G4LI Games for Learning Day at G4C 2011

1. G4LI Advancing Research on Games for Learning Ken Perlin & Jan L. Plass Games for Learning Institute NYU Games for Change Festival• June 22, 2011 99% of boys and 94% of girls play video games.

2. Overview The National Challenge Games for Learning Institute Development Research

3. Overview The National Challenge

4. The Challenge The National Challenge U.S. students are falling behind their peers in other countries, especially in STEM (PISA, TIMMS) 21st Century requires new skill sets to succeed in knowledge society Science and Engineering positions in many companies remain unfilled due to lack of qualified applicants Problems even more pronounced for women, ethnic minorities, learners with low English proficiency

5. The Challenge Collaborators Board of Advisors Faculty from NYU, New York City, National, International Network of Middle and High Schools in New York City Organizations offering After-School programming Media Developers & Broadcasters Museums

6. Games for Learning The Games for Learning Institute (G4LI)

7. Games for Learning Institute G4LI–A Multi-Institutional Institute Comprised of 13 faculty (at 9 institutions), specializing in STEM Education, Science of Learning, Educational Technology, Psychology, Game Design, Computer Science, and Software Engineering. Funded by Microsoft Research. NYU (Ken Perlin, Jan Plass, Co-Directors, Cath Milne) NYU Poly (Katherine Isbister, Carl Skelton, Joel Wein) CUNY Graduate Center (Bruce Homer) Columbia (Steve Feiner) Teachers College (Chuck Kinzer) Parsons School of Design (Colleen Macklin) Dartmouth (Mary Flanagan) Rochester Institute of Technology (Andy Phelps) Catholic University of Chile, Santiago (Miguel Nussbaum)

8. Games for Learning Institute Mission Identification of design patterns describing the effects of key design elements of games on students’ learning experiences and outcomes Investigating how effects found in education and psychology research can be applied to the design of games for learning Develop theory-based, empirically validated design patterns for games for learning Facilitate the development of critical STEM knowledge and skills as well as critical digital literacy skills to be informed citizens

9. Research: Games for Learning Adventure Game for Science Learning Strong Narrative Science Problems Embedded

10. Research: Games for Learning AR Simulation Game for Science Learning Geo-Located Hot Zones Authentic Scientific Data feed

11. Research: Games for Learning Games and Learning Math Skills: Factor Reactor

12. Research: Games for Learning Games and Learning Math Skills: Supertransformation!

13. Games for Learning Development Research (Ken)

14. Other Projects App Inventor (Ken Perlin) App Inventor as entry level programming language Level up to Super App Inventor (add variable scoping, data typing, object classes and instancing, and aggregate types; editable code) Use to teach computer programming Game-like features, applying our research

15. Other Projects Ken to add slides

16. Research Results Empirical Research NYU CUNY GC NYU Poly Teachers College Columbia University

17. Learning with Games Why Games for Learning? Games have potential to be: Highly Contextualized, Situated Problem Solving Spaces Highly Engaging, Individualized Learning Teach 21st Century skills + Concepts and Skills Bridge in-school and out-of-school learning Emotional Impact by Design Embedded Assessment (learning, learner state and trait variables) However: We do not yet understand well enough how to designGames that are effective for learning and fun/engaging.

18. Learning with Games Functions of Games for Learning Games to prepare future learning (Schwartz, 1999) Games for specific learning goals: new content, skills Games to practice existing skills: automatization Development of 21st Century Skills However: Most generalizable research focusses on Games to practice existing STEM skills Qualitative Research focusses on Games to develop of 21st Century Skills

19. Research Agenda

20. Games for Learning Research Methods Experimental Research Video Observations Playtesting Using a variety of measures: Physiological (biometrics, eye tracking, fMRI) Behavioral (in-game assessment, video observations) Self-reports (in-game/post-game think-aloud, interviews, surveys)

21. Research Methods Research Methods: Posture Sensor

22. Research Methods Research Methods: Eye Tracking & Games

23. Computational Thinking

24. Research Findings Rapunsel (NSF) Goal: Teach Girls How to Program Participants: 56 middle school students (29 female) Design: Pre/Post test design Duration: 4 weeks, 50min per week

25. Research Findings Rapunsel Results No increases in programming-related knowledge Significant pre/post increases in girls' generalself-efficacy(d = .65); nsd for boys Significant pre/post increases in programmingself-efficacyfor girls (d = 1.06); marginally significant for boys (d = .48) Significant pre/post increases in self-esteem for girls (d = .66) and for boys (d = .48)Plass, J.L., Goldman, R., Flanagan, M., et al., (2007)

26. Research: Play Mode Mode of Play Study Play Mode Goal: Compare Single Player v. Collaborative v. Competitive Mode Participants: 63 NYC middle school students, 6-8th grade Design: factorial design (solo v. collaborative v. competitive)

27. Research: Play Mode Mode of Play Study Results Collaborative and competitive play resulted in greater situational interest than solo play the strongest mastery goal orientation Solo game play was reported to be less enjoyable than collaborative and competitive game play Participants in the competitive group completed more math problems in the game, BUT: Solo group demonstrated significantly greatermathfluency in the posttest

28. Research Findings Movement-Based Play (NYU Poly) A Controlled Comparison of Movement Based Games In-school study with low/medium/high movement Wii games. Players rated emotions after each round. Video coded for manipulation check. Results Higher arousal/energy whenmore movement. Same amount of positive feelings in all conditions.

29. Research Findings Movement-Based Play (NYU Poly) Can movement-based play increase math confidence? An investigation using the number-line game Scoop! We created a Kinect-based number line math game, using research about ‘power poses’. In-school study with ‘high’ and ‘low’ power pose versions of the game was conducted this spring. Players rated emotions and math confidence pre and post play. We also received student math scores. Currently doing analysis of results.

30. Research: Learning Mechanics Learning Mechanics Research Two learning mechanics: Solve missing angles by selecting correct number Better: Solve missing angles by identifying correct rule

31. Research: Play Mode Game Mechanic Study Goal: Compare Rule-based v. Arithmetic Responses to Geometry Problems Participants: 89 NYC middle school students, 6 & 8th grade Design: factorial design (rule v. arithmetic)

32. Research: Play Mode Game Mechanic Study Results (Preliminary) Arithmetic game more interesting than rule-based game More problems solved in rule-based game Diminishing returns for arithmetic but not rules group (>30 levels solved)

33. Research: Feedback Design Feedback Study (Teachers College Columbia U) Goal: Compare different types of feedback (informative v. Elaborative) and choice of avatar (choice v. no choice) 110 sixth and seventh grade NYC students

34. Research: Feedback Design Feedback Study

35. Learning Mechanics G4LI Library of Learning Mechanics

36. Assessment Mechanics G4LI Library of Assessment Mechanics

37. Collaborators Ken Perlin Bruce Homer Catherine Milne Katherine Isbister Trace Jordan Joel Wein Carl Skelton Mary Flanagan Chuck Kinzer Andy Phelps Miguel Nussbaum Paul O’Keefe Yan Wang Ruth Schwartz Jon Frye Yoo Kyung Chang Lizzie Hayward Tsu-Ting Huang Helen Zeng Charles Hendee Murphy Stein Juan Barrientos

38. Conclusion Thank you – Questions? Ken Perlin: ken.perlin@gmail.com Jan L Plass: jan.plass@nyu.edu