1) The document discusses the educational benefits of games compared to traditional lectures. It finds that games yield higher learning gains, especially when used over multiple sessions and when students work in groups. 2) Elements of games that contribute to learning include challenge, narrative/story, characters/avatars, and first-person versus third-person perspective. Including these elements can influence behavior and attitudes. 3) Successful educational games are embedded within the curriculum, include debriefing and feedback, and meet specific learning objectives. Examples show games improving math skills and influencing pro-social behaviors.

2. Where is the “learning” in games?
Karl Kapp
Professor: Bloomsburg University
Author: Gamification of Learning and
Instruction
Twitter:@kkapp

3. Related Resources…
Lynda.com Course: Gamification of LearningYouTube Video
Web Site:www.karlkapp.com
Books

4. Co-Founder Game
Development
Company.
www.2klearning.com

5. For:
Notes/Slides
Additional Ideas
www.karlkapp.com
www.karlkapp.com/kapp-notes

6. Why might an educator use
games for learning?

7. Why might an educator use
lectures for learning?

8. Lectures are NOT effective for
fostering higher level thinking?
Gibbs, G., (1981). Twenty Terrible Reasons for Lecturing, SCED Occasional Paper No. 8, Birmingham.
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/20reasons.html and Bligh, D., (1972). What’s the Use of Lectures? Penguin.
Bloom, B. S., (1953). “Thought Processes in Lectures and Discussions.” Journal of General Education Vol. 7.
Isaacs, G., (1994). “Lecturing Practices and Note-taking Purposes.” Studies in Higher Education, 19:2.

9. During lectures students'
thoughts involved
attempting to solve
problems, or synthesize
or inter-relate
information for 1% of the
time.
78% of the lecture
is spent in ‘passive
thoughts about
the subject’ and
‘irrelevant
thoughts’.

10. 21 studies found
lecturing to be less
effective than:
discussion, reading
and individual work in
class.
Lectures are not a very
effective way of teaching…
if the aim is to teach
thinking, or to change
attitudes or other higher
aims beyond the simple
transmission of factual
knowledge.

11. Instruction with learning
games yields higher gains
in learning and retention
than traditional instruction.
Statistics are from: Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness of computer-based simulation games.
Personnel Psychology .Review of 65 studies
Confirmed findings (not statistics): Wouters, P., van Nimwegen, C., van Oostendorp, H., & vam der S[el. E.D. (2013), February 4). A
Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and Motivational Effects of Serious Games. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advanced online
publication. Doi: 10.1037/a0031311 39 Studies. Review of 39 studies 54% conducted in the last year.

12. Type of
Knowledge
/Retention
% Higher
Declarative 11%
Procedural 14%
Retention 9%
Percentages of Impact Over
Traditional Training

13. Type of
Knowledge
/Retention
% Higher
Declarative 11%
Procedural 14%
Retention 9%
Percentages of Impact Over
Traditional Training
17% Higher than
Lectures
5% Higher than
Discussion

14. Percentages of Impact
Type of
Knowledge
/Retention
% Higher
Declarative 11%
Procedural 14%
Retention 9%
It wasn’t the game, it was level
of activity in the game.
In other words, the engagement
of the learner in the game leads
to learning.

15. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics
Scott Freemana,1, Sarah L. Eddya, Miles McDonougha, Michelle K. Smithb, Nnadozie Okoroafora, Hannah Jordta,
and Mary Pat Wenderotha. PNAS Early Edition (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

16. Games can promote pro-
social behaviors.

19. First Experiment indicated that playing the
game Darfur is Dying resulted in a greater
willingness to help the Darfurian people than
reading a text conveying same information.
Peng, W., Lee, M., & Heeter. (2010) The effects of a serious game on role taking and willingness to help. Journal of
Communications. 60, 723-724. Chapter 5 of “The Gamificaiton of Learning and Instruction.

20. Second Experiment indicated that playing
the game Darfur is Dying resulted in a
greater role taking and willingness to help
than either game watching or text reading.
Peng, W., Lee, M., & Heeter. (2010) The effects of a serious game on role taking and willingness to help. Journal of
Communications. 60, 723-724. Chapter 5 of “The Gamificaiton of Learning and Instruction.

21. Fostering Pro-Social
Behavior
Greitemeyer, T. & Osswald, S. (2010) Effective of Prosocial games on prosocial behavior.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 98 . No. 2., 211-221.

22. 28% helped to
pick up pencils

23. 33% helped to
pick up pencils

24. 67% helped to
pick up pencils

25. City Crisis

26. 22% intervened

27. 56% intervened

28. Games Must be Embedded
into the Curriculum to be
Effective for Learning.

29. Engagement
PedagogyGame
Educational
Simulation
Instructional games should be embedded in
instructional programs that include
debriefing and feedback.
Instructional support to help learners
understand how to use the game increases
instructional effectiveness of the gaming
experience.
Hays, R. T. (2005). The effectiveness of instructional games: A literature review and
discussion. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (No 2005-004). Chapter 4
“The Gamification of Learning and Instruction.”
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .Review of 65 studies

30. Example
Wouters, P., van Nimwegen, C., van Oostendorp, H., & van der Sek E.D. (2013), (February 4).
A Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and Motivational Effects of Serious Games. Journal of Educational Psychology.
Advanced online publication. Doi: 10.1037/a0031311 39 Studies.

31. Games are more effective
than traditional instruction
when multiple sessions are
involved.

32. Conventional instruction for a one-off is better vs. one game session
Multiple game sessions better than
multiple conventional sessions
Wouters, P., van Nimwegen, C., van Oostendorp, H., & vam der S[el. E.D. (2013), February 4).
A Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and Motivational Effects of Serious Games. Journal of Educational Psychology.
Advanced online publication. Doi: 10.1037/a0031311 39 Studies.

33. Games are more effective
than traditional instruction
when players work in groups.

34. With serious games, both learners playing
individually and those playing in a group learn
more than the comparison group, but learners
who play serious games in a group learn more
Wouters, P., van Nimwegen, C., van Oostendorp, H., & vam der S[el.
E.D. (2013), February 4). A Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and
Motivational Effects of Serious Games. Journal of Educational
Psychology. Advanced online publication. Doi: 10.1037/a0031311
39 Studies.

35. While playing a game,
learners will voluntarily do
harder problems and work.

36. A math facts game deployed on a handled computer
encouraged learners to complete greater number of
problems at an increased level of difficulty.
Learners playing the handheld game completed
nearly 3 times the number of problems in 19 days
and voluntarily increased the level of difficulty.
Lee, J., Luchini, K., Michael, B., Norris, C., & Soloway, E. (2004). More than just fun and games:
Assessing the value of educational video games in the classroom. Paper presented at the CHI '04
Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vienna, Austria.

37. What elements of games lead
to learning?

38. Challenge
Jones, B., Valdez, G., Norakowski, J., & Rasmussen, C. (1994). Designing learning and technology
for educational reform. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. [Online]. Available:
http://www.ncrtec.org/capacity/profile/profwww.htm and Schlechty, P. C. (1997). Inventing
better schools: An action plan for educational reform. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Chapter 2
“The Gamification of Learning and Instruction.”

39. First Person View
Perspective

40. Third Person View
Carey, B. (2007) This is Your Life (and How You Tell it). The New York Times. And Sestir, M. & Green, M. C. (2010). You
are who you watch: Identification and transportation effects on temporary self-concept. Social Influence, 5, 272-288
and research by Libby, L.K., Shaeffer, E.M., Eibach, R.P., & Slemmer, J.A. ( 2007) Picture yourself at the polls: Visual
perspective in mental imagery affects self-perception and behavior. Psychological Science. Vol. 18: 199-203.

41. Third Person View
Carey, B. (2007) This is Your Life (and How You Tell it). The New York Times. And Sestir, M. & Green, M. C. (2010). You
are who you watch: Identification and transportation effects on temporary self-concept. Social Influence, 5, 272-288
and research by Libby, L.K., Shaeffer, E.M., Eibach, R.P., & Slemmer, J.A. ( 2007) Picture yourself at the polls: Visual
perspective in mental imagery affects self-perception and behavior. Psychological Science. Vol. 18: 199-203.
“Seeing oneself as acting in a movie or a play is not
merely fantasy or indulgence; it is fundamental to
how people work out who it is they are, and may
become.” Ben Casey

42. Rosenberg, R.S. Baughman, S.L., Bailenson, J.N. (2013) Virtual Superheroes:
Using Superpowers in Virtual Reality to Encourage Prosocial Behavior. PLOS One., 8(1), 1-9.
Flying around a virtual world
as a superhero made subjects
nicer in the real world. physical
world
Characters

43. Why be a Character at
All?
Research indicates that human
social models influence behavior,
beliefs and attitudes.
Bandura, A. 1986 Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA: Prentice-Hall.

44. Avatar as Teacher
Research indicates that learners perceive, interact
socially with and are influenced by anthropomorphic
agents (avatars) even when their functionality and
adaptability are limited.
Baylor, A. 2009 Promoting motivation with virtual agents and avatars: R ole of visual presence and appearance. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal B Society. 364, 3559–3565

45. Story

46. Researchers have found that the
human brain has a natural affinity for
narrative construction.
Yep, People tend to remember facts
more accurately if they encounter
them in a story rather than in a list.
And they rate legal arguments as more
convincing when built into narrative
tales rather than on legal precedent.
Carey, B. (2007) this is Your Life (and How You Tell it). The New York Times. Melanie Green
http://www.unc.edu/~mcgreen/research.html. Chapter 2 “The Gamification of Learning and
Instruction.

47. Game Examples

48. Timez
Attack

50. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2013/07/01/it-only-takes-about-42-minutes-to-learn-algebra-with-video-games/
Dragon Box 2
Students who played at least 1.5 hours, 92.9%
achieved mastery. Of those students who
played at least 1 hour, 83.8% achieved mastery.
Of those students who played at least 45
minutes, 73.4% achieved mastery.

51. DimensionM educational video game series for math

52. Students in the experimental group who played the Tabula Digita video
games over an 18 week period scored significantly higher on district math
benchmark tests than students in the control group who did not play the
video games (p<.001). In fact, the increase in scores for the test group was
more than double the increase in score for the control group.

53. http://iit.bloomu.edu/NSFGame.html
http://www.gaming2learn.org/

56. Group
Group Results by
Assessment
Pre Post Final
Game
Mean
.378
5
.447 .5136
Std. Deviation .167 .168 .169
N 140 125 100
Task
Mean
Rating
Before
Mean
Rating
After
Difference
After-
Before
Calculate volume of 3-D shape 2.83 4.00 1.17
Calculate surface area of 3-D shape 2.33 3.83 1.50
Understand concept of conductivity and heat
flow
1.50 3.82 2.32
Understand relationship between conductivity
& heat flow.
1.17 3.17 2.00
Apply heat flow formula 1.00 3.33 2.33
Understand difference between dead and live
load
1.50 3.33 1.83
Survival Master Results

57. How to embed learning into a
game: Example.

62. 1) An instructional game will only be effective if it is designed to meet
specific instructional objectives and was designed as it was intended.
2) While playing a game, learners will voluntarily do harder problems and
work.
3) Instruction with serious games yields higher learning gains than
conventional instruction.
4) Games are more effective than traditional instruction when players work
in groups.
5) Games are more effective than traditional instruction when multiple
sessions are involved.
6) Games Must be Embedded into the Curriculum to be Effective for
Learning.
7) Games can influence people to behave in a pro-social manner.
Take-Away

63. Questions And Resources
www.karlkapp.com/kapp-notes
Karl M. Kapp
Twitter: @kkapp
Email: kkapp@bloomu.edu
BLOG: http://karlkapp.com/kapp-notes/
Content torn from the
pages.
Lynda.com Course: Gamification of Learning

64. Questions/More Information
• Email: kkapp@bloomu.edu
• Email: karlkapp@gmail.com
• Game Web Site: www.2klearning.com
• Twitter: @kkapp
• Pinterest: Gamification Happenings
• BLOG: http://karlkapp.com/kapp-notes/
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gamificationLI