Gaming the Future of Science Learning

Eric Klopfer · Bob Coulter · Wendy Huang · Judy Perry · Hal Scheintaub · Josh Sheldon · Daniel Wendel

Fri., June 12, 11:00–12:30, Old Madison (3rd floor, East/Southeast)

Research initiatives undertaken by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Missouri Botanical Garden are exploring the ways in which gaming platforms can transcend edutainment and promote more meaningful learning. Using model-based reasoning in StarLogo TNG and simulated investigations through Augmented Reality (AR) software, researchers and designers are collaborating to create environments in which students and teachers engage in deep content. Instead of sugar-coating learning to make it palatable, TNG and AR projects leverage Papert’s concept of "Hard Fun" to motivate students to develop rich conceptual networks that integrate mathematics, science, and technology.

A major strand of this research and development effort is the construction of the scaffolding needed to help students become designers of games. Preliminary research shows that as they make this move from being discerning players to becoming designers of game experiences, both motivation and underlying conceptual understanding improve. In particular, certain areas of the curriculum that are inaccessible to traditional practices, such as model based reasoning, understanding of scientific roles, and the intersection of science and engineering, become central when students become designers. The desire to engineer a good game and win the approbation of their peers stimulates focus and effort well beyond a teacher’s grade or vague promises of needing to understand science “for when they grow up."

In this symposium, three examples drawn from the research testbed illustrate common themes and unique affordances of specific projects. In addition, the discussant will provide a framing context and offer insight into potential future evolution of the work.

• Middle school students engaged in a workshop series using StarLogo TNG simulations and games to learn about forest fires and epidemics. In some activities, students used scientific inquiry to develop winning strategies for simulation-backed games. In others, students programmed behaviors to complete a game or simulation. Students were asked to design levels for a forest fire game as a way to synthesize their learning and to serve as a performance assessment.
• Newton’s Second Law of Motion was the curricular focus for a game design unit in two levels of high school physics. Building and executing code for the game helped students grasp the functional relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. Changing force and mass values changed the motion of an agent. In the game, those changes had consequences that helped drive the learning to a depth that could not be achieved through structured labs and problem solving alone.
• Through the Local Investigations of Natural Science (LIONS) program, middle school students in Missouri are using AR simulations to investigate local water quality issues, and in turn, are developing original AR games to teach younger students about environmental stewardship in their community. This linking of technology and first-hand experience opens new avenues for field-based learning.