PowerPoint presentation given at a workshop at the KSDE conference in Wichita, KS October 25, 2010

1. Games in Education
Doug Adams
ALTEC/4Teachers.org

2. Resources
http://www.slideshare.net/dadams.altec

3. Food Force
http://www.food-force.com

4. Why Games?
21st Century Skills

5. The Millennial Generation
“Millennials”
“Generation Y”
“N-Gen”, “Generation Next”
Oyayubizoku ( 親指族 ) =
“Thumb Tribe”
“Digital Natives”

6. The Millennial Generation
“Today’s students are no longer
the people our educational
system was designed to
teach”
Mark Prensky

7. Characteristics of Digital Natives
Active
Multi-tasking
Non-linear thinking
Ubiquity
Technical Fluency
Feedback
Individualization
Risk-taking
Collaborative

8. Tapping into 21st
Century Learners!
Henry Jenkins James Gee
2:30-3:30

9. What is a Game?
A competitive activity in which players
follow a set of rules
Competitive: Single player (player versus
self), multi-player, computer controlled player
Active: player actions affect outcomes
Rules:
Define victory conditions
Describe legal play
Differentiate games from one another

10. Simulations
Simulation: a reproduction or representation of reality
Some simulations are games
Sim City
Zoo Tycoon
“serious games”
Some simulations may not be games
Economic models
Cinematic re-enactments
Anatomical or geographical exploration
Incidental Learning – Food Force (if ready)

11. Gaming in Education
Do not, my friend, keep children to their studies by
compulsion, but by play -- Plato, Republic.
Games have been widely used in education throughout history
Athletics
Debates
Spelling bees
Classroom Jeopardy
Most common uses are assessment and practice
Incidental learning minimized

12. Gaming in Education
The 1970s saw a dramatic increase in the use of
games for educational purposes
“As the true character of gaming as a unique
communication form becomes clear, its use… will
become pervasive”
Richard Duke (1974), The Future’s Language
In the 1980s there was a focus on basic skill
development – Reader Rabbit & Math Blaster

13. Why Games?
Brain Research
The brain developed to solve
problems related to surviving in
an unstable outdoor environment
that occur in near constant motion.
John Medina, Brain Rules

14. If you wanted to create an
educational environment that is
directly opposed to what the
brain is good at doing, you would
probably design something like
the modern classroom.
John Medina, Brain Rules
Why Games?
Brain Research

15. Patterns
The human brain loves patterns. We see
patterns all around, in everyday life, in nature,
in man-made objects.
We see patterns
even when they don’t exist

20. Emotion
Our brains work best when there are emotions
involved
Excitement
Engagement
Enthusiasm
Exploration
Frustration

21. Collaboration
Our brains want to work with others

22. Games…
…provide structured
patterns
…create emotional connections
…encourage
collaboration

23. “Better theories of learning are
embedded in the video games many
children play than in the schools they
attend.”
James Paul Gee
What Video Games Have to Teach
Us About Learning and Literacy

24. What kinds of theories?
Student-centered learning
Peer teaching
Scaffolding
Feedback
Problem-solving
Empathy, role-play
Collaboration
Practice
Development of expertise
Simple machines

25. Umm, what?

26. Flow and Frustration
5:35-7:25
Flow: the mental state of operation in which
the person is fully immersed in what he or she
is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full
involvement, and success in the process of
the activity. (Mihály Csíkszentmihályi)
It's good for a player when they learn that their
failure will never depend on luck, it's all
because they strived, learned and finally
succeeded. And at the end, all the fun from
this type of game comes down to the joy of
learning

27. How Games Teach
1. Activity – a game depends on learner
not being passive
2. Engagement – longer time on task,
greater involvement, rewards
3. X2: Exploration and Experimentation –
support creativity, scientific thinking,
opportunity for (relatively consequence
free) failure

28. How Games Teach
4. Frequent achievement – smaller tasks
with individual rewards, motivating
5. Expanding competence – scaffolding
and breadcrumbs
6. No right answer
7. Working within a set of rules
8. Language – signs, symbols, slang all
promote language skills. Game literacy
= world literacy

29. How Games Teach
9. Social nature
10. Identity and empathy – students
identify with characters and situations
11. Simulation – students can explore
situations that are otherwise impossible
12. Practice – drill and repetition

30. How Games Teach
13. Application – learn and apply new
knowledge
14. Context – relationship between
objectives and game content
15. Feedback cycle – analysis > decision >
feedback > analysis

31. How Games Teach
16. Multimodal – text, images, sounds,
symbols, actions
17. Reflection – emphasis on thinking,
problem solving rather than “twitch”
18. Mastery – Experienced players teach
new players, experts become mentors
19. Challenge – game players seek out
difficult or challenging tasks

32. Limitations of Games
Content
Alignment with standards
Inaccurate information (most games aren’t
designed to be “educational” at all!)
Fidelity of simulation
Transfer of skills
Content skills
Thinking skills
Pedagogical skills
3:30-5:30

33. Challenges for Teachers
Time
Alignment with Standards
Cost
Software
Hardware
Assessment
Rubrics, participation, presentations

34. Management Strategies
Set Expectations & Parameters
Internet Safety & Guidelines
Parent Note Home
Student Contract
Rotate for Freshness
Keep Links Organized
Class blog, Delicious, Diigo
Kids suggestion box

35. Concerns about Games
They cause violence
They are just for boys
They are just for kids
“Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked” by Henry Jenkins

36. Scientific American
A pernicious excitement to learn and play _____ has spread all
over the country, and numerous clubs for playing this game have
been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It
may be asked.
We answer, _____ is a mere amusement of very inferior character,
which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to
nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the
body.
_____ has acquired a high reputation as being a means to
discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations
should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door
exercises—not this sort of mental gladiatorship.

37. Scientific American, July, 1859
A pernicious excitement to learn and play chess has spread all over
the country, and numerous clubs for playing this game have been
formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be
asked.
We answer, chess is a mere amusement of very inferior character,
which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to
nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the
body.
Chess has acquired a high reputation as being a means to
discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations
should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door
exercises—not this sort of mental gladiatorship.

38. Targeted Games
Focused goals
Ease of learning
Rapid and frequent responding
Multiplayer competitive play
Various achievement levels for individuals and teams
Choice and autonomy
Increasingly challenging tasks

39. (aka) “Skill & Drill”
Mr. Nussbaum http://www.mrnussbaum.com/
Explore for a while
Compare “true games” to “simulations” or
“activities”
Why are most games “drill and practice”?
Is this sort of activity outdated?
Is there a place for it?
Can it still be standards based?
1X1=1
2X2=4
3X3=9
4X4=16

40. ALTEC Games
http://arcademics.com/
Math and Language Arts
http://www.4kids.org/
Angles and Coordinates

41. Jerry Chaffin Theory
Rate vs. Percent Correct
Certain Types of Knowledge
Build Fluency (accuracy and speed)
Build speed, disregard accuracy
Once response rate is high, focus on accuracy
Immediate drop in speed, but quick to recover
Sensible use
Kids need foundation

42. Arcademic Skill Builders are research-based and standards-aligned multi player
and single player educational video games that engage students in drill and practice
school subjects.
The user response has been overwhelmingly positive, we have quickly grown in
popularity and now have 400,000 games played a day on our site
www.arcademics.com
We Help Make Learning Fun!
Arcademics.com

43. Of the 53 million K–12 students in the U.S.,
51 million of them (or 93%) play video
games. Arcademic Skill Builders tap into the
excitement of video games to engage
today’s students and help develop their 21st
Century Skills. Our games help improve
student performance through:
• Increased time on task
• Increased student motivation and
engagement
• Increased corrective feedback
The Arcademic games incorporate
principles of practice, cooperative learning,
corrective feedback, and reinforcement to
improve student fluency in school subjects.
Play Grand Prix Multiplication
Student Engagement
Arcademics.com

44. Arcademics is the forefront of
educational gaming for elementary
students. We now have:
• 500,000 games played a day
• 1,200,000 visitors a month,
increasing 10-15% every month for the
last 2 years
• Users from 159 countries play the
games
Site Stats
Feedback from teachers and
students has been overwhelmingly
positive. Teachers and students send
us success stories of how they’re
using the games in class. Check out
these success stories at
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.co
m/
Feedback
Arcademics.com

45. Pilot Study
Olathe KS School District
- 2 schools, 4 classrooms
- School computer labs
- Pre-test, play games for 1 week,
post-test
- Control group: Pre-test,
flashcards, post-test
Results
26%: improvement in rate (how quickly a
student correctly answers the problem)
compared to flash cards
1.8%: increase in percent correct
compared to flashcards
80%: of students improved their rate
scores
9%: improvement of percent correct in
students who scored below 80% in the
pre-test
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/nsf/pilot_study.shtml

46. Backend Development Status
Our backend product currently in
development will feature:
- Student Score Tracking
- Customized Game Content
- Differentiated Assignments
Arcademic Backend Demo lms.arcademicskillbuilders.com
- Adaptive questioning
- Item calibration
- Predictive Items
- Algorithm integration into games
IRT Algorithm
Arcademics.com
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ideas/reports_student.htm

47. Goal:
Use emerging technology games and digital
tools in after-school programs to improve
middle school mathematics achievement of
students in urban and rural schools not
making AYP.
Ratio & Proportion
Linear Equations
Data & Statistics
http://matrixgames.altec.org

48. http://matrixgames.altec.org
Plotter PenguinPlotter Penguin
Linear equations
•Coordinates
•Adding to X and Y
•Rise and run
•Slope
•Enemy boss

49. Laser Sonic Spy
Using a protractor
Reading a protractor
Estimation
Angle of reflection/
angle of approach
http://matrixgames.altec.org/

50. Vocabulary RankerVocabulary Ranker
Multiplayer
Understanding
vocabulary
Finding examples
Peer review

51. What makes a game…
Standards-Based? Worthy? Valid?
“Big Al” Biology
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/bigalgame/index.html
“Design a Planet” Planet Characteristics
http://astroventure.arc.nasa.gov/
“Bedtime Bandits” Time
http://www.mrnussbaumgames.com/bedtime_bandits/index.html
“Banana Hut” Angles
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/bananahunt/bhunt.html

52. More Game Examples
Food Force
Stop Disasters
Magic Pen
You Are the Historian
Team Treks
Third World Farmer
Minyanland
ElectroCity
Nanoquest
Real Lives
Traveler IQ
The Forbidden City
Discover Babylon
Dimension Math
Lunar Quest
Web Rangers
Peacemaker
Budget Hero
Redistricting Game

53. •Massively multiplayer online games are the fastest
growing segment of the industry
•Most popular are modeled after heroic fantasy, but
other themes are prevalent
•80% of players are over 19 years old, 60% are male
•Many worlds will support 500,00-1,000,000 players
from around the world online at any time
Virtual worlds

54. Therapeutic Applications of Virtual
Environments
Psychological
Phobias (Spider World, flying,
speaking)
Sports psychology
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Physiological
Distraction (exercise, games,
ChocolateWorld)
Pain relief (Snow World)

55. Club Penguin

56. Historical visits
Explore Colonial Williamsburg and see what life was
like at the time of the American Revolution
8:30-10:30

57. Economics in Virtual Worlds
Planning and goal setting (Club Penguin)
Auctioning and bidding systems
Virtual stock exchanges
MarketWatch
Hollywood Stock Exchange

58. Economics in Virtual Worlds
Thousands of buy and sell
transactions occur daily, as players
trade items within the game
Economic transactions impact on
real world
Real economic and social models
can be explored

59. City of Heroes
Survey of Discussion Topics 7/15/10
Speculative markets
Variants on auction strategies
Market functions and mechanics
Arbitrage
“Trading transparency”

60. Guide to Market Participation
“The instant resolution nature of the consignment house has an interesting effect on
steady-state properties of the market. Let’s suppose for a moment that the system is
seeded with a large number of random entries for both bids and postings:
(b1 b2 … bN) and
(p1 p2 … pN)
The subscripts here denote increasing denominations of currency, i.e. both the bids and
postings are sorted within their own pools.
As long as any bids are higher than any postings, the system will resolve transactions
and remove those bids and postings from play. If there are any bids and postings left,
which we would expect in many instances, there are by definition two domains in the
market afterwards:
(b1 b2 … bM) ... (pM+1 pM+2 … pN)
That is, the highest remaining bid is lower than the lowest remaining posting. In other
words, these two domains – known as the bid pool and the sell pool - are disjoint.
They have in a very tangible sense become two separate markets.”

61. Sources
Don't Bother Me Mom--I'm Learning! by Marc Prensky – Paragon House Publishers (2006)
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy by James Paul Gee – Palgrave Macmillan;
2nd edition (2007)
How Computer Games Help Children Learn by David Williamson Shaffer – Palgrave Macmillan (2008)
Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives by John Palfrey – Basic Books (2008)
Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do by
Lawrence Kutner – Simon & Schuster (2008)
Brain Rules by John Medina – Pear Press (2008) http://www.brainrules.net/
“Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked” by Henry Jenkins
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html
Federation of American Scientists - Summit on Educational Games (2006)
http://www.fas.org/gamesummit/
“Games, Motivation, and Learning” - White Paper (PDF)
http://caspianlearning.co.uk/Whtp_Games_Motivation_Learning.pdf
“You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired! Why multiplayer games may be the best kind of job training” by
John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas (Wired Magazine, April, 2006)
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/learn.html
Games in Education video by Mark Wagner and Michael Guerena of the Orange County (CA) Department of
Education's Educational Technology group -- http://video.google.com/videoplay?
docid=6117726917684965691

62. Web Sites
This Presentation – http://www.slideshare.net/dadams.altec
4Kids – http://4kids.org
Arcademic Skill Builders – http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com
Matrix Games -- http://matrixgames.altec.org/
Dimension Math (fee-based, demos online) -- http://www.dimensionm.com/
Mr. Nussbaum -- http://www.mrnussbaum.com/mathcode.htm
Oswego County School District -- http://resources.oswego.org/games/
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives – http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html
Club Penguin – http://clubpenguin.com
Virtual Stock Exchange – http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx
Hollywood Stock Exchange – http://hsx.com/
Marc Prensky’s Web site – http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/
Henry Jenkins’ blog – http://henryjenkins.org

63. Doug Adams
dadams@altec.org
http://altec.org