Games, play and virtual worlds

There is wide interest in the educational and motivational use of games and virtual worlds, but evidence is often lacking. We are researching several important questions in this area. What do people learn from playing games? Can we design playful, challenging learning experiences? What is it like to teach in a virtual world? How do people participate and express themselves in these contexts? How should these experiences be integrated with other forms of learning and teaching? Such questions are explored in relation to settings as diverse as packages developed for curriculum areas like mathematics through to commercial massively-multiplayer online games.

Learning Patterns Print

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Project Co-Director
Niall Winters

 yishay_mor

 

 

 

Project Co-Director
Yishay Mor

Project Details
1 year, Kaleidoscope project, 7 European partners
 

Keywords
Game design, Maths education

Project website

Learning patterns for the design & deployment of mathematical games

School mathematics is often dominated by traditional, abstract formulation that is inaccessible to most students. The result of this is a common alienation of mathematical knowledge and reluctance of students to engage with the subject.
Computer games are emerging as an exciting alternative to traditional methods of mathematics learning. Yet, while there have been many worthwhile achievements, the design and deployment of pedagogically sound games with a wide appeal has proved illusive.
Designing games for mathematical learning is a difficult task. It requires the assimilation and integration of design knowledge from diverse domains of expertise including mathematics, games development, software engineering, learning and teaching.
The complexity of each of these bodies of knowledge means that it is hard to communicate ideas between parties. Each community has developed its own lore and jargon. As a result, most games emerge from a particular, often restricted viewpoint.

Our goals are to:
• Develop a set of learning patterns as a tool for communication between the various communities involved in the development process.
• Enable the open and distributed sharing of design knowledge.
• Promote a culture of collaborative design grounded in practice and practice informed by design.

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A screenshot of the online typology tool
(http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org/outcomes/typologies)

References

Yishay Mor and Niall Winters (2007). Design approaches in technology enhanced learning. Interactive Learning Environments, Taylor & Francis, 15(1):61-75. PDF
Mor, Y., Winters, N., Cerulli, M. and Björk, S (2006) Literature review on the use of games in mathematical learning, Part I: Design. Project Deliverable.
Alexopoulou, E., Bennerstedt, U., Childs, M., Jonker, V., Kynigos, C., Pratt, D., and Wijers, M. (2006) Literature review on the use of games in mathematical learning, Part II: Deployment. Project Deliverable.
Winters, N. et al (2006). Typologies for learning patterns for mathematical games. Project Deliverable.

Last Updated ( Thursday, 14 June 2007 )
 
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