Nicolas Balacheff, juin 2010, séminaire MeTAH

Maintream Vs Learning gamesLitterature review in games and learning, Kirriemuir, Ceangal, McFarlane, 2004, Futurelab

widely known as computer and/or video games developed solely for fun for the user and to maximise profit for the publisher

typically developed for PCs and video games consoles. Contemporary titles usually require the most powerful hardware currently available

increasingly developed in relatively simplistic format for mobile telephones

typically sophisticated in terms of graphics, interface and complexity; production budgets similar to small to medium sized film budgets

marketed directly to games players as being fun and exciting, graphically superb, the best game of its particular genre

uses high review scores in games magazines and tie-ins with other media as marketing aids

historically known as ‘edutainment’, though negative associations with this word mean it is largely avoided by contemporary games publishers

almost exclusively produced for the PC; very few titles for the Mac or dedicated games consoles

games are more simplistic, are produced in a range of formats, eg Flash, Shockwave, Java, Visual Basic

most titles are designed for sole-user, offline play.

development costs are typically a fraction of those of major pure digital games

not typically marketed to users, instead marketed mainly to parents and teachers

marketed as being accurate, relevant to formal curriculum, developing specific skills/knowledge

uses recommendations from teacher, parent and educational organizations as marketing aids

Don’t follow videogames Digital games in education, the design of game-based learning environments, Gros, 2007, JRTE Teachers witness that games contribute to the

development of a large variety of strategies that are important for learning (experimentation, reflection, activity, discussion)

The main disadvantage is the amount of time it takes from both the learners and the teacher

Difficulty to identify how a particular game is relevant to some component of the curriculum, as well as the appropriateness of the content within the game

Game designers are not concerned with the accuracy of contents of games and they are sometimes capable of producing contradiction or erroneous concepts

Review in games and learningMoving learning games forward, Klopfer, Osterwell & Salen, 2009, MIT The education Arcade Common ideas

(1) games are motivating (2) game leverage creativity (3) schools are resistant to games

Learning games can be fun and have a mass market appeal Educational games need not replicate expensive 3D graphics

Claims (a) games can engage players in learning that is curriculum relevant (b) there are means by which teachers can balance school and play.

Barriers: assessment, evidence, uses (pedagogical integration), speed of change, maintenance, limited pedagogical paradigm, limited research and ambition, limited funding.

Review in games and learningRef: Moving learning games forward, Klopfer, Osterwell & Salen, 2009, MIT The education Arcade Making a game is not representing some ideas in

a virtual world […] the critical aspects arefeedback, structure, goals, paths to

progress Design principles (some)

Put learning and game play first there may be some set of constraints on the technology and the learning outcomes that are unchangeable, the combination may just not work

Find the game in the content an education game should put players in touch with what is fundamentally engaging about the subject / however the game does not simply teach the subject matter

Define the learning goals do games help kids learn, is the wrong question (too broad, the game does not act alone, the question does not tell what is assessed).

Analysing learning outcomesActivity theory and learning from digital games, developing an analytical methodology, Oliver & Pelletier, 2006 The restriction of

learning to the level of the system means that nothing can be said about the learner

[… instead speak of …]properties attributed to

the subject Three levels of analysis

activity (strategic) action (tactical) operation (operational)

Analysing learning outcomesActivity theory and learning from digital games, developing an analytical methodology, Oliver & Pelletier, 2006

Contradictions the most likely to indicate individual learning are those that are resolved

- between an individual and the Tool- between an individual and the Rules

Analysing learning outcomesActivity theory and learning from digital games, developing an analytical methodology, Oliver & Pelletier, 2006 Learning to use a tool skillfully Learning about the properties of in-game objects Learning about game conventions Learning about space within the game

Issue of the identification and interpretation of the behaviors assuming the intention of the learner

(eg learning as getting information Vs learning as acquisition of knowledge)

At least there is the learning how to play and becoming more skillful and learning the rules of the game

A framework for evaluation (and design)How can exploratory learning with games and simulations within the curriculum be most effectively evaluated?, de Freitas & Oliver, 2006, Computer in Education Any game has a simulation dimension… The central role of Diagesis: the world

within the narrative film, the story board

In educational context there is a need to enter the “other world” of the game & to be reflexive and critical towards this process

“debriefing”its lack can provoke a mismatch between

game-play and education-curriculum

A framework for evaluation (and design)How can exploratory learning with games and simulations within the curriculum be most effectively evaluated?, de Freitas & Oliver, 2006, Computer in Education

“Game” the key modeling tool “Modeling a teaching situation consists of producing

a game specific to the target knowledge among different subsystems: the educational system, the student system, the milieu, etc.” (p.47)

“To consider the teacher as a player faced with a system, itself built up from a pair of systems: the student and, let us say for the moment, a ‘milieu’ that lacks any didactical intentions with regards to the student” (p.40)

“In the student’s game with the milieu,knowledge is the means of understanding the ground rules and strategies and, later,the means of elaborating winning strategies and obtaining the results being sought” (p.40)

The game must allow a representation of all situations […] so long as they manage to make the students learn one form of the target knowledge” (p.48)

“Game” the key modeling toolG1: situations in which “decisions and actions […] are determined only by pleasure [either derived] from accomplishing them, [or derived] from their effect”

G2: “organization of this activity within a system of rules defining a success and a failure, a gain or a loss”

G3: “whatever is used for playing, the instruments of the game”

G4: “the way in which one plays”G5: “the set of possible positions from among

which the player can choose in a given state of the [G2-game]”

(pp.48-49)

The game of adaptation: issues “Is knowing this property the only way of shifting from a given strategy to another one?

“why should the student look for a way of replacing this strategy with that one?

“what cognitive motivation leads to the production of such-and-such a formulation of a property or to such-and-such a mathematical proof?

“Is the given reason for producing this knowledge better, more correct, more accessible or more effective than any other reason?”

(pp. 47-48)

Paradox raised by the TSD1. Paradox of the devolution of situations (p.41) result

from the tensions between the necessary student autonomy and the teacher responsibility to teach which is known from both. The teacher must refrain from teaching even if the student asks for it.

2. Paradox of the adaptation of situation (p.42) the knowledge appropriated by adaptation may be…

1. Maladjusted to correctness2. Maladjusted to a later adaptation

3. Paradox of learning by adaptation (p.44-45) 1. Negation of knowledge: knowledge deems to be trivial2. Destruction of the cause of knowledge: lost of motivation

4. Paradox of the actor (p.46) “[the knowledge] whose text already exists is no longer a direct production of the teacher, it is a cultural object, quoted and re-quoted”

“Game” the key modeling toolGame1: situations

determined by / associated to pleasure

Game2: organization of the activity within a system of rules

Game3: instruments of the game

Game4: the way in which one plays

Game5: the set of possible positions

playermilieu

game (meaning 3 and 5)

game (meaning 2)

Stake, function of reference

informationpredicted state

action, decisiongame (meaning 4)

constraints of the milieu

player's rules; strategies, knowledge

formal rules

game (meaning 1)

“Game” the key modeling tool

(A) formalisation of the game1.X set of distinct “positions”, J set of players

2.rules of the game [Γ : X → P(X)]

3.initial state I and final states F

4.turn taking [θ : JxX→ J]

5.gain, stake, preference [F AX f: A → R]

playermilieu

game (meaning 3 and 5)

game (meaning 2)

Stake, function of reference

informationpredicted state

action, decisiongame (meaning 4)

constraints of the milieu

player's rules; strategies, knowledge

formal rules

game (meaning 1)

Round : a finite sequence of states (from I to F).Strategy : any mapping X→X that determines choices from permissible statesTactic : strategy defined on a subset A of XPlayer 's state of knowing : mapping of X →Γ(X) such that [x C(x)Γ(X)]Determining knowledge reduces the player’s choice to a single stateAcquisition of knowledge is a modification of the state of knowing

“Game” the key modeling tool

(A) formalisation of the game1.X set of distinct “positions”, J set of players

2.rules of the game [Γ : X → P(X)]

3.initial state I and final states F

4.turn taking [θ : JxX→ J]

5.gain, stake, preference [F AX f: A → R]

Round : a finite sequence of states…Strategy : any mapping X→X that…Tactic : strategy defined on a subset A of X…Player 's state of knowing : mapping of X …Determining knowledge reduces …Acquisition of knowledge is a modification of…

(B) Formalization of knowledge1.A set of premises2.Representation of objects and relations3.Construction of objects and relations4.Statements”about”5.Criteria of validity of “statements”

An acknowledged reference today is : Fudenberg D., Levine D. K. (1998) The theory of learning in games. The MIT Press. The limitation Brousseau makes in his choice of a game type is the same in that classical book.