Games used in education -- interesting articles, info.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/pax-east-2013-steve-swink-says-video-games-can-save-education/

A link to Steve's talk, which I found after some youtubing.

This article talks about Steve Swink's presentation at PAX East in 2013. It relays his opinion on the various flaws in the public education system, and how he believes video games can be used to combat them. He notes that 

"Schools treat students as memory sticks and that they feed all sorts of information into kids and then request that it be repeated back verbatim", and that "teachers are basically downloading information to children, and then asking them to regurgitate it on tests". (Swink, Steve, 2013)

This method of teaching is often inefficient, as it doesn't require the children to engage with what they're being taught. Simply hearing or reading information is not a good way to retain it; students regularly have to re-read information over and over in order to keep it memorised.

Steve's main points during his talk were the following:

1. Education is failing to prepare people for the complex systems of today's world
2. Games are really good at teaching players to confidently manipulate complex systems
3. Well designed games can solve some of the problems with education.

Steve talks about two games specifically designed to educate. The first is Atlantis Remixed: The Doctor's Cure. It addresses one of the most difficult things to teach; something that many learners find daunting due to the perceived scope and size of the task: Essay Writing.

From the article: 

"Students are plunked down into a mysterious town where a plague has broken out. With a tip of the hat to Mary Shelley, there's a doctor in town who has used questionable methods to build a human and test out possible cures to combat this plague.

The students take on the role of a roving reporter who has to first investigate Dr. Frank by talking to the townspeople and then write a news article that either condones or condemns Dr. Frank's practices. Based on the replies of the citizens, the students have to write a persuasive essay that they turn in to Scoop Perry, a character in the game who is actually played by the teacher. The teacher can then read through and critique the student's work, with suggestions for revisions as needed. The game doesn't have a simple right or wrong answer, and in fact the students get to see the consequences of their choices afterwards. In the end, each student has learned how to sort through evidence to write a persuasive essay and carefully think through a difficult ethical dilemma." (Bryan, Karen, 2013)

The students are taught how to piece together information and formulate a persuasive essay in a way that keeps them engaged and thinking. Rather than being told to do something and given a set of basic instructions, students are able to learn the skill for themselves through a series of interactions that push them gently and guide them along the process of writing an essay. The way the game is designed effectively delivers the required content and guides students through to the desired conclusion; a completed essay with the students having successfully learnt how to compile a persuasive argument in written form.

The second game Steve showcased was Mystery of the Taiga River. Students were required to find out what was the cause behind the fish in the river dying. The game taught critical thinking through the assessment of various cause and effect simulations in the game. Again, this game allowed students to learn how various systems, events and occurrences interacted with and influenced one another through hands-on experimentation, rather than simply being told.

Swink eventually said, 

"it's important for video games to have a role in education because they not only teach you something but encourage you to make something with what you've learnt rather than just spitting the information back on standardised tests." (Swink, Steve, 2013)

More info on Atlantis Remixed: The Doctor's Cure from the site. Atlantis Remixed is actually made up of many different worlds, with the Doctor's Cure world being only one of many available scenarios. The description reads as following:

Ingolstadt: Plague Unit. Plague was developed with the goal of better understanding the potential of converting a classic piece of literature, like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, into a transformational play space. The Plague Unit best highlights the potential of designing for intentionality by coupling person and context, with players being explicitly positioned as an investigative jounrnalist whose purpose is to examine all sides of the problem and write a persuasive newspaper article to help the town decide what to do. Through this coupling, players grapple with the role that ethics play in science and technology, and consider whether "the ends justify the means" in a particular situation. Given our desire to demonstrate the use of ARX in schools, a further goal entailed connecting with supporting national standards for persuasive writing and decision-making, as they are required to justify particular game decisions. In this way, the disciplinary content of the game (persuasive writing) became a tool that could be leveraged in order to accomplish one's desired ends (determining whether it is OK to create life to save life). The unit consists of six missions, beginning with setting up the problem to be investigated, making the decision of whether the doctor's creation is "human" and if its life should be saved, and finally traveling into the future to see the consequences of that decision.

During his presentation, Steve talked about the evidence evaluator in the game. In this evaluator, students are required to link evidence from the villagers to reasoning for a pro or against argument. For example, students must think about whether the statement 'We need Dr. Frank because he is our only hope' is actually supported by the evidence 'Dr Frank cured the deadly cattle disease'.

Steve states (paraphrased/cleaned up) "when we talked to teachers in classrooms about the problems they were having with kids and persuasive writing [...] they (the kids) couldn't make a connection between a piece of evidence and reasoning."

As well as being a game about persuasive writing, Atlantis Remixed: The Doctor's Cure introduces students to the role that ethics play in science and technology, and challenges them to consider whether "the ends justify the means" in a particular situation. While there is no 'right or wrong' answer in the game, students are shown the consequences of their actions and thus the game makes a statement in either scenario about the hardships faced by those making decisions in the fields of science, medicine and technology.

Atlantis Remixed: Playthrough Demo.

Educational games are persuasive games -- they seek to change and influence how we learn, and our opinion of learning, for the better.

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Applying the positive learning behaviours seen in games to the educational system.

While educational games in schools are certainly something worth arguing for, James Paul Gee has written plenty about how practices and procedures used in games could be directly applied to the way subjects are taught in schools. He notes;

"[...] challenge and learning are a large part of what makes good video games motivating and entertaining." (Gee, J.P, date unknown)

1) Interaction: Textbooks used in schools are passive, and do not "talk back". While a teacher can give interactive feedback, the self study that is generally required to excel is done through textbook reading alone, and this kind of one-sided, re-read the facts till they are memorised learning is incredibly unengaging and demotivating when done for an extended period of time. Games, however, do "talk back" by reacting to the player's action, providing feedback and new problems. An example of this could be taken from point and click adventure games, where an unsuccessful or successful item combination/use is often met with praise, a witticism or a hint from the player's character. This encourages the player to continue deducing and speculating on possible solutions to the problems presented.

2) Risk taking/experimentation: In games, players are often given a way to 'undo' or 'rewind' what they have done if they don't like the result, or have failed at a task. This can take the form of a save game, or in some sandbox games, an actual undo button. Being able to revert to a previous state encourages players to take risks and explore new and alternative solutions to problems. This nurtures curiosity and the desire to experiment -- inclinations that are often the factor behind new discoveries and revelations in a real world context. People learn from their mistakes through adaptation and critical thinking. Comparatively, standardised tests and textbooks nurture the fear of failure through punishment and long-lasting (occasionally permanent) repercussions. This has the opposite effect on curiosity and the willingness to experiment.

3) "Well-order" problems: In well-designed video games, problems are presented in a way and order that allows a player to use previously deduced information or hypotheses as a building block for that which they encounter later. This prevents players from running into a discouraging 'brick wall' and developing negative associations with new material. Building on from this is the idea of challenge and consolidation -- introducing material, allowing it to be repeated and practised until the player has it down perfectly. Something new is then introduced to the mix, forcing the player to incorporate it into their strategy and remaster their new strategy -- until it is challenged again. This cycle has been called the “Cycle of Expertise”. (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993) Far too often in schools, children are either given too little time or too much time to repeat or practice material, causing either frustration or boredom.

4) System Thinking: Games encourage and require players to think about cause and consequence and relationships, rather than isolated facts or knowledge without context. Decisions and problems are often contextualized in real world scenarios. For example, in Game Dev Simulator (2013, Greenheart Games), players are often presented with the problem of their game assets being used by fans to create non-profit unofficial and unlicensed spin-offs. Gamers are given the option to stop them or allow them to continue, and must consider the potential of money lost versus fans gained before acting, and how the existence of fan-games might harm or help marketing for a sequel. Gee refers to this kind of thinking as 'System Thinking'.

In the introductory letter to the 2011 revision of his book 'The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach', Howard Gardner speculates upon how digital media, a new addition since his book was first published in 1991, might affect the unschooled mind and formal school learning.

"Immersion in digital media affects the cognitive development of children in several ways. First of all, the media present all kinds of pictures (and works) portraying the world at any time or place. These pictures now constitute part of reality—if not most of reality—for the child. Second, the media themselves constitute an important part of reality: The media are instantly accessible, respond “just in time,” connect one to any corner of the globe. The “messages,” as Marshall McLuhan would have it, inhere in the manner in which the medium operates. Third, the media are already an important part of the educational delivery system and will become even more so in the future. Oh, for a crystal ball that reveals whether digital media will usher in a golden age of disciplinary understanding; reinforce misconceptions and stereotypical thinking, or end up being rather “learning-neutral”! Similarly, whether the media become a seamless part of formal schooling or an increasingly potent competitor to an older institution remains to be seen." [Gardner, Howard, 2011]

--

There are games specifically designed for education, and the study of what games can teach the educational system. Thirdly, however, there are games not specifically designed for classroom education that can benefit learners. In 2012, Valve supplied schools with copies of their specially designed 'Steam for Schools' software and their physics based puzzle game, Portal 2. On their blog, teachwithportals, they said:

"We understand that learning is not fulfilled by a one-size-fits-all approach, so we’re engaging with a community of educators, parents and students to create infinite possibilities for learning. The educational version of our Puzzle Maker empowers students and educators to craft unique puzzles, explore worlds, and share custom lesson plans. Teachers can also simply leverage other contributor’s shared lessons, selecting among the best of them to suit their learners’ needs." (Valve, 2012)

The website allows teachers to find and submit lesson plans using the software, which also comes with a level editor. A physics teacher noted on his blog, physicswithportals, that the Source engine accurately simulates air resistance and projectile motion, having tested it extensively. His tests can be found here.

Alongside Portal 2 is the Universe Sandbox Sim, which uses real physics and science to simulate the effects of various changes on the solar system. Students are able to realign planets, or drop another planet or even a black hole into the system and watch the entire thing collapse upon itself. Built in tutorials and step by step activities allow students to learn following the prinicples above; interaction, experimentation & well order problems.

SimCity quote:

"Educators will be able to create and share digital SimCity-based lesson plans that will encourage students to think critically about the challenges facing modern cities."

universesandbox.com/forum/index.php/topic,8244.0.html

http://www.teachwithportals.com/

Universe Sandbox trailer.

SimCity lesson plan example.

Portal 2 lesson plan example.

Physics Portal 2 lesson plans.

References:

Swink, Steve. (2013). Saving Education with Game Design. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5DIRPOy6dE. Last accessed 06/05/2013.

Bryan, Karen. (2013). PAX East 2013: How video games can save education. Available: http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/26/pax-east-2013-steve-swink-says-video-games-can-save-education/. Last accessed 06/05/2013.

Gee, J.P. (unknown). Good Video Games and Good Learning. Available: http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Good_Learning.pdf. Last accessed 06/05/2013.

Bereiter, C. & Scardamalia, M (1993). Surpassing Ourselves: An Inquiry Into the Nature and Implications of Expertise. Chicago: Open Court.

Valve. (2012). Welcome to Teach With Portals. Available: http://www.teachwithportals.com/index.php/2012/06/welcome-to-teach-with-portals/. Last accessed 06/05/2013.

Gardner, Howard E (1991, 2011 edition). The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should Teach. 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books. p28.

Comic Pages -- BatJanitor.

My second comic page (yet the last one I finished) is about player ego. In single player games (and in some multiplayer/MMO style games), players are regularly treated in a very special, ego-stroking way. They are told that they are the savior of the world, or the chosen one, or, at the very least, they end up being these people regardless of what they are told. Single player games generally center around the player -- an experience that doesn't carry over to a game like SS13. Within SS13, players are put into a hierarchy, and players in jobs of lower authority are expected to obey or report back to their superiors. Playing the savior of the earth or a character above the rules will generally lead to an arrest in-character, or a ban out of character. This system is often very much at odds with players new to the game, who still maintain a sense of ego regardless of the job they play.

SS13 jobs, with descriptions for each hyperlinked and chain of command roughly outlined.

In order to get across this idea of a player with a lone warrior/hero mindset in an inappropriate environment, I focused on the position of Janitor. Janitors on the station are much like real-world janitors in that their only responsibilities are keeping the floors clean of muck, blood, and trash. They have very little access to areas of the station, and no authority over any other player/job. Janitors have access to the maintenance closet, and begin next to their mop, bucket, and a couple of more useful tools. The first of these is the 'janicart', which the janitor can use as transport from place to place. It is a unique item, and one of the best for transport in the station. Its original purpose was to make the position of janitor appeal more to joining players -- however, it appears to contribute a fair bit to the sense of ego I mentioned.

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=Janicart

The janitor cart was actually removed from the game, recently, due to it being fairly game breaking (indestructable, faster than people). The idea of a Janitor cruising around in his own, incredibly durable, state of the art supercar made me think of the Batmobile, and I began toying with the idea of parodying Batman (specifically the animated series opening). There is also a running joke within the tgstation wiki community that the Janitor may well be the 'Owl' -- the superhero that emerges only when the station's situation is most dire and the hour most desperate.

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=The_Owl

Janitors also have access to 'foam grenades', which explode into a sea of bubbles and water when thrown onto a tile. This is good for quickly cleaning large messes in an area, such as the medbay floor. This particular area is often very messy due to people dragging bodies back and forth in an emergency without the proper use of a stretcher.

The janitor's appearance was based upon his in-game pixel art, and the picture of Roger Wilco (Space Quest) from the tgstation wiki.

Comic panel -- coloured, which I eventually decided against.

I also decided to leave the comic without character dialogue, leaving the only text as a 'voice over' from the janitor himself, in a style borrowed from old superhero comics. The comic, in finished form, depicts the janitor noticing a 'batsignal', gearing up, heading to his janitor cart, arriving at the scene, launching a cleaner grenade, and walking away with the knowledge that he, in his dedication and skill, is the savior of the station.

Full size comic link.

Passage - Analysis.

Passage is a game about life, death, relationships, opportunities and rewards. The rules of the game are simple: you can move up, down, forward and back in the thin strip of 'time' that the game presents you with, exploring a labyrith and looking for treasure chests, which represent pursuits and rewards for those pursuits. Not all pursuits lead to rewards (some treasure chests are empty), and the player must learn to judge which ones are worthwhile. The player can also choose to meet a spouse and walk through life with her, but will sometimes be unable to access rewards if they are travelling with a spouse (two people together cannot fit into certain spaces). Players score points through distance travelled and rewards gained from chests. Chest rewards are worth a chunk of bonus points, and distance travelled is worth more points when the player is with their spouse, but they will be slowed when their spouse dies. The player's position on the screen relevant to the beginning and end of the box changes as game time advances, representing the sprawling future laid out ahead in a person's youth versus the long life of memories and short future ahead in old age.

The game makes many claims about the rewards of moving through life with someone loved (players earn more points for exploring alongside a spouse), and the heartache and grief that slows a person down once their loved one passes away. The game also makes a point about the ability to persue rewards when single that they would otherwise not be able to do when with a partner, forcing players to weigh the benefits of an increased exploration score vs the potential extra bonus rewards in terms of score (which could symbolize the richness of a life?).

Overall, the game prompts players to consider how people move through life and the choices they make -- whether they rush forward alone and persue as many rewards as possible, or take time to explore the road ahead with a partner and find reward in life together.

Space Measles.

Working as a chemist in SS13 generally involves creating helpful medicines in pill and bottled liquid form for various purposes, such as healing, or an improved job performance. They are capable of dispensing various chemicals in their pure forms, or mixing these chemicals together to create others. In special circumstances, the chemist is able to provide cures for various diseases that crop up around the station, providing they are not too complex or resilient. In those cases, a virologist is required.

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=Guide_to_chemistry

Health analysers are carried by most employees in the medbay, and can advise on any issues with a patient. The readout appears as follows:

• Temperature
• Damage Type
• Overall health percentage
• Blood Type
• Medical ID
• Infection warning (only appears if there is one)

The comic below is a commentary on how, sometimes, despite all skepticism and common sense, gamers will mindlessly follow the instructions given to them by a game. This is based on my own experiences playing a chemist.

 

 Full size comic link.

I'm no actual chemist, but I'm fairly sure that consuming 50 units of pure lab ethanol in pill form would probably kill you. SS13 seems pretty insistent that you just get drunk for a really, really long time, though.

Security Breach.

Security, in SS13, is made up of various jobs on a ladder of authority. There is the Head of Security, the Warden, the Detective, and the security officers. The security officers are often seen as players who abuse their authority; using their access to guns and the brig to enforce their own set of rules.

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=Shitcurity 

Security

A part of security is Officer Beepsky - a securitron robot who is capable of enforcing the law via an arrest list. Security Officers are able to set wanted criminals to arrest status via Beepsky, turning the main hallways of the station into a very unsafe place for them to be.

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=Security

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=Beepsky#Securitron

The combination of Beepsky's capabilities and the tendency for Security players to abuse their authority led me to produce this strip.

The comic 'Security Breach' is a commentary on a gamer's willingness to push their boundaries and abuse the mechanics that they are given -- regardless of how it may influence the play and enjoyment of others. This is sometimes done to deliberately inconvenience others -- however, in this instance, the motivation is curiousity.

Full size comic link.