Virtualized Games for Teaching About Distributed Systems
Published December 14th, 2009
Category
By joel
Topics
“…Given the importance of distributed systems for the next decade of computing and beyond, it is critical that computer science educators train students who can understand such systems and contribute to their evolution…”
A copy of the Paper presented at the The 40th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education by Joel Wein.
Educational Game Design Pattern Candidates
Published December 10th, 2009
Category White Papers
By Helen Zhen Zeng , Jan L Plass and Bruce
Topics design pattern, game design,
The NYU/CUNY team (Jan L. Plass, Catherine Milner, and Bruce Homer) conducted three months of research in an NYC middle school from April – June 2009. This preliminary research indicates several game design elements that either engaged players or that increased players’ levels of experienced fun.
NYU CREATE releases Molecules & Minds final report
Published November 2nd, 2009
Category Publications
By Jan L Plass
Topics Cognition, Design, Multimedia learning, Science Education, Science visualization, Simulation,
The NYU CREATE Consortium for Research and Evaluation of Advanced Technologies in Education today released the final report for the IES funded 2005-2009 research grant Molecules & Minds: Optimizing Simulations for Chemistry Education. The research study, directed by Jan L. Plass (PI) and Bruce Homer, Catherine Milne, and Trace Jordan (Co-PIs) investigated design factors for effective simulations for high school chemistry education. Six simulations developed by the grant and curricular materials are available on the Molecules & Minds Web Site.
History of Play in Education
Published October 19th, 2009
Category White Papers
By miranda0420 and Jan L Plass
Topics history of play, play, Salen, Zimmerman,
Game designers, Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, describe the relationship between game and play as mutually subordinate (2004). Engaging in games is a kind of playful activity. Play, on the other hand, is one major element that constitutes a game. To create an effective educational game, understanding the concepts of play in education is important. G4LI thus creates an annotated bibliography, collecting various educators’ and psychologists’ ideas of play throughout history. The goal is to find out how play is related to education and human developments. The results can be adopted in the educational game design in later phases of research.
Following is a summary of the annotated bibliography. It is sorted by how play is related with education to distinguish various scholars’ points of view.
“Bringing Game-Based Learning to Scale: The Business Challenges of Serious Games”
Published October 19th, 2009
Category Presentations
By Juan Barrientos
Topics Business, Kauffman Foundation, Merrilea Mayo, National Academies, Serious Games,
Presented by Merrilea J. Mayo (Director, Future of Learning Initiatives Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: mmayo@kauffman.org) at the National Academies’ workshop on Learning Science: Computer Games, Simulations and Education on Oct 6-7
Beginning with Jim Gee’s recognition of bona fide learning processes in his and his son’s video-game playing [1], and propelled to public recognition through Ben Sawyer and David Rejeski’s launching of the Serious Games movement[2] and its attendant conference, the use of video games to teach academic content has now reached a level of national interest. Game-informed learning is now the basis for a new urban school serving grades 6-12 [3]; numerous colleges and universities offer game design courses [4]; engineering professional societies have launched member sections devoted to games [5]; a recent issue of Science magazine featured several articles on virtual-world and game-based learning [6]; foundations have recently poured millions of dollars into research on games and learning ($50M from the MacArthur Foundation alone [7]), and the venerable National Academies, as evidenced by this volume, has begun to hold workshops on the topic.
“Bringing Game-Based Learning to Scale: The Business Challenges of Serious Games”
Research on Educational Impact of Games A Literature Review
Published October 11th, 2009
Category White Papers
By Jan L Plass , Andy and miranda0420
Topics gaming, learning, Literature review,
Gaming Literature Coding
In response to researchers’ calls for more systematic investigations of the use of games for learning, we conducted an extensive literature review on this topic. By surveying prior research, we examined the themes that emerged, the methodology employed, and the findings yielded, the ultimate goal being to identify knowledge gaps in the literature. To this end, we reviewed the relevant research conducted in the last 15 years by following the procedures outlined below.
Expertise reversal for iconic representations in science visualizations
Published October 9th, 2009
Category Publications
By Jan L Plass
Topics Cognitive development, Cognitive load, Expertise reversal, Multimedia learning, Science visualization, Simulation,
Bruce D. Homer • Jan L. Plass
The influence of prior knowledge and cognitive development on the effec- tiveness of iconic representations in science visualizations was examined. Middle and high school students (N = 186) were given narrated visualizations of two chemistry topics: Kinetic Molecular Theory (Day 1) and Ideal Gas Laws (Day 2). For half of the visual- izations, iconic representations of key information were added. Results indicated a main effect of prior knowledge on learning in Day 1. In Day 2, a three-way interaction was found between prior knowledge, age group and icons: icons were effective for all middle school students and for high school students with low prior knowledge, but were not effective for high school students with high prior knowledge. These findings indicate that the expertise reversal effect can be mediated by cognitive development and other factors, not just domain specific prior knowledge. More…
Design factors for educationally effective animations and simulations
Published October 9th, 2009
Category Publications
By Jan L Plass
Topics Animation, Cognition, Design, Science Education, Science visualization, Simulation,
Jan L. Plass • Bruce D. Homer • Elizabeth O. Hayward
This paper reviews research on learning from dynamic visual representations and offers principles for the design of animations and simulations that assure their educational effectiveness. In addition to established principles, new and revised design principle are presented that have been derived from recent research. Our review focuses on the visual design and interaction design of these visualizations and presents existing research as well as questions for future inquiry. More…
Design factors for educationally effective animations and simulations
Published October 9th, 2009
Category Publications
By Charles Hendee
Topics Animation, Cognition, Design, Science Learning, Simulation, Visualization,
Simulation of the Ideal Gas Laws
Abstract
This paper reviews research on learning from dynamic visual representations and offers principles for the design of animations and simulations that assure their educational effectiveness. In addition to established principles, new and revised design principle are presented that have been derived from recent research. Our review focuses on the visual design and interaction design of these visualizations and presents existing research as well as questions for future inquiry.
Design-factors-for-educationally-effective-animations-and-simulations
