Best Practices Around Implementing Educational Games

Tropf - Educational Games Slide
Best Practices
Around
Implementing
Educational
Games
1

About Me
2
Doctoral Candidate: School Psychology @ University
of Florida
Specialization: Program Evaluation
Minor: Research & Evaluation Methodology
Dissertation (Pending): Motivation, Goal Orientation,
and Academic Performance in Educational Games
and Anity Spaces
School Psychology Intern with Alachua County Public
Schools (Gainesville, Florida area)
Co/founder & CEO of Immersed Games (early ed tech
startup)

Agenda
3

1
Agenda
3

1
Intro
Why care?
2
Agenda
3

1
Intro
Why care?
2
Literature
Review
Theory &
empirical evidence
3
Agenda
3

1
Intro
Why care?
2
Literature
Review
Theory &
empirical evidence
3
Best Practices
for implementing
4
Agenda
3

1
Intro
Why care?
2
Literature
Review
Theory &
empirical evidence
3
Best Practices
for implementing
4
Resources
Tools for finding
games
Agenda
3

Tropf - Educational Games Slide 4
“In some ways the world of education
is going to go through one of the most
massive changes in the next ﬁve years
than it has seen in the last three
thousand years. It’s a perfect storm.”
-Nolan Bushnell
(Tack, 2013)

should they have to disconnect in schools, or can
we use this interest?
97% of teens aged 12-17 play video games
including: computer, web, mobile, and console
50% of teens reported that they played a game “yesterday”
Those that play daily spend at least 1 hour per day
Students empowered & engaged in digital media with these
Ubiquitous Technology
5(Prensky, 2001a)

Video games present a unique
opportunity to engage students as
they “situate meaning in a multimodal
space through embodied experiences
to solve problems.”
-James Paul Gee
Educational Games
(Gee, 2007, p. 40)

Literature
Review
7
brief

Deﬁning Games
Key
Dimensions
control
sensory
stimuli
fantasy
challenge
8
rules &
goals
mystery
reaching ﬂow
(Garris, Ahlers, & Driskell, 2002)

Learning through Gameplay
User Judgments: interest, enjoyment (fun & ﬂow),
conﬁdence, task involvement
When positive, user behaviors are highly motivated
System feedback continues to motivate players
9
! (Garris et al., 2002)
(Garris et al., 2002)

Example: Quest Atlantis
10(Barab et al., 2005)

Meta-analysis on interactive simulations and games
Resulted in signiﬁcantly higher cognitive gains than
traditional instruction, across all situations and
variables
When separated (simulations / games), games not
reliable result - more research needed
Empirical Research
Vogel
et al.,
2006
Hays,
2005
11
Meta-analysis on games for instructional purposes
Games can be eective, but not supported to be more
eective then other well-designed instructional
methods (especially due to methodological issues)
Instructional support around games important to
improving eectiveness of experience

Qualitative meta-analysis
65 game eectiveness studies: 34 positive, 17 mixed, 12
no dierence, 1 negative
Only 10 examined learner characteristics (gender mixed
results on impact; low SES enjoyed most but diculty
getting knowledge from game)
Empirical Research
Ke,
2009
Recent
Studies
12
I compiled additional recent studies not included in Ke
Of 8 learning eectiveness studies: 6 games more
eective, 2 no signiﬁcant dierences

“Games do motivate. They motivate players to play
the game. This can be beneﬁcial if the game is
designed to target and meet instructional objectives.
Otherwise, learners may spend their time learning to
be successful at the game without receiving
instructional beneﬁts from these experiences.”
Research on Motivation
Ke (2009) - games encourage motivation across
varied learners and situations
Hays (2005) - evidence often anecdotal support
Recent studies - increased engagement, positive
attitudes, higher intrinsic motivation
13
(Hays, 2005, p. 46)

Ke (2009) six themes:
Sparse literature base
Empirical studies have
conﬂicting results
Fragmented empirical research
Much research anecdotal or
descriptive
Not many longitudinal studies
Some knowledge domains
(math, physics, language arts)
studied more frequently
Research Limitations
because many articles are opinions rather than data
14
Also:
Methodological issues such as
no control / comparison group
(Vogel et al., 2006; Hays, 2005)
More need for learning
characteristics and pedagogical
environments
Most studies in Ke analysis
included less than 2 hours of
gameplay one was a single
3-minute session

Classroom
Implementation
15

kids can help with this!
Content area expertise is more important than familiarity with
games
Being tech friendly helps – particularly in the early stages.
EduGames are inherently student–centered and constructivist.
Teachers should have the temperament to work in this fashion.
Familiarity with dierentiated instruction is very useful in most
deployments.
Politically, it helps to have teachers who can hold the respect of
their peers and administrators.
Find teachers who proactively seek eective new tools for
students.
Teachers’ Implementation
16(Wilson, 2009)

“ My niche when working with the
students is helping them understand
the math concepts that they must
know and utilize. …They seek me out
for help when they want to…develop
higher scores as math concepts are
required for them to generate high
scores.”
“I am very involved in helping them
contextualize decisions.”
(Wilson, 2009)

kids can help with this!
Content area expertise is more important than familiarity with
games
Being tech friendly helps – particularly in the early stages.
EduGames are inherently student–centered and constructivist.
Teachers should have the temperament to work in this fashion.
Familiarity with dierentiated instruction is very useful in most
deployments.
Politically, it helps to have teachers who can hold the respect of
their peers and administrators.
Find teachers who proactively seek eective new tools for
students.
Teachers’ Implementation
18(Wilson, 2009)

Find instructional leaders who can manage dierentiated
instruction – of teachers.
Games are collaborative and cross–disciplinary –
Administrators should have strong coaching and team building
skills.
Administrators should genuinely value education technology
and provide support for teachers who try new approaches.
Administrators’ Implementation
19(Wilson, 2009)

Common Teacher Concerns
20(Klopfer et al., 2009; Wilson, 2009)
1 Need to cover mandated content areas
2 Skeptical of new technologies (and lack of
infastructure)
3 Unfamiliarity with games (and dicult to learn)

Strong Learning Framework
Endogenous Learning
Embedded Assessment
Selecting a Game

Pedagogical Foundations
Many games do not specify pedagogical foundations
Review of educational games between 2000-2007:
Of 55 games, only 15 stated their pedagogical foundations
After contacting designers, conﬁrmed only 18 based on
established learning theories and instructional strategies
Linked to Learning Objectives
Find games aligned with your standards
Strong Learning Framework
22(Kebritchi & Hirumi, 2008)

Learning and motivation in educational games can
be done in two dierent ways
Endogenous Learning
23
Endogenous Exogenous
inside of outside of

Endogenous content involves real engagement
Problem Solving, not answering a problem to shoot
(can be room for practice when students need it, such as
drilling in math to learn basic facts)
Great games engage in learning mechanics
Cognitively: we remember what we do
Endogenous Learning
24(Wilson, 2009; Habgood & Ainsworth, 2011)
useful, but doesn’t use the deeper power of games

Zombie Division Experiment
Versions of same game:
Intrinsic: integrated math into combat
Extrinsic: non-math combat, M/C questions between
levels
Intrinsic integration of learning content vs. extrinsic version
Greater learning gains in intrinsic
Also played 7x longer when given option
Endogenous Learning
25(Habgood & Ainsworth, 2011)

“In a poorly designed game, a player
may have to memorize a formula to
earn the right to blast some aliens. In a
properly designed EduGame, the
student should use the formula to
blast the aliens.”
(Wilson, 2009)

Reach for the Sun
27
teaches about the life cycle of a plant as learn about
photosynthesis, resources needed, plant anatomy,
and reproduction

Crazy Plant Shop
28
teaches about heredity and reproduction as they learn
how to determine probabilities for genotypes and
phenotypes using Punnett Squares and pedigrees

Games can produce deep levels of assessment
Use these for authentic measure of learning progress
Many companies have tools built in
Assess with 21st Century Skills
Can also mix paper assessments
Embedded Assessment
29(Wilson, 2009)
comfortable assessment to verify learning

“I have certainly found that when students
write essays over the subject matter
[causes of WWII], they have a deeper
understanding of the problems faced at the
beginning of WWII.”
“…the essays on appeasement..tend to be
more sympathetic to decision–makers and
less unrealistic about the complexities of
decisions. So it is a very dierent type of
learning than traditional lectures.”
(Wilson, 2009)

Good educational games employe academic knowledge as a tool for
achieving goals.
Good educational games lend themselves to systemic understandings.
Good educational games employ sophisticated game design techniques.
Good educational games oer multiple ways of playing them, so that
players can experiment with a variety of identities in a group.
Good educational games pique players’ interests.
Good educational games are ideological worlds that instantiate particular
ways of viewing and valuing the world.
Good games are social, in that they encourage social interaction of
dierent forms and lead to productive practices (fan communities, fan
ﬁction, machinima).
Good games inspire creativity and smooth ramps to usher players from
users to producers.
Squire’s Deﬁnition
31(Squire, 2011, p.36-37)

Blending Learning
Providing Support
Allowing Failure & Experimentation
Debrieﬁng
Within the Classroom

Combine the game with what you are already doing in the
classroom
Adding another model of learning
Reinforce learning with additional techniques
Improve whole class participation & discussion
Blended Learning
33(Wilson, 2009)
common experience to base discussion on

Particularly for non-gamers
Although most children play games, often casual
Still need support understanding structure & interface
Have clear goals to help students stay on task & understand
objectives of playing
Will need extra time at ﬁrst for tech issues & learning
Grouping:
promotes collaboration & teamwork, discussion
2-3 students per group
try to mix gamers/non-games, strengths
Providing Support
34(Wilson, 2009)

“What is dierent for our students is that
they have become teachers to each other.
The team competition aspect forced them
to stop shooting each other and work
together to beat other teams. This involved
game strategies and math skills.”
“Students report that they enjoy working
collaboratively and that the trappings of
middle school culture and peer pressure
disappear from the equation when working
in the virtual world.”
(Wilson, 2009)

Game scaolds for students
Resources to feel they can get better
Safe pace to experiment and give lots of eort
Failing is part of gamer culture
Can use for reﬂective discussion
Allowing Failure & Experimentation
36(Waismann, 2013; Wilson, 2009)
“Research shows that gamers spend on average 80%
of their time failing in game worlds, but instead of
giving up, they stick with the dicult challenge and
use the feedback of the game to get better.”

Debriefing
37(Garris et al., 2002)
!
“The link between the game cycle and learning
objectives is represented by debriefing, or reviewing
and reflecting on game play in order to ensure game
events become learning.”

“Such learning is not dependent on the
existence of a debrief. A good debrief,
however, allows the individuals who were
in the experience to share, cross-fertilize,
and to generalize their learnings from and
between all who participated in the same
experience.”
-Joe Wolfe
(Crookall, 2010)

Kolb’s Model leading learnings through stages from
experiencing to learning
Debrieﬁng
39(Nicholson, 2012, p 118)
1
What the learnings felt and experienced
during the event
Introduces other points of view; engages
individual's experiences with others’ experiences
Learners relate concepts in activity to
previously learned concepts in class
2
3
4 Make a connection of activity to the real world

Tools
40

EdSurge Edtech Index https://www.edsurge.com/products/
Playing Science http://playingscience.org
Games for Change http://www.gamesforchange.org/play/
Educade http://educade.org
including lesson plans around games
BrainPop http://www.brainpop.com
Sites for Discovery
41

DISCUSSION
?
42

Annetta, L. A., Minogue, J., Holmes, S. Y., & Cheng, M.-T. (2009). Investigating the impact
of video games on high school students’ engagement and learning about genetics.
Computers & Education, 53(1), 74–85. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2008.12.020
Bai, H., Pan, W., Hirumi, A., & Kebritchi, M. (2012). Assessing the eectiveness of a 3-D
instructional game on improving mathematics achievement and motivation of middle
school students. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(6), 993–1003. doi:10.1111/j.
1467-8535.2011.01269.x
Barab, S., Thomas, M., Dodge, T., Carteaux, R., & Tuzun, H. (2005). Making learning fun:
Quest Atlantis, a game without guns. Educational Technology Research and
Development, 53(1), 86–107.
Crookall, D. (2010). Serious games, debrieﬁng, and simulation/gaming as a discipline.
Serious Gaming, 41. DOIL 10.1177/1046878110390784
Garris, R., Ahlers, R., & Driskell, J. E. (2002). Games, motivation, and learning: A research
and practice Model. Simulation & Gaming, 33(4), 441–467. doi:
10.1177/1046878102238607
Gee, J. P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Traditional Schooling.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Gee, J. P. (2007). What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy. New
York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
References
43

Habgood, M.P.J., & Ainsworth, S.E. (2011). Motivating children to learn eectively: exploring
the value of intrinsic integration in educational games. Journal of the Learning Sciences,
20 (2), 169-206. Retrieved http://shura.shu.ac.uk/3556/
Hays, R. T. (2005). The eectiveness of instructional games: a literature review and
discussion. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, 1–63.
Ke, F. (2008). A case study of computer gaming for math: Engaged learning from
gameplay? Computers & Education, 51(4), 1609–1620. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.
2008.03.003
Ke, F. (2009). A qualitative meta-analysis of computer games as learning tools.
Handbook of Research on Eective Electronic Gaming in Education, 1, 1–32.
Kebritchi, M., & Hirumi, A. (2008). Examining the pedagogical foundations of modern
educational computer games. Computers & Education, 51(4), 1729–1743. doi:10.1016/
j.compedu.2008.05.004
Kebritchi, M., Hirumi, A., & Bai, H. (2010). The eects of modern mathematics computer
games on mathematics achievement and class motivation. Computers & Education,
55(2), 427–443. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.02.007
Klopfer, E., Osterweil, S., & Salen, K. (2009). Moving learning games forward: Obstacles &
opportunities & openness. The Education Arcade. Retrieved http://education.mit.edu/
papers/MovingLearningGamesForward_EdArcade.pdf
References
44

Marina Papastergiou. (2009). Digital Game-Based Learning in high school Computer
Science education: Impact on educational eectiveness and student motivation.
Computers & Education, 52(1), 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2008.06.004
Miller, L. M., Chang, C.-I., Wang, S., Beier, M. E., & Klisch, Y. (2011). Learning and motivational
impacts of a multimedia science game. Computers & Education, 57(1), 1425–1433. doi:
10.1016/j.compedu.2011.01.016
Murphy Paul, A. (2012). What’s the secret sauce to a great educational game? Mind/Shift.
Retrieved http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/04/whats-the-secret-sauce-to-a-great-
educational-game/
Nicholson, S. (2012). Completing the experience: debrieﬁng in experiential educational
games. In the Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Society and
Information Technologies. Winter Garden, FL: International Institute of Informatics and
Systemics, 117-121.
Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Prensky, M. (2001b). Digital natives, digital immigrants Part 2: Do they really think
dierently? On the Horizon, 9(6), 1–6.
Squire, K. (2011). Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the
Digital Age. New York: Teachers College Press.
References
45

Track, D. (2013). Serious games and the future of education. Forbes. Retrieved http://
www.forbes.com/sites/danieltack/2013/09/12/serious-games-and-the-future-of-
education/
Tüzün, H., Yılmaz-Soylu, M., Karakuş, T., İnal, Y., & Kızılkaya, G. (2009). The eects of
computer games on primary school students’ achievement and motivation in geography
learning. Computers & Education, 52(1), 68–77. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2008.06.008
Vogel, J. J., Vogel, D. S., Cannon-Bowers, J., Bowers, C. A., Muse, K., & Wright, M. (2006).
Computer gaming and interactive simulations for learning: A meta-analysis. Journal of
Educational Computing Research, 34(3), 229–243.
Waismann, C. (2013). Kids & Digital Games. MindCET. Retrieved http://
www.worldwideworkshop.org/pdfs/MindCET_Kids&Gaming2013.pdf
Wilson, L. (2009). Best practices for using gamed & simulations in the classroom:
Guidelines for K-12 educators. Software & Information Industry Association Education
Division. Retrieved http://siia.net/index.php?
option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=610&tmpl=component&format=raw&Itemid=5
9
References
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Best Practices Around Implementing Educational Games

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