APM Welcome, APM North West Network Conference, Synergies Across Sectors
Pivec workshop 1
1. Play to Learn Game-Based Learning Applications Kranj Workshop, 2011 Professor Dr Maja Pivec & Dr Paul Pivec
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7. Game Genres for Learning Digital game genres played by Students Other Genres include Driving, Fighting, Strategy, Sports, Simulations
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17. Games for Learning “ If learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or study, then Digital Games can be successfully used as supplement to traditional teaching and support quality learning. ” (Pivec, 2010)
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Notas do Editor
Welcome. My name is Maja Pivec and I am here to talk About game based learning or learning from digital games.
Digital natives want to learn with computer games! - Really? Gee suggests that learning is problem solving and gaining understanding Games do this, but he also states that games are only social.
Digital natives want to learn with computer games! - Really? Gee suggests that learning is problem solving and gaining understanding Games do this, but he also states that games are only social.
Digital natives want to learn with computer games! - Really? Gee suggests that learning is problem solving and gaining understanding Games do this, but he also states that games are only social.
But kids today don ’t play Tetris. We surveyed over 500 students and they play role plays and FPS games/ You should also note that contrary to what they say in the US, not All young people are gamers. 23% of those surveyed don ’t play games at all. In fact at a University level, we will sometimes get an intake of 75 students, with over half not being and never have been gamers.
Kids today play first person shooters, not Tetris. But the learning is still there. The First-Person Shooter “Counter Strike”, has been shown to improve cognitive functions Such as divided attention and decision processing. However, I am not advocating that we install Counter Strike in the classroom.
But First Person Shooters can be and currently are successfully utilised to teach Mathematics. The FPS game Dimexian from Tabular Digital teaches Algebra in An interesting and immersive game that has won awards at many educational conferences. The game is well designed, non-voilent (apart from blowing up the occasional alien robot) And has teacher handbooks showing where it fits within the lesson plan.Unfortunately This product is US based and tailored towards the US school system.
Neverwinter Nights is a Fantasy Role Play Game or RPG, another Popular game genre that is played a great deal. Situated in a medieval village The player in NWN uses spells to battle with the evil forces. But this commercial game uses a Scripting engine to create conversational dialogs with the player.
The University of Minnesota utilised this to create their own dialogs and modified the game To teach first year journalism students. They tool the context of a textbook and built the lessons into the game and created “ Disaster at Harpville”. This has been used at University level for five years and is very successful.
For the younger age group we have the Penguin Club. Owned by Disney, the Penguin Club has over 100 million subscribers. The product is basically a chat room in the form of a virtual world on cartoon penguins. The players can communicate with each other, complete small tasks for points, and play mini games with other penguins.
Mingoville is based on a very similar concept. However, the primary goal is to teach english language skills to children. Developed in Denmark in 2007, Mingoville now has over 1 million users, and has grown into one of the largest English learning communities online.
Buzz is a party game, played on a game console attached to the TV. Played by people of all ages Buzz is a quiz game controller by the game character, with questions of general knowledge in a fun environment
Take the same idea, put it on an iPhone and a web site, link it to the school curriculum, have a reward system of minigames, And you have a motivational study aid for students of all ages. 3MRT of Scotland built inQuizitor and aligned it with the UK schooling curriculum To be a valuable learning resource.
I would like to leave you with one last thought (Read Slide).
One of the areas that all students have problems with, and this affects teachers even when hen choosing a game to use within the class, is gender. Is the game gender neutral or for girls or guys. I could spend an hour just talking about this, and I do for the students, But just briefly….
Males and Females are different, we all know this. But their needs and expectations from a game are also different. Guys like the know that they can win, and compete to do this. And when they are shot, they should die, and lose. Girls do want his at all, this is probably why there are not many Girls FPS gamers, there are some and they are very good, but not many.
Girls like games with adventure, sims games, activity games like Sing Star. You will rarely see a guy play Sing Star. And animal games like My little Pony And Nintendogs, are Girls Games. Nintendo and Sony recognized this and created A complete line of Pink PSPs and Dual Screen devices specifically for Girls. But Notice that both genders like Role Play Games.
Role Play Games a traditional Gender neutral. Many contain Fantasy and some even have Humor. Humor is very much gender neutral. A good rewards system and complex storyline, and you have a game that reaches twice your Target market. Another feature is to have a likeable character central to the story line. This can be a Gender neutral character or gender specific.
Faith Conners from Mirrors Edge is obviously very female and who I based my Powerpoint theme on today. This game is very popular with both guys and girls.
We all know the infamous Lara fro Tomb Raider. Again, this game appeals to Both genders. To girls, because Lara is a hero and shows that girls can Kick butt too, and to guys, probably because they think Lara is hot.
Metroid Prime is very popular amongst the males because it is a FPS type adventure Game. And perhaps many don ’t realise that it is a woman inside the space suit. The handheld version of the game, more of and adventure game, is played by both genders.
But the guys have their heros as well. Master Chief Petty Officer John 117, although he is fondly referred to as just Master Chief. He is the hero of the long running series Halo. Very much a Guys game.
Duke Nukem is also very male orientated, and very macho. I don ’t think you will get many girls playing this game.
Mario is Male and although he doesn ’t compare to Duke, he kicks butt as well. Mario appeals to both genders and has become an icon over the years of gaming. In summary, a central female character or non macho character appeals to both Genders. Whereas a very male character is only played by guys.
But more often today, in may games the play chooses or creates their own ]character. You can be male or female, interestingly many guys play as female Characters. You can have blond hair, you can be big or small, be green. Character customization has become what players expect and it helps The players invest into the game. For a learning game, this is good.
You can also be non-human and have no gender at all. Or you can be “you”. Many players will create their avatat to Look exactly like they do. This outs them into the game world Instead of merely controlling a character in the world.