (n = 440) involving English, Math and Science undergraduate courses. For the first semester, faculty participants were trained in how to implement game-based pedagogy and created analog game-based lessons. In the following semester, each professor taught one section of a course using games and another section of the same course without games. Students in the game-based and control groups were given attitude surveys about the subject at the beginning of the semester, a post-lesson survey after the game or regular lesson, and a post-lesson quiz with separate questions to assess surface learning and deep learning.
Results. Enjoyment correlated with improvements in deep learning in both the game and non-game classes. Games increased reported enjoyment levels, especially in subjects where students reported the greatest anxiety about learning, and this increase in enjoyment correlated positively with improvements in deep learning and higher-order thinking. These results may have particular impact on non-traditional students.
Conclusion. While further investigation is necessary to assess the specific affordances and long-term effects of GBL in higher education, this study offers preliminary support for the claim that GBL can improve deep learning in this setting, by increasing enjoyment.
Background. Playing Escape from Diab (DIAB) and Nanoswarm (NANO), epic video game adventures, increased fruit and vegetable consumption among a multi-ethnic sample of 10-12 year old children during pilot testing. Key elements of both games were educational mini-games embedded in the overall game that promoted knowledge acquisition regarding diet, physical activity and energy balance. 95-100% of participants demonstrated mastery of these mini-games suggesting knowledge acquisition.
Aim. This article describes the process of designing and developing the educational mini-games. A second purpose is to explore the experience of children while playing the games.
Method. The educational games were based on Social Cognitive and Mastery Learning Theories. A multidisciplinary team of behavioral nutrition, PA, and video game experts designed, developed, and tested the mini-games.
Results. Alpha testing revealed children generally liked the mini-games and found them to be reasonably challenging. Process evaluation data from pilot testing revealed almost all participants completed nearly all educational mini-games in a reasonable amount of time suggesting feasibility of this approach.
Conclusions. Future research should continue to explore the use of video games in educating children to achieve healthy behavior changes.
The education reformer, Horace Mann once suggested that trying to teach a learner without creating interest is like hammering cold iron. All too often, health care educators begin an instructional session while the mind of the learner is focused on places other than on the subject to be learned. Regardless of specialization, understanding situational interest and ways to nurture it in the facilitation process is important for educators. However, it is especially important for the health care community as it helps us to develop best practices in instructional design and facilitation that can improve simulation-based instruction. This article defines situational interest and explains how instructional design can generate such interest with the use of advance organizers, active learning strategies, and the practices of effective reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action. Developing situational interest may lead to an individual interest or passion for the subject, foster lifelong learning, and encourage learners to return for additional simulation-based learning experiences.
This research is an evaluation of a single-player, project management simulation training exercise. Our objective is to gain understanding about the extent to which it contributes to participants’ project management knowledge and skills. Results from pre- and post-simulation exercise questionnaires indicate that overall the simulation exercise significantly improves a participant’s conceptual knowledge about project management. It also indicates that participants with less experience achieve more knowledge improvement than those with more experience. Results further indicate that the actual performance of the exercise, which represents the educational value of the exercise, is primarily dependent on the post-project management knowledge of the participant established throughout the exercise, prior knowledge brought to the exercise, and the experience of the participant. We believe that these results indicate that the simulation training exercise is a valuable training tool, which both engineering and project managers can use.
In complex simulation-based learning environments, participants’ learning and performance may suffer due to demands on their cognitive processing, their struggle to develop adequate mental models, failure to transfer what is learned to subsequent learning or activities, and fear of failure. This study investigates an instructional strategy addressing those four problems, which we call prior exploration strategy. It was implemented in a simulation requiring participants to optimize a developing nation’s per capita income. The prior exploration strategy allows participants to manipulate and see the results of a simulation model in practice mode before they manage a similar simulation in a more final mode. The strategy was assessed in an experiment comparing participants using the prior exploration strategy with participants studying equivalent content in a non-exploratory fashion. The dependent variables were performance within the simulation and improvement of participants’ understanding. The prior exploration strategy significantly improved participants’ performance, as measured by per capita income. It also significantly improved some aspects of the participants’ understanding (e.g., their understanding of the nation’s debt accumulation), but not others (e.g., their understanding of the need to balance the nation’s health, education, and infrastructure investments; those that appear to have complex interrelations).
Global negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have so far failed to produce an agreement. Even if negotiations succeeded, however, a binding treaty could not be ratified or implemented in many nations due to inadequate public support for emissions reductions. The scientific consensus on the reality and risks of anthropogenic climate change has never been stronger, yet public support for action in many nations remains weak. Policymakers, educators, the media, civic and business leaders, and citizens need tools to understand the dynamics and geopolitical implications of climate change. The WORLD CLIMATE simulation provides an interactive role-play experience through which participants explore these issues using a scientifically sound climate policy simulation model. Participants playing the roles of negotiators from major nations and stakeholders negotiate proposals to reduce GHG emissions. Participants then receive immediate feedback on the implications of their proposals for atmospheric GHG concentrations, global mean surface temperature, sea level rise, and other impacts through the C-ROADS (Climate Rapid Overview and Decision Support) policy simulation model used by negotiators and policymakers. The role-play enables participants to explore the dynamics of the climate and impacts of proposed policies using a model consistent with the best available peer-reviewed science. WORLD CLIMATE has been used successfully with students, teachers, business executives, and political leaders around the world. Here, we describe protocols for the role-play and the resources available to run it, including C-ROADS and all needed materials, all freely available at climateinteractive.org. We also present evaluations of the impact of WORLD CLIMATE with diverse groups.
This tribute outlines some of the major contributions that Stephen H. Schneider made to climate change science and to communication about that science to help a broader audience understand it in an educated manner, and realize that urgent decisions are needed, even with incomplete information. We highlight some of the awards and honors that Dr. Schneider received, and quote from a few already published tributes. We cite some of his publications and provide further sources for readers to learn more about climate science and about Dr. Schneider.
We investigated whether manipulation of visual and auditory depth and speed cues can affect a user’s sense of risk for a low-cost nonimmersive virtual environment (VE) representing a highway environment with traffic incidents. The VE is currently used in an examination program to assess procedural knowledge of highway patrol officers. In its original form, the VE did not convey the danger of the simulated incidents, and trainees did not experience a sense of risk, even though important elements which contribute to a sense of danger in reality (like the speed and proximity of vehicles) were accurately modeled. This deficiency seriously degrades the validity of the VE as an examination tool. To provide viewers a more compelling impression of a simulated highway incident, we added variability to traffic behavior, and enhanced and added several visual and auditory depth and speed cues in the VE, which are known to affect risk perception in reality. Participants passively watched video clips of both the original and the enhanced versions of the simulation, and actively performed a lane crossing task in both interactive versions of the VE. Then, they filled out questionnaires addressing their speed, distance, and risk perception. The implemented changes did not affect speed and distance estimates, but significantly increased perceived personal risk. These results show that relatively minor changes to the visual, auditory, and dynamic aspects of a VE, established through proper analysis of user requirements and tasks, can significantly influence a user’s experience, and thus determine the validity of the simulation for training and evaluation applications.
Virtual worlds provide a new methodological framework for conducting emergency response exercises. The research attempts to evaluate whether the use of virtual worlds avoids recognized weaknesses of traditional emergency response exercises and facilitates further learning outcomes. The objectives of the article include, first, to examine whether the virtual worlds contribute to learning experiences for the emergency response exercises; second, to use a case study to evaluate and synthesize preliminary findings of the strategic flood response exercise; and third, to make recommendations for conducting a larger scale emergency response in an online Virtual Learning Environment. The preliminary findings suggest that the use of virtual worlds could potentially facilitate better learning outcomes and provide as an effective training methodology to the emergency communities. It also identifies the challenges of developing virtual world exercises, for instance, the need for better collaboration and communication between developers, academics, and end users.
This composite of two presentations by Dr. Hansen outlines crucial topics in climate research and implores our President to support and defend the rights of young people and future generations. Unless urgent actions are undertaken to curtail fossil fuel emissions, today’s children and future generations will inherit a world in which irreversible climate effects are underway and largely out of their control. The tragedy of this situation is that the actions needed to avoid climate problems are economically beneficial for most people—but they are resisted by a powerful fossil fuel industry that uses its financial clout for undue influence on our governments.
This tribute outlines some of the contributions that John Crookall-Greening made to society—fighting nuclear arms and helping local communities become more climate change resilient. It also outlines some of John’s endearing traits, which together constituted a positive force inspiring many to lead more climate-friendly lives.
In this guest editorial, we survey some of the main themes and issues in anthropogenic global warming. We emphasize the great potential of simulation/games as an educational strategy. The diversity of issues in climate change is matched by the variety of simulation/games. We then provide a summary of the main points of each of the eight articles, which together contain a wide range of perspectives on climate change, of types of simulation/gaming, of level of abstraction, and of method of implementation.
This foreword highlights the danger of runaway climate change. It outlines four obstacles that appear to prevent world society from adopting a positive approach to climate change: (a) general ignorance about the dynamics of climate change, (b) the long time frame needed for action to produce effective results, (c) the blocking power of the rich and powerful (those with vested interests in greenhouse gas industries), and (d) the ever increasing worldwide demands for energy and resources. Games can be a powerful tool to help developments move in the right direction.
This newsletter touches on several recent developments, opportunities, and events in gaming, simulations, gamification, and serious games—for example, The De Montfort University Games Festival, Gamification Workshops in Malaysia and Thailand, Thaisim 2013 and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Workshop, Call for Workshop Proposals GALA (Games and Learning Alliance) Serious Games Conference at Dassault Systemes HQ, Paris, ImREAL Augmented Virtuality Video, Machinima for Business Communication, Caspian Learning White Papers on Games-Based Learning, Unity Serious Games Website, Upcoming Conferences and Seminars, Heroes Gallery—Cathy Davidson and Rohit Talwar.
I offer a lengthy rationalization and an apologia pro vita sua for dreaming up, playing, experimenting with, and theorizing about games in various applications.
Climate change (CC) is an increasing societal concern for many countries around the world, and yet international negotiations continue to make slow progress. CC is an issue that is proving difficult to address using traditional approaches to information provision and education. This article reviews the development of climate and CC games and simulations in recent years as an alternative and novel way of addressing CC issues and communicating with decision makers. It gives an overview of published CC games and analyses a selection of 52 sophisticated CC games in detail. The results allow comparisons of the temporal development of climate games, actors involved in CC game development, game formats, and game subjects. Many climate games appeared around the time of the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009, with an increasing number of commercial game developers entering the field. Role-play and management games dominate the scene, but we see a rapid increase in the number of online games or games with an online component. Both local and global mitigation issues are frequently addressed and as yet few games focus on adaptation to CC.
Teach and Patel reported that teams playing CAPSTONE arrived at their final financial standings early in the game. Based on this, they concluded that participants could feel the game was unfair and that further plays beyond the game’s early rounds might be counterproductive from a game-grade perspective, and even worse, from a learning perspective. Their study was repeated using 1,164 CAPSTONE firms in 194 competitions for 9,312 rounds of play. Their findings of early-determined first-place and last-place finishes were not confirmed based on either cumulative or round-by-round profits. The Teach and Patel research design was also applied to a larger scale game. The results found a company’s early results were low predictors of their final results which did not support the early-finish observation. Game users are cautioned that the educational benefits of any game depends on optimizing all aspects of the simulation’s teaching/learning environment and that competitive fluidity exists throughout a game’s duration.
Trainers need to identify effective, low-cost training experiences for today’s military workforce to meet the increasing demands of today’s warfighting environment. Although low-fidelity simulations have been demonstrated to be effective in this regard, research has demonstrated that specially tailored pre-experiences can increase the effectiveness of these simulations. Unfortunately, the cost of these pre-experiences negates the cost benefits of the simulations that they improve. In this article, we describe a study to evaluate the effectiveness of a lower cost pre-experience. The results are discussed in the context of future directions for research.
Leadership development poses great challenges to modern organizations. One possible method to develop leaders is the use of experiential techniques based on business games. The objective of this article was to identify, based on literature, business games used in leadership development and to examine how they contribute to the qualification of the leaders. In particular, the article analyzes business games in which elements of leadership development were present as part of the computer model (simulator). The article describes the goals of the games, their pedagogical and technical features, their relation to leadership theories, and their effectiveness in leadership development. The methodology used was systematic review conducted in SCOPUS, ISI, and BKL (Bernie Keys Library) databases. The review identified five games that met the criteria and objectives of this research. This study shows that using business games for leadership development is still a hard task. It points up some problems and difficulties in this task and suggests ways to develop more effective methods for leadership development with business games.
This article argues that in the long run gaming (i.e., managing unstable equilibria while maintaining societal sustainability) serves better as a strategy against the undesired effects of global change (GC) than fighting (i.e., understanding only one’s own standpoint, but not the standpoint of one’s adversaries). GC is believed to be driven by a bundle of drivers, some of which are global long-term trends that are almost impossible to change. Climate change is only one component of this syndrome. GC exerts a bundle of effects on society. Given this interlinked and systemic character of GC, an explorative, reflexive, dialogue-driven strategy allowing for continuous adaptation, rather than a theory-driven predesigned solution, is advocated. Taking roles allows actors to perceive the paradigms and perspectives of adversaries. Hence, game-based (but structured) procedures allow the taking of adversarial positions without being compromised. As an example of such procedural structuration, the negotiation game SURFING GLOBAL CHANGE (SGC, © Gilbert Ahamer) published earlier in this journal is recommended. The social dynamics of SGC is graphically analyzed. SGC was implemented three dozen times with students within several university curricula such as Environmental Systems Science or Global Studies training developmental cooperation. Through changing roles, SGC allows one to walk through the complex argumentative landscape while gaming. This article proposes several conclusions to the way in which gaming should respond to the complex patterns of GC.
The literature on pedagogical methods in international affairs includes a number of international politics simulations. We present the material for an in-class simulation exercise on international climate negotiations that attempts to help students understand the importance of theory as well as the substantive issues surrounding climate policy. Simulations have been proposed as a means of providing an engaging classroom experience and a more diverse learning experience. The exercises presented here focus on developing student research skills, analyzing data to present a realistic policy position and understanding the process of institutional regime formation. At the end of the simulation, students are asked to relate their own negotiation experiences back to the theoretical material discussed during the semester. An assessment was conducted of student expectations prior to the simulation exercise and compared with post-simulation experiences. Students reported the greatest positive difference between their expected learning outcome and actual experience with the simulation in terms of learning information about specific country assignments, overall enjoyment of the activity, and understanding the material covered in the course. The greatest negative difference between expectations and experience were reported for understanding international negotiations more generally and current international events. The article outlines the full content for an in-class simulation and its’ implementation as well as results from an evaluation of its use. The simulation provides students with a better understanding of the complexity of international negotiations over climate policy while outlining key theoretical concepts in international relations and comparative public policy.
The literature on climate change education recommends social, accessible action-oriented learning that is specifically designed to resonate with a target audience’s values and worldview. This article discusses GREENIFY, a real-world action game designed to teach adult learners about climate change and motivate informed action. A pilot study suggests that the game fostered the creation of peer-generated user content, motivated informed action, created positive pressure, and was perceived as a fun and engaging experience.
The topic of climate change offers unique challenges to simulation game designers largely because standard game mechanics fail to capture the complexity of this real-world problem. Climate change dynamics are characterized by the second-order delayed effects of carbon emissions on global temperatures and by political actors, who often have unique individual goals and asymmetrical abilities. However, many climate change games exhibit mechanics such as immediate and first-order delayed effects, zero-sum collaborative play, zero-sum competitive play, and players with symmetrical abilities and goals. By examining variants of an asymmetrical three-player common pool resource game, this research illustrates how inclusion or omission of mechanics found in real-life climate change impact the outcome of simulations and gameplay.
In our research, we used two different versions of a serious game to realize conceptual change regarding classical Newtonian mechanics. We propose the Serious Gaming Lemniscate Model (SGLM). It states that in an educational game, a player is either in a gaming state, intuitively acting on the feedback in the game, or in a learning state, rationally reflecting on the gaming experience. To test our model, we moved the student from the gaming state to the learning state. Next, we investigated whether this shift was effective in changing the student’s concepts. We did so by suddenly increasing the complexity of the game between consecutive levels, generating authentic learning questions. We compared the learning gain of students who are forced out of the game state to students who played the game through without the sudden increases in difficulty. Both strategies were benchmarked against a control group where no game was used. We developed a physics game to challenge the conceptual knowledge of third-grade secondary school students regarding Newtonian mechanics. We found that students who played the game as part of the physics classes experienced an increase in perceptual knowledge. However, the effect of interrupting the game state to initiate a learning state did not add to the conceptual change compared with the group who played the game through without interruptions.
Based on 10 years of participatory modeling experience, the authors developed a multilevel participatory modeling process that links national policy makers, local councils, and grassroots stakeholders using a combination of games and computerized simulations. The challenge was to allow the target groups to design and evaluate collective adaptations to climate change that combine new collective rules for local, regional, and national regulations. This article details and highlights the novelty of the methodological process, which allows stakeholders to codesign frameworks for their own behaviors and rules. The experiment uses games and models with soft rules and the stakeholders themselves incorporate their own perceptions both in the board and computerized games. This was shown to be an efficient way to reach assessments and proposals that are shared between local stakeholders and policy makers, and should thus help improve the design of policies to face up to climate changes.
This article reports and reflects on the design and use of the board game KEEP COOL on climate change. The game covers and integrates central biophysical, economic, and political aspects of the issue. By using a board game as common language between students and scientists from different scientific cultures, knowledge of different disciplines can be integrated and different views can be discussed. Thus, even complex issues such as the free-rider problem, trade-offs between adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, and path dependencies can be studied. KEEP COOL is the first game on climate change that is readily available from a commercial publisher. It has successfully been used in multiple settings, for example, as a tool for interdisciplinary research, public relations, public understanding of science, and, in particular, teaching. The experience with the game indicates that it can be effectively used in seminars with students to obtain a holistic picture of the issue and to lay out a common language for deeper reflections on climate change. This contribution also identifies some pitfalls and essential instruments for its adequate use for teaching.
In this investigation, the authors ask how media exemplars of Black masculinity influence the views of and intentions toward other Black men. An experiment compared the effects of exposure to Black video game characters fitting the exemplar thug or street criminal (e.g., Carl Johnson from GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS) versus exemplars of professional Black men (e.g., political leaders), on evaluations of an unknown and unrelated Black or White political candidate and on pro-Black attitudes. Results revealed significant interactions of exemplar type and candidate race on favorability and capability candidate ratings and on pro-Black attitudes. These data demonstrate the power of mass media exemplars of Black masculinity to prime meaningfully different outcomes in viewers. As the face of gaming evolves with advances in technology, so too should the characterization of race in games.
In this article, the authors address the challenge of including societal responses, society-environment interactions, discontinuity, and surprise in environmental scenario analysis. They do so through developing and testing a perspective-based simulation game for a typical Dutch river stretch. Concepts deriving from Cultural Theory, the Advocacy Coalition Framework, and Transition Theory provide the input for the game design. Players take on the role of water managers, responding to events and developments in the water-society system under specific realizations of a climate scenario. Responses include the choice for specific river management options, changing coalition perspectives, and changes in advocacy coalition membership. A pilot case study shows that the simulation game is a useful tool to explore possible future river management dynamics. It generates relevant insights in the water management strategies that may be chosen under future conditions, the possible drivers underlying future societal perspective change, and the way advocacy coalitions may interact. As such, the simulation game offers great potential for developing and assessing policy relevant climate adaptation pathways, in which water-society interaction, discontinuity, and surprise is taken explicitly into account. The main challenges for future research include reducing game complexity, better representing changes in the advocacy coalitions’ strengths, and exploring more fundamental societal perspective shifts.
It is understandably difficult for individuals and communities to recognize the effect of gradual climate change when it occurs in the context of local weather patterns, which normally vary from year to year. This recognition difficulty delays discussion of the causes of climate change and forestalls adjustments in policy and action. In this article, the authors estimate the length of time it would take a majority of localities to simultaneously acknowledge climate change if the only source of information about climate change was local weather. They run computer simulations using U.S. weather station data from 1946 to 2005. Local weather is allowed to vary randomly around a constant mean (models assuming no climate change) or a rising mean (models assuming climate change). They run separate models for annual average temperature, annual maximum temperature, and annual variation in monthly precipitation, varying the definition of unusual weather from 0.5 to 2.5 standard deviations from the historic average and varying the number of consecutive years of unusual weather required to reject the belief of normal variation and accept the belief of climate change from 1 year to 5 years. When it is assumed that acknowledgment of climate change requires three consecutive years of weather, a full standard deviation or more above the historic mean, it requires, depending on which weather event is being modeled, an average of 21 years, 86 years, or 82 years for a majority of localities to be in a state of climate change belief.
NEGOTIATING ON POVERTY is a collective game that allows participants to discover the concrete difficulties in assessing the multiple dimensions of poverty Participants are divided into groups of seven to simulate a participatory poverty assessment (a social wealth-ranking exercise) that takes place in an imaginary small village in some developing country. The game allows participants to gain an insight into the ways in which power asymmetries, economic interdependencies, gender relations, and personal affinities at the local level shape perceptions on poverty.