How%20the%20Principles%20Behind%20Game-Based%20Learning%20Will%20Change%20Our%20Approach%20to%20Teaching%20and%20Learning%20David%20Finkel%20WPI,%20Computer%20Science%20Depar[e-mail]

1
How the Principles Behind Game-Based Learning
Will Change Our Approach to Teaching and
Learning David FinkelWPI, Computer Science
DepartmentInteractive Media and Game
Developmentdfinkel_at_wpi.edu

• Interactive Media and Game Development

2
How Games Teach, and What We Can Learn From
Them David FinkelWPI, Computer Science
DepartmentInteractive Media and Game
Developmentdfinkel_at_wpi.edu

• Interactive Media and Game Development

3
Background

• My recent experience playing games
• Book
• What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning
  and Literacy, by James Paul Gee

4
What do video games teach?

• They teach how to play the game!
• A very complex task
• Games are very effective teachers
• How do games teach so effectively?
• What can we learn about teaching by observing how
  games teach?

5
How do games teach?

• Printed manuals. (Some players ignore them, some
  players read them thoroughly.)
• Static on-screen image of the controller or
  keyboard
• In-game instructions or hints
• Friends, teammates, opponents
• more

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How do games teach? - 2

• In-game tutorials. May be
• Lesson based (do this, now do this )
• In-game mentor
• Sandbox game environment
• Game provides a graded series of experiences
• becoming gradually more difficult
• requiring more mastery

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Why is the teaching effective

• Players really want to master the games
• The players learn the skills in the same
  environment that theyll be using the skills.
  (Situated learning)
• The players can practice the skills immediately
  after learning them. (Just-in-time learning)
• The game domain encourages experimentation
  (Active learning)

8
Why is the teaching effective - 2

• Teaching material can be adapted to the level of
  the player
• Player can control the amount and timing of
  tutorials
• Player can return for additional help at any time
• Game play later in the game depends on successful
  adaptation of what was learned earlier and
  innovation

9
Some educational examples

• Lots of bad examples flashcard, drill programs
• History Simulations
• Oregon Trail
• Commercial history-based games
• Realistic war simulations

10
University-based projects

• USC and Department of Defense
• Tactical Language Project (learning Arabic)
• Full Spectrum Warrior (Squad-level tactics)
• Leaders Project ?
• MIT and Microsoft
• Engineering and Science Games

11
Challenges for educators and librarians

• Harness the teaching power of games in schools
  and libraries
• Find a way to afford the cost of developing
  first-class games (upwards of 10M)
• For libraries How to incorporate games into
  library collections

12
Reference
13
How Games Teach, and What We Can Learn From
ThemDavid FinkelWPI, Computer Science
DepartmentInteractive Media and Game
Developmentdfinkel_at_wpi.eduhttp//www.cs.wpi.edu/
dfinkel

• Interactive Media and Game Development