August 3, 2009

Game and Learn: An Introduction to Educational Gaming

Videogames are becoming a progressively more important component of teaching today: they can provide learners with rich worlds and complex narratives that both enhance and transform their educational experience in previously unexplored ways. Because of this, I'm pleased to announce that, as part of a joint research project between the MLTI and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, I have created a 14-part podcast series on videogames in education. This mini-course, available now in its entirety from iTunes U, provides educators with the knowledge needed to successfully use educational gaming in their classroom. I'll be supplementing this podcast series with ongoing posts and discussions, and more materials will be announced in the coming months — stay tuned.

Game and Learn: An Introduction to Educational Gaming
Podcast TitleResourcesSlides
1. What Is A Game?

Some Definitions:
Salen, K. and E. Zimmerman. Rules of Play : Game Design Fundamentals. The MIT Press. (2003)
Vygotsky, L. Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press. (1978)
Koerper, H.C. and N.A. Whitney-Desautels. "Astragalus Bones: Artifacts or Ecofacts?" Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly, 35(2&3). (1999)
Puentedura, R.R. "Playing Games in Education - or, Thank You Mario... But Our Princess Is In Another University!". NMC Summer Conference. (2005)

Photos:
Young Chimps Play, by Jonny White

Game Videos:
PacManIco

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2. What Is A Good Game?

What Makes a Game Fun:
Koster, R. Theory of Fun for Game Design. Paraglyph. (2004)

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3. A Menagerie of Genres

Narrative Games:
Zork IrealMYSTLegend of Zelda - Ocarina of TimeFinal Fantasy XWorld of WarcraftWorld Without Oil

Action Games:
R-TypeSuper Mario WorldHalf-Life 2Street Fighter IIWinning Eleven 10Gran Turismo 4Dance Dance Revolution

Simulation Games:
SimCity 2000StarCraftEmpire: Total WarEuropa Universalis III

Other Games:
BookwormRybka 3Settlers of Catan

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4. Games and Learning

Learning from Games:
Gee, J.P., What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. Palgrave Macmillan. (2003)
Prensky, M. "Escape from Planet Jar-Gon Or, What Video Games Have to Teach Academics About Teaching and Writing." On The Horizon, Volume 11, No. 3 (2003)

Game Videos:
Europa Universalis IIIrealMYSTFable IISuper Mario GalaxySimCity 2000Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of TimeCivilization RevolutionWorld of Warcraft

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5. Games and Education

Who Plays Games:
Entertainment Software Association — Industry Facts
Pew/Internet Report: Teens, Video Games, and Civics

The Educational Research:
Randel, J.M., B.A. Morris, C.D. Wetzel, and B.V. Whitehill. "The Effectiveness of Games for Educational Purposes: A Review of Recent Research." Simulation & Gaming, Volume 23. (1992)
Fletcher, J.D. and S. Tobias. "Using Computer Games and Simulations for Instruction: A Research Review." Proceedings of the Society for Advanced Learning Technology Meeting. (February 2006)
Mayo, M.J. "Video Games: A Route to Large-Scale STEM Education?" Science, Vol. 323, No. 5910 (2 January 2009)

The SAMR Model:
Puentedura, R.R. As We May Teach: Educational Technology, From Theory Into Practice. (2009)

Game Sources:
Dimenxian EvolverRiver City

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6. Critical Gaming

Critical Gaming:
R. Puentedura, "I Taught It, Bought It at the Game Store: Repurposing Commercial Games for Education". NMC Summer Conference Proceedings. (2007)

Game Sources:
Portal: The Flash Version (video) — Micropolis (video)

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7. Games and Storytelling

The Characteristics of Game Stories:
Montfort, N. Twisty Little Passages : An Approach to Interactive Fiction. The MIT Press. (2003)
Jenkins, H. "Game Design as Narrative Architecture" - in Wardrip-Fruin, N. and P. Harrigan, First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. The MIT Press. (2004)
Frasca, G. "Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology" - in: Wolf, M.J.P. and B. Perron, The Video Game Theory Reader. Routledge. (2003)

Constructing the Story:
Campbell, J. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton Univ. Press. (1972)
"Monomyth." in Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (accessed June 23, 2009)
Propp,V. Morphology of the Folktale. Univ. of Texas Press. (1968)
Proppian Folktale Outline Generator v1.0.
Field, S. Screenplay - The Foundations of Screenwriting, Third Edition. Dell Publishing. (1994)
Sheldon, L. Character Development and Storytelling for Games. Thomson Course Technology PTR. (2004)

Game Videos:
PortalLa Pucelle TacticsGrim FandangoJak & Daxter: The Precursor LegacyFar Cry 2

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8. Games and Players

Emotion and the Fun of Games:
Lazzaro, N. Why We Play Games: Four Keys to More Emotion Without Story. (2004)

What Types of Games Do Players Like?
Bateman, C. and R. Boon. 21st Century Game Design. Charles River Media. (2006)
Bateman, C. Designing for Different Play Styles: Demographic Game Design. (2004)

How Do Players Interact Within Games?
Bartle, R. Designing Virtual Worlds. New Riders Games. (2003)
Bartle, R. Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs. (1996)
Puentedura, R.R. "Beyond World of Warcraft: the Universe of MMOGs". NMC Summer Conference Proceedings. (2007)

MMORPG Sites:
World of WarcraftEve OnlineCity of HeroesA Tale in the Desert

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9. Games and Assessment

The Assessment Tools:
Anderson, L.W. and D.R. Krathwohl, eds. A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Complete Edition.  Longman. (2000)

Correcting for Expectation Effects:
Draper, S.W. The Hawthorne Effect.
Rosenthal, R. and R.L. Rosnow. Essentials of Behavioral Research: Methods and Data Analysis - Second Edition. McGraw-Hill, Inc. (1991) (See esp. Chapter 6)
Rosenthal, R. Experimenter Effects in Behavioral Research - Enlarged Edition. Irvington Publishers, Inc. (1976) (See esp. Chapters 19-24)
Rosenthal, R. and L. Jacobson. Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils' Intellectual Development. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. (1968) (See esp. Chapter 11)

Checking for Effect Size:
Coe, R. "It's the Effect Size, Stupid: What effect size is and why it is important." Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Educational Research Association. (2002)
Cohen, J. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Academic Press. (1969) (See esp. Chapter 2)

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10. The Design Perspective

Design Patterns:
Alexander, C. et al. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction. Oxford University Press. (1977)
Björk, S. and J. Holopainen. Patterns in Game Design. Charles River Media. (2005) — Patterns wiki

The Process:
Rollings, A. and E. Adams. Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New Riders Publishing. (2003), or:
Adams, E. and A. Rollings. Fundamentals of Game Design. Prentice Hall. (2006) — Online materials

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11. Case Study: Scratch

Scratch:
Scratch

Scratch Tutorials:
Scratch Website
LearnScratch Group
Ford, J.L. Scratch Programming for Teens. Course Technology. (2009)

Game Video:
Breakout

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12. Case Study: Inform 7

Playing Interactive Fiction:
Zoom (Mac OS X)
Gargoyle (MS Windows)
Bronze, by Emily Short.

Inform 7:
Inform 7

Inform 7 Tutorials:
Granade, S. Write a Text Adventure With Inform 7.
The Foyer is a Room
McCall, J. Designing Computer Sims with Inform 7.

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13. Serious Games

The Community:
The Serious Games Networking Portal
Serious Games Source

Five Samples:
Ships (video) — At-RiskPeaceMaker (video) — Passage (video) — Year Zero

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14. TPCK, SAMR, and Games

The Models:
The TPCK Model:
   TPCK - Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
   AACTE (Eds.) The Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Educators. Routledge. (2008)
The SAMR Model:
   Puentedura, R.R. Transformation, Technology, and Education. (2006)
Integrating TPCK and SAMR:
   Puentedura, R.R. As We May Teach: Educational Technology, From Theory Into Practice. (2009)

TPCK and Educational Games:
CK: The Ludologist
PCK: Learning Games Network
PK: MacArthur Digital Media & Learning Initiative
TPK: Alice
TK: GameDev.net
TCK: Gamasutra
TPCK: Squire, K., M. Barnett, J.M. Grant, T. Higginbotham. "Electromagnetism Supercharged! Learning Physics with Digital Simulation Games" in Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Learning Sciences. (2004)

SAMR and Educational Games:
Substitution: DimensionM
Augmentation: Immune Attack (video)
Modification: Industry Giant 2 (video)
Redefinition: Lure of the Labyrinth

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Posted by Ruben at August 3, 2009 8:37 PM
Comments

It's like getting another tutorial with Ruben! Downloaded them all this morning. Should make the commute a little more bearable.

Question about 'trophies' and 'achievements' when applied are to 'toy games' like Noby Noby boy, is that making conflict? Is having a goal conflict?

Posted by: Ryan Stevens at August 4, 2009 2:20 PM

Ruben,

I was happy to meet you last week at Games in Ed! Fantastic blog! Very informative! Thanks!

Have a great day!

Posted by: Kathy Harrison Fuller at August 14, 2009 8:37 AM

I just watched the brief clip on Empire: Total War. Interesting! I had no idea. I am trying to help a group of high school social studies teachers who are interested in gaming with their students. I have had trouble finding games for them to use. Some of the ones that had wanted are now out-of-date. I am not sure of their content but I assume it is US History and possibly World History. Do you have any suggestions? I will forward your blog to them. Thanks for any insight you could provide!

Posted by: Karen at October 15, 2009 9:09 AM