Games in 2006

Games (and play) andscience communication

What we can learn from games and

how we might even use games

to communicate science

D Goforth, Jan 26, 2006 3

Outline

• Why games?

D Goforth, Jan 26, 2006 4

Why games?

1Successful games are

free choice activitiesthat can

attract and hold

participants’ attention.

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Why games?

2Rules, play, culture;

Games can create the contexts

that influence learning.

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Eight Key Factorsthat influence Learning1

Personal context1. Motivation and expectations2. Prior knowledge, interests, and beliefs3. Choice and control

Sociocultural context4. Within-group sociocultural mediation5. Facilitated mediation by others

Physical context6. Advance organizers7. Design8. Reinforcing events and experiences outside the

museum1: Learning from Museums,Falk and Dierking, 2000, p.148

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Why games?

3Games are about learning.

“Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles

that makes games fun.

In other words, with games, learning is the drug.”

(Koster, 2005, p.40)

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Why games?

4Games have deep structure.

“…these eight factors (Why games? #2) help us know more about () how visitors learn;

they tell us relatively little about what visitors learn.”

Falk and Dierking, 2000, p.149

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Deep structure

‘real’ system

• in a state

action

• new state

shallow representation

• representation of state

deep representation

• representation of state

representation of action

• representation of new state

D Goforth, Jan 26, 2006 10

Deep Structure range

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1. Meaningful play

• descriptive analysis:– factual definition of what happens in game– player action relates to system response

• evaluative analysis:– judging effectiveness of action-response to

create emotional experience– discernable – responses are apparent to player

(Suchman)– integrated – response has influence on further

play and outcome

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Salen and Zimmerman, p.34

• “Meaningful play occurs when the relationships between actions and outcomes in a game are both discernable and integrated into the larger context of the game. Creating meaningful play is the goal of successful game design.”

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2. Defining Games

• no standard definition• features proposed by

various writers:– rules that limit players– conflict– goal orientation– activity– involves decision-making– absorbing but not serious– not associated with material

gain– artificial / safe

– outside ordinary life– creates social groups– voluntary– uncertainty– make-believe /

representational– inefficient– system of parts,

resources, tokens– art form

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The Magic Circle

• games exist within a magic circle with an explicit boundary– players agree to be in the magic circle – the

lusory attitude – so play can occur– within the circle, rules create special meanings

(for symbols, tokens, actions) that guide play– as a rule system, a game is closed– as a play system, a game is open / closed– as a culture system, a game is open

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Sample sites to analyze

• http://www.scienceworld.ca/teachers_outreach/play_online/bw_games.htm

multiple choice game of organs• http://www.poissonrouge.com/puzzler/inde

x.htm kid’s puzzles

• http://www.tryscience.org/grid/offline/offline.html forest file etc

• http://www.exploratorium.edu/hockey/shooting1.html shooting puck