2013 ncss gaming presentation

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Gaming for Change: Learning about Global Issues through Serious Games Ching-Fu Lan Teachers College, Columbia University

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Page 1: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Gaming for Change: Learning about Global Issues through Serious Games

Ching-Fu Lan

Teachers College, Columbia University

Page 2: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

My Cotton Picking Life

Page 3: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Cotton-Picking in Uzbekistan

• “The government of Uzbekistan closes down schools across the country and children, teachers and other workers are forced to work on the cotton fields with little or no pay. Each child is given a daily quota and can collect up to 50kg of cotton a day. Children who fail to pick enough cotton or those who pick low-quality cotton are punished with beatings, detention or told that their grades will suffer. Children who run away from the cotton fields, or who refuse to work, are threatened with being expelled from school.”

• (from Anti-Slavery Website)

Page 4: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Experiences and Learning

• Theories of Learning

• Learning through abstract symbols (Minds as calculating machines)

• Learning through experiences

• Experiences for Effective Learning (Gee, 2007)

• Experience is structured by specific goals

• Experience is interpreted

• Getting immediate feedback during those experiences

• Ample opportunities to apply previous experiences

• Learn from the interpreted experiences and explanations of other people

Page 5: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Situated Learning Matrix

• Identity – Way of Being in the World

• Shaped by goals, norms and/or values of one’s surrounding communities

• Content Knowledge

• Certain set of skills, facts, principles and procedures

• Tools and Technologies

• Context

• Game as a goal-driven problem space that is one of a set of similar but varied problems

(Gee 2007)

Page 6: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Gaming and the Future of Learning

• Games integrate knowing and doing

• Games bring together ways of:

• Knowing (situated understanding)

• Doing (effective social practice)

• Being (powerful identities)

• Caring (shared values that make someone an expert)

• Thinking (of important communities of practice; or epistemic frame)

(Shaffer et. al 2005)

Page 7: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

New Media Literacy: Play

• Play

• From having fun to seriousness and engagement

• The player is motivated and willing to go through the grind because there is a goal or purpose that matters to the person

• Games as a tool to motivate youth to learn other kinds of content

• Games as a means of exploring and processing knowledge and of problem-solving

(Jenkins et al. 2006)

Page 8: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Games and Procedural Rhetoric

• Verbal Rhetoric = Using oratory persuasively

• Visual Rhetoric = Using images persuasively

• Procedural Rhetoric: Practice of using processes persuasively, the practice of authoring arguments through processes

• Its arguments are made not through the construction of words or images, but through the authorship of rules of behavior, the construction of dynamic models. In computation, those rules are authored in code, through the practice of programming

(Bogost 2007)

Page 9: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Gaming for Educating

• Separatist Approach

• Integrative Approach

• The Transfer of Learning Approach• Narrative Structure

• Binary Conflicts and Structure

• Role Playing

(Alexander, 2010)

Page 10: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Civilization III

• “Players must interpret and explain sequences of events in a way that makes sense of NPC movements and actions, similar, in a sense, to how a student must explain the causes of historical conflict.”

• “A general Civilization III game can be instrumental when confronting "big ideas" in a world history class. Why do empires rise and fall? What drives conflicts between competing empires? Spending a week or two playing Civilization III and documenting one's strategy will inevitably point to resource-acquisition and commercial dominance as overarching causes of historical conflicts.”

• (2013 GLSS class notes)

Page 11: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Civic Potential of Video Games

• Questions about video games and civic engagement:

• Do teens that frequently play video games have higher or lower levels of civic engagement than those who play less frequently?

• Are teens that have civic gaming experiences more committed to and engaged in civic and political activity?

• How does the social context of game play relate to teen civic engagement?

• How equitable is access to civic gaming experiences?

(Kahne et al. 2009)

Page 12: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Effective Civic Activities

• Simulate civic and political activities

• Voluntarily help others

• Help guide or direct a given organization or group

• Learn how governmental, political, economic, and legal systems work

• Take part in open discussions of ethical, social, and political issues

• Participate in clubs or organizations where young people have the opportunity to practice productive group norms and to form social networks

Page 13: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Civic Gaming Activities

• Helping or guiding other players

• Playing games where one learns about a problem in society

• Playing games that explore a social issue the player cares about

• Playing a game where the player has to think about moral or ethical issues

• Playing a game where the player helps make decisions about how a community, city or nation should be run.

• Organizing game groups or guilds

Page 14: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Serious Games

• Serious video games, according to game producer and founder of Games for Change (G4C) Barry Joseph (2010), simulate the real world, motivate players, require decision-making, and ultimately, educated them about an issue

• Serious video games manifest in a variety of forms, from simulation training for combat to global warming policy-making to role-player games that involve being a journalist in a war situation

(Gaudelli 2010)

Page 15: 2013 NCSS Gaming Presentation

Half the Sky Movement