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| Games as an Educational Tool |
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void* Member since: 7/27/2000 From: Earth |
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 Posted - 4/6/2004 9:30:25 AM |
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| You've completely neglected to mention the "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" games. I think this would fall into your first category of games and I believe it did an excellent job of educating while entertaining. The objective was to track down a notorious criminal by talking with people and using their clues ("She paid with Ruples" or "Her plane had a red, white, and green flag") to deduce where Carmen could possibly have gone. The search was occasionally punctuated by dodging knives or bullets from henchmen or Carmen herself. Encountering one of these fights indicated that the player was on the right path and served as a reward system for getting geographical or political information correct. The process of learning was not forced on the player since all the information was in the instruction book for the game, neatly organized by country. Repetitive use of this information eventually caused the player to remember it, so even attempts to not learn would leave the player with increased knowledge about world geography. [edited by - void* on April 6, 2004 9:35:22 AM] |
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Muhammad Haggag Moderator Member since: 9/22/2000 From: Redmond, WA, United States |
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Posted - 4/7/2004 3:02:27 PM |
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| Yeah, I loved that Carmen Sandiego game when I was young. Was a fine educational game. Muhammad Haggag, Optimize Bitwise account: MHaggag - |
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krez GDNet+ Member since: 10/10/2001 From: NJ - The Garbage State |
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 Posted - 4/9/2004 1:50:20 PM |
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| math munchers was fun too. but i'm a dork. |
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gamengineer Member since: 3/9/2004 From: Kennesaw, USA |
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Posted - 4/11/2004 8:13:06 PM |
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| Isn't learning all about constant exposure? Therefore, shouldn't it be used rathered than disguised within gameplay? I mean, no one learned how to jump over piranha plants in the super mario bros. series without ample practice. |
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PaulCesar Member since: 8/10/2002 From: Rockford, USA |
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Posted - 4/11/2004 8:46:45 PM |
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| Yes, but noone wants to sit and just learn (academic-esque things), its just not fun. To make it fun, you have to disguise it. What I would do, is divide up the topic you are teaching, and incorporate each of the smaller parts into something that will be fun, and make the player WANT to learn that. The problem I think that most people encounter with educational games, is that there is something that CANT be disguised, that is MEMORIZATION. And memorizing facts/figures isnt fun, its work. In normal games, you are not forced to memorize things that much, even squaresoft titles will only feature a limited amount of memorization, most not even necessary, and its drawn out over an extended period of time. So therefor, teaching formulaes and such, its pointless to try to make fun. Here are some ideas on what you can teach, and how, and still be really fun: MATH patterns by repeating things subtly, such as chrono crosses color pattern, you can develop patterning skills. decoding giving the charactor cryptic messages, and expecting them to over time decode them can be both fun, and develop those skills. SCIENCE sci. process just apply it in your games, quite easy theories this can be just about anything, teach by doing it, adding it into your story line, exc. READING vocabulary place new words in dialog, allowing user to learn vocabulary through context clues. Slowly you can build vocabulary this way. This would be awsome to put into an RPG. pronounciation simply speak the words (and highlight) them as they are being said. Sneaky..... HISTORY purely based on using history as the background of your game. More difficult to disguise, but the easiest topic to make fun. Just avoid forcing the user to memorize dates, and limit the names and places. |
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PaulCesar Member since: 8/10/2002 From: Rockford, USA |
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Posted - 4/11/2004 8:47:38 PM |
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| That being said.... you would be supprised how many games already DO teach you things. |
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alnite Member since: 11/8/2002 From: Santa Ana, CA, United States |
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Posted - 4/12/2004 2:15:40 AM |
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quote:But compared to how many games DON'T teach you things, that number is still small. Quote from the article: For example, in the game Generic Fantasy Adventure, the player may choose to defeat a group of intelligent lizards in order to gain a prize. While a straightforward attack is an available, albeit difficult option, a conversation with an NPC could reveal information on reptilian activity cycles and biology. The player who chose to learn now knows he should attack during nighttime or on an overcast day to be assured of victory. I still can't take this example as a good example. Players will always learn about the game. Players will always practice to have that perfect headshot using the sniper gun. And to say that it's educational is completely wrong. Whether to attack the lizards during nighttime or not is not educational. Sure there is a little strategy behind it, but I don't think players would learn something from it. The only thing they would learn is to talk to all NPCs before doing any mission in your game, and that's educational? I don't think so. |
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gamengineer Member since: 3/9/2004 From: Kennesaw, USA |
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Posted - 4/12/2004 10:43:01 AM |
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| Educating is very much like art, because they are so many variables that contribute to how that person will interpret the information before them. With this in mind, its really hard to say that achieving a perfect headshot with a sniper gun has no educational benefit - because to someone, this could represent fascination with the laws of physics ("Wow, I wonder what it will take for this gun to shoot faster and without noise. Perhaps If I made it using longer barrels, and muffle the noise using this silencer I can design using the theories of calculus to figure out the best shape, etc..."). When developers try to encourage learning through their games, however, they ought to be responsible for the side effects that their lessons could be teaching. For example, its fine and dandy to want to kill lizards, but this goal should be offsetted with the players realization of the ecological effects for such an action. But then again, I think most developers only really care about entertaining, and choose not to accept the responsibility that is associated with learning. Or the way you could look at it, is that learning in games have evolved from being explicit, to explicitly implicit, and reaching new grounds everyday because we're finally focusing on it. So, one day I hope games are a new medium for learning, because it always has been (tag, football, handball, board games, word games, sparring, hide and go seek, etc). [edited by - gamengineer on April 12, 2004 11:33:18 AM] |
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alnite Member since: 11/8/2002 From: Santa Ana, CA, United States |
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Posted - 4/12/2004 3:28:55 PM |
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quote:Only if you include those variables in your game, such as allowing players to make custom sniper guns by specifying barrel length and other things. In games such as Unreal Tournament, where zooming and shooting is the only thing you need to know, players won't learn anything from it. |
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gamengineer Member since: 3/9/2004 From: Kennesaw, USA |
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Posted - 4/14/2004 1:22:55 PM |
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| With all this in mind, wouldn't it make sense for developers to work alongside educators to develop games that could help teach and still be entertaining? Game designers, unless board certified, really aren't teachers/educators. This is comparable to NASA scientist lending their knowledge to space colonization games. |
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Anonymous Poster |
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Posted - 12/2/2004 12:16:40 AM |
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| I really enjoyed the article. I appreciate the author taking the time to address this matter in such a thoughtful way. I've some thought about this as well. About, how to create a wonderfully entertaining game that obfuscates the process of learning... a game that by design, makes the player 'want' to work for the enjoyable reward. Once the player realizes what they want to do within the game, they will work feverishly and endlessly until they get what they want. For players who are concerned with how agro works - and all that it implies - they will do the research to get the answers they are seeking. The reward is, that once agro is de-mystified, the player has a greater advantage within the game than someone who does not understand the nuances of agro. Now, I'm not trying to say that knowing the intricacies of agro has a direct educational benefit that can transfer into every day, real-world situations. I am saying, that once the player is motivated to do something, they WILL find a way to do it, even if the process is unpleasant... thus, the ends will justify the means. Furthermore, the more unpleasant the process is, also the greater feeling of accomplishment and pride the player will have knowing that few people are willing and able to do what he or she did. I think we are a long ways off from incorporating calculus into riveting gameplay, but the wonderful thing about education is that it can be implemented as an intangible. The first analogy that comes to mind is, Karate Kid II... "Wax on, wax off." The kid didn't understand why he was waxing and buffing cars, but later on in the movie, it had a functional purpose - even if slightly contrived. So, as an intangible element, the sky is the limit on what the game teaches the player. I've always dreamed of a game, which I would find very additcting, had a crafting system that become more complex - yet logical - as the character's skill improved. For example, when building a house, a novice architect may only be knowledgable of needing a foundation, frame, insulation and roof... whereas, a skilled architect will become more aware of the nuances of each of those elements. What type of concrete for the foundation? What type of wood/brick/metal for the frame? Insulation type? Reasons for choosing certain slopes in certain climates... and so on. And this is endless, up until the point of actually having the player go through virtual steps, in the process of creating an actual virtual house. But furthermore, there needs to be importance for having all those choices available. There needs to be a functional reason for choosing brick versus wood or for choosing a better insulation type to lower energy costs, and so on. Without a direct correlation to decisions made, then there is no context and ultimately no learning. It would then become an arbitrary exercise where the ends no longer justified the means. Take existing game systems. Incorporate progressive structures that gradually introduce the player to a more "advanced" level of play. And before you know it, the player will be eagerly working and enjoying the prospect of being fairly rewarded for their efforts. |
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