2007-01-22

intro

games, but not just games

applicable anywhere

solvinh problems on paper and in your head

branching decisions about how you teach things

Transfer and expertise

more expert learners are more able to learn new things

being an expert already makes it easier

confidence part of this

have a context for applying the tools

also knowing HOW to get the answers

retrieving more information

games allow people who have no expertise to role play expertise

kids may just be experts just at a game iteself

first feeling of expertise, even over adults

but also within the game, you assume the role

doling out needed expertise as the game goes on

When experts use expert knowledge

how you're taught is not much like what the experts do

e.g. scientists

what the experts do is alive

and fun

often, what the students do is not fun

a writer, by contrast, does much the same thing at the expert and beginner levels

try to do things, as an expert, as soon as possible

don't separate the learning and the work of an expert

simulation and interactivity can help

failure is very different in a sim than when you're an actual expert

Mitch Reznick

People build stuff in order to learn

machines, with code, that solve problems

Materials

How People Learn

National Research Council

things that cut across the theoretical boundaries

very few cases in which adults learn differently from children

design process

there are many

iterative

rigid design cycle

usually done with commercial realities

may feel artificial

feedback loops

very straight steps

don't really ever build anything

knowing the steps from the get go

recursion of the learning process

play

ritual quality

entering into the "magic circle"

give the game the benefit of the doubt

may have to listen to rules

assume a new persona

react as your character rather than yourself

playing "formally"

but now adults play less formally

poke this and see what happens

people play with their cell phone

cultural and age divide between this and the former

more like children

not much difference btwn structured play and experiment

poking it with a sense of fun, the richest learning may take place

brining learning and play back together

if you understnad where play is happening

nutrition game

fun to play

but the fun wasn't direcrted at the educational purpose

play must be as close to learning as possible

It is not necessarily true that if people have fun, they will learn

drill and practice games from the 90s

the product itself didn't give you what you needed to learn

Civ and SimCity

the designers made a decision to choose fun over learning

there can be a balance between fun and learning

but it has to be worked out

important to consider

free to play

motivating themselves

stepping out of their reality

feelings of achievement

have the activity give you information to do the activity better

Civ

you want to play the game better

so you look up more stuff in Civilopedia

flow experience

balance btwn skill and challenge

not enough skill - frustration

not enough challenge - boredom

chewing gum as a flow experience?

getting people into flow and letting them engage and construct

LOGO

important for people to understand what they were for

if the teacher doesn't know what its for, it's not going to work

For Good Learning...

Active

Person doing the learning is in charge of it themselves

this is particularly true in games

do the new tools always supplany the old? not necessarily

metacognition

knowing what the need to know

how they know it

more effective learning

otherwise, you're not in the driver's seat

knowing what you need and how to get it

opening up that awareness

students considered participants in the learning process

taking people to be "experts"

Engaged

not just into it or focused on it

all learners come in with stuff in their head already

some may be inaccurate

you need to get at what is in their heads already

you can make demographic leaps about what is there already

figure out what they know and how they use it

Constructed

learning is constructed rather than received

it may be a shallow experience for the learner unless they can do something with it

constructed throuhg engagement

they BUILD the learning, instread of receiving it

Deep

teach people deeply rather than broadly

in history

don't teach the whole of Amer history

teach a few major events deeply

e.g. teach all of ancient Greece

politics

science

music

etc.

constructs expertise early

scaffolding

each new thing you construct builds on what you have and allows more to be built

the religion may help you understand the math, e.g.

Active Learning

Experience of

doing

get kids to construct their own experiments

vs. following a recipe for classic experiments

observing

Dialogue with

self

others

but to be good...

has to have the elements of good learning

has to be self-motivated to some degree

Thinking about games

useful for teaching because

emerging complexity

small sets of rules that generate compleity

games are testable and quantifiable

you know which games are good

and you know because they are fun

they idea that something fun can be mapped onto and educational good is powerful

learning itself is intensely pleasurable

Syllabus

4 projects

1st

literacy

competantly expressing yourself within a given language

could be the language of "design" e.g.

project 3 is similar to project 2

scheduling a lesson presentation

anxiety about getting everybody to present everything

readings

course site

handouts

links, etc.

Outline form

lame attempt at active learning

may help in retention

may have experimental validity

or not

Now Group Projects, etc.

active learning

Measurement

How do you measure good learning?

In a rule-based activity, there are feedback loops, there is evaluation

Decision points in the game could be an evaluation point

Possible to be constantly testing

Have to allow for them to do something in a new way

did they get the result?

even if they didn't follow the procedure?

Human evalution, in addtion to the preceding

Also, formal test

Using SimCity as part of a larger experience, larger educational module

simcity as a scaffold

able to ask better questions about the rest of the curriculum

the condition to go on is synnomimous with understanding the lesson

make sure the things you're testing for are related to what they need to know

not just busy work

you should get something that helps you play the game better

Interface

separate, in a way from the learning goals

a good learning experience with a crap interface is a problem