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Confrontation Between Two Perspectives

Confrontation Between Two Perspectives. !. ?. On Learning from Games. Today’s Articles. Mayo, M. J. (2007). Games for science and engineering education. Communication of ACM, 50 (7), 31-35.

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Confrontation Between Two Perspectives

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  1. Confrontation Between Two Perspectives ! ? On Learning from Games

  2. Today’s Articles • Mayo, M. J. (2007). Games for science and engineering education. Communication of ACM, 50(7), 31-35. • Clark, R. E. (2007). Point of View: Learning from serious games? Arguments, Evidence, and Research Suggestions. Educational Technology, May-June 2007.

  3. Merrilea J. Mayo • The Crisis of Engineering and Science Education • The Potential Role of Video Games • Massive reach • Effective learning paradigms • Enhanced brain chemistry • Time on task • Learning outcomes data • Video Games as a “Bronze Bullet”

  4. 1 73 The rate of choosing science and engineering major as their bachelor's degree (NSF, 2002) 91 Rank Merrilea J. Mayo The Crisis 73

  5. Merrilea J. Mayo The Crisis By 2010, 90% of the world’s Ph.D. scientists and engineers will be Asians living in Asia. – Rick Smalley, Nobel Laureate (Chemistry) 90

  6. Merrilea J. Mayo The Crisis In the world in math: In the world in Science: 12th Graders:22nd The 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and Program for International Students Assessment tests Only a portion of US k-12 students are well-prepared for a college career in math, science, or engineering.

  7. Merrilea J. Mayo The Crisis 50% of self-declared engineering majors in a national sample of four-year institutions drop out. The first year instructional experience, tending to discourage individuals from pursuing science and engineering. Almost all of them (98%) cite “poor teaching (the lecture format) by faculty” as a major concern. Force Concept Inventory (FCI): What is surprising about the result is not that mass lectures are an intrinsically poor learning vehicle but that the quality of the lecturer matters not at all. WHY?

  8. Over 250,000 subscribers 5,000,000 subscribers Downloaded 800,000 times 400,000 bachelor’s of science and engineering students 21% of graduating bachelor’s degree holder engineers 38% of computer and console game players Merrilea J. Mayo The Potential 1. Massive Reach

  9. Merrilea J. Mayo The Potential 2. Effective Learning Paradigms Experimental learning (If you do it, you learn it) Inquiry-based learning (What happens when I do this?) Self-efficacy (If you believe you can do it, you’ll try longer/harder, and you’ll succeed more often than you would otherwise) Goal setting (You learn more if you are working toward a well-defined goal) Cooperation (Team leaning) Continuous feedback, tailored instruction, cognitive modeling

  10. Merrilea J. Mayo - The Potential 3. Enhanced brain chemistry A 1998 Study found that playing video games stimulates subtantial dopamine release Dopamine is a chemical precursor to the memory storage event

  11. Merrilea J. Mayo - The Potential 4. Time on task • Compelling video games that could also deliver educational content would double the time spent learning at home. • A numerical methods course taught using a race-car game as the “homework” resulted in students spending roughly twice the time working on the course outside of class compared to other mechanical engineering courses.

  12. Merrilea J. Mayo - The Potential 5. Learning Outcome Data (1) Squire, K, et al. (2004) - Learning electrostatics • The 32 students in the control group improved their understanding by 15% over their pretest scores; the 58 students who played the game improved their understanding by 28%. • Among girls, the control group improved on their pretest scores by only 5% and the game group by 23%.

  13. Merrilea J. Mayo - The Potential 5. Learning Outcome Data (2) McClean, P. et al. (2001) - Learning geology and cell biology Lectures produced the lowest learning outcomes Web-presented information: not statistically significant (geology) 13%–30% (cell biology). Games: 15%–40% (Geography Explorer - geology) 30%–63% (Virtual Cell – cell biology)

  14. Merrilea J. Mayo - Conclusion Video games have the potential to directly provide massive parallel education in science and engineering. Scale. Anytime. Compelling. Brain chemistry. Better than a lecture. While they will never be a silver bullet for science and engineering education, video games have the potential to be, perhaps, a bronze bullet.

  15. Richard E. Clark • A brief view • A few problems • Some suggestions • Possible application of games

  16. Richard E. Clark - A Brief View Games are enormously popular among adolescents and young adults. Advocates for games suggest that they are highly motivating vehicles that could support learning, problem solving, and collaborative skills. HOWEVER…

  17. Richard E. Clark - A Brief View Use of games for education is apparently not widespread at this point. BECAUSE… Educational decision-makers may, out of bias and/or a lack of understanding, discount or discourage an investment in serious games and so ignore an innovative way to motivate, teach, and train. QUESTIONS… The development cost of serious video games is considerable

  18. Richard E. Clark - A Brief View Do people who play serious games learn enough from them to justify the investment when games are tested against viable and less expensive alternative ways to teach the same knowledge and skills? Do games motivate players to learn more than other, less expensive alternatives? Are some skills or knowledge most effectively and/or efficiently taught via serious games?

  19. Richard E. Clark - A Few Problems Common conclusion of empirical researches on learning and motivation from serious games People who play serious games often learn how to play the game and some factual knowledge related to the game. BUT There is NO evidence in the existing studies that games teach anyone anything that could not be learned some other, less expensive, and more effective way.

  20. Richard E. Clark - A Few Problems Reviews of serious games Chen and O’Neil (2005) and O’Neil, Wainess, and Baker (2005)

  21. Richard E. Clark - A Few Problems They provide a detailed analysis of the learning and transfer measures used in all 19 studies and concluded that “…positive findings regarding the educational benefits of games…can be attributed to instructional design and not to games per se. Also…many studies claiming positive outcomes appear to be making unsupported claims for the media” (O’Neil et al., pp. 461–462).

  22. Richard E. Clark - A Few Problems All of the methods used in games could (and have) been used effectively in non-game instructional programs and are not unique to games. None of the peer reviewed studies reported compelling evidence that games produced significantly more learning or motivation than other instructional platforms (Gredler, 1996). .

  23. Richard E. Clark - A Few Problems Hayes (2005) “…the research shows no instructional advantages of games over the other instructional approaches (such as lectures)…. The research does not allow us to conclude that games are more effective than other well designed instructional activities” Only poorly designed studies find learning benefits from games.

  24. Richard E. Clark - A Few Problems Existing Serious Games Researches tend to IGNORE most of the issues • Prior Knowledge Differences Are Important • Comparing Games with Nothing Is Useless • Serious Games Are Often Confused with Simulations • Opinions About Learning and Motivation Are not Reliable • Pedagogy Decisions Are Critical

  25. Richard E. Clark - Suggestions Suggestions for the Design of Serious Game Studies • Comparison Treatments • Measurement • Game Pedagogy • Cost-Benefit Ratios

  26. Richard E. Clark - Conclusion The evidence is solidly against the proposition that games will replace direct instruction. If we can accept that evidence, we might be able to consider other potentially valuable applications. Games designed to support transfer are IDEAL vehicles to motivate people to practice and accept corrective feedback.

  27. Discussion Where are you? Do you agree with Mayo or Clark? Why? What is the unique features that only video games have for education? Is there any other considerable ways to solve the current crisis of science and engineering education? If we accept the point of view of Clark, why do people (or should we) research video games instead of seeking other alternative methods that are cheaper or more effective? Any other questions?

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