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Explore the benefits of creating educational games, from fostering creativity to promoting critical thinking. Learn about game design principles and types of game activities to make learning engaging and effective.
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WHY MAKE GAMES? too much school is too serious for kids good first step – ‘playing around’ to create engagement students are willing to take risks in games students more willing to accept negative feedback in a game situation motivation – students are more likely to learn something in order to win a game than because some curriculum document said they had do
WHY MAKE GAMES? • a specific reason that will improve learning • develop 21st century skills, specifically: • creative thinking • critical thinking / problem solving • collaboration • not just to make things fun • not because they’re easy to make • not because of ‘stealth learning’
GAMES • feedback • give the player information about their performance • rules • challenge • gets harder • chunking • sequencing • scaffolding
GAMES • fantasy • games don’t have to be realistic • safe testing of new skill or knowledge • episodic memory – you remember better because its part of a fun and engaging activity • challenge • curiosity • fuelled by fantasy • because the game isn’t real
GAMIFICATION • Using game-based mechanics to promote learning • structural gamification • e.g. getting points for watching videos like the Khan Academy • content gamification • e.g. adding story elements to content (e.g. my learning adventures) • story, challenge, curiosity, character, interactivity, feedback, freedom to fail • stop cheating by playtesting • “It’s impossible to cheat in this game!”
SIMULATION realistic controlled risk a chance to practice behaviours experience the results of decisions best for applying learning
TYPES OF GAME ACTIVITIES • Testing game vs. teaching game • To use a testing game to teach, add lots of repetition • E.g. duolingo • Matching – e.g. trivia, hangman • Collecting / capturing games e.g. pacman, go fish • Allocating resources e.g. SimCity • Strategising (allocating resources, but against others) e.g. chess, Risk
TYPES OF GAME ACTIVITIES Building – e.g. Jenga, MineCraft Puzzle solving – e.g. Cluedo Exploring (looking for items of value) – e.g. Myst, Riven Helping e.g. Lemmings Roleplaying e.g. Dungeons and Dragons
Jesse schell – the art of game designing Theme Repetition Player’s mind Story World Characters Aesthetics Team Documents
GENERATING IDEAS • Play games! • Board games • Video games • Mobile games • but study them as you play them • Simple question games • One lesson mini-games • Change an existing game
MAKING LEARNING CENTRAL • Pre and post test students to see that the game is helping students to learn • E.g. using Google Docs and ‘flubaroo’ script that automatically marks them
PUBLISHED GAMES Timeline: historical events Axis and Allies (WWI, WWII) Civilisation PC game Stone Age
My inventions • HistorySmash: Greece • History Guess Who? • Geography games • Imperium • Mining Wars • MegaBoss • Population game • Economics game • ASX20 Sharemarket game • Simulations: • EarthCraft • Planetology • Greenville
RESOURCES • The gamification of learning and instruction fieldbook – K. Kapp, L. Blair, R. Mesch • The art of game design (a book of lenses) – J. Schell • And the free app “The Art of Game Design: A Deck of Lenses” • Play – Stuart Brown • This presentation: http://lawlesslearning.com/makinghistorygames/ • With documents for the other games referred to • Links to pages about history games • My email: benlawless8@gmail.com