Slide 1
Engaging Brains Through
Games and Simulations
Bernie Dodge, PhD
San Diego State University
http://webquest.org/workshops/engaging/
Slide 2
Outline
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Games vs Learning
An Equation for Learning Power
Star Logo 2
Second Life
The Glass Bead eGame
Choose Your Own Edventure
Turoff’s Game
Simulated Diaries
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Good Games vs Good Teaching
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Engagement
Unforgetableness
Positive emotion
Uncertainty
But also…
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Adrenaline
Addiction
Mindless automatic behavior
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Game Addiction
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Mini-Games
Marc Prensky distinguishes between minigames and complex games. Mini-games…
Take less than one hour
 Have simple content
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Mini-Game Examples
Card games (except Bridge)
 Quiz / Trivia games
 Board games (except Chess & Go)
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Complex Games
Require learning a wide variety of strategies
and skills
 Develop mastery by progressing through a
series of levels
 Include ethical dilemmas and choices
 Take 10 to 100 hours to complete
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Slide 8
Example Complex Games
Rise of Nations
 Civilization
 The Sims
 World of Warcraft
 America’s Army
 John Madden’s Football
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Two Burning Questions:
Who’s got 10-100 hours to spare in their course?
 Who’s got a million dollars to develop a complex game
wrapped around their course content?
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Brain Minutes
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Learning Power
P = ADE
Power =
Attention x Depth x Efficiency
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Attention
The proportion of time
learners spend
looking at,
 listening to, and
 thinking about what you
want them to.
 Ranges from 0 to 1.
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Causes of Attention
Human Interest
Variability
Competition
Social interaction
Attention
Uncertainty
Challenge
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Attention as a Ratio
Attention =
Brain Minutes spent attending to X
Total Brain Minutes
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Depth
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the degree
to which
thinking is
required
 ranges from
0 to 100
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Efficiency
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Curricular efficiency is the proportion of time
learners have to spend thinking about what
you’re trying to teach.
Efficiency = Brain Minutes Devoted to Curriculum
Total Brain Minutes
Slide 19
Efficiency and Games
If a game is…
 Unfamiliar
 Particularly creative
 Richly detailed
Learners will..
 Spend brain minutes on figuring out the game
 And not figuring out your content
Slide 20
Learning Power
P = ADE
Power = Attention x Depth x Efficiency
So a perfect game would be
1 x 100 x 1 = 100
Slide 21
Star Logo TNG
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Star Logo TNG
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Programming by building blocks
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Wash Your Hands, Homer
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Wash Your Hands, Homer
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Wash Your Hands, Homer
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Wash Your Hands, Homer
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Learning Power of Star Logo
High attention
 High depth
 Low efficiency
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Power = .9 x 90 x .2 = 16
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Second Life
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Second Life
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Second Life
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Second Life
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Second Life
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Possibilities
Mathematics of scaling, geometry
 Theater productions
 Machinema
 Cross cultural exchange
 Role plays
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Learning Power of Second Life
Attention will be very high
 Depth could range from low to high
 Efficiency could be low to medium
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Power = .9 x 90 x .5 = 40 at best
 Power = .9 x 10 x .2 = 18 at worst
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Slide 35
Choose Your Own Adventure
Popular book series for
children
 Adapted for adult training
 Branching stories,
multiple endings
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Choose Your Own Edventure
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Narrative/simulation based on your
content
Emphasis on choices and their
consequences
You create a starting point and two
or more choices
Students carry the story on from
there
Easily implemented in Google
Docs
Slide 37
Learning Power of CYOE
High attention
 High depth
 Medium efficiency
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Power = .9 x 90 x .5 = 40
Slide 38
The Glass Bead Game
Based on Hermann Hesse’s Magister Ludi.
 A kind of Scrabble for ideas
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Glass Bead eGame
Can use Inspiration or Gliffy
 Learners take turns placing a bead and
explaining how it relates to adjacent beads
 Players reward points based on the elegance
or surpringness of the linkages
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Glass Bead eGame
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Learning Power of the GBG
High attention
 High depth
 High efficiency
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Power = .9 x 90 x .9 = 73
Slide 49
Turoff’s Game
Invented by Alan Turoff
 Played on Compuserve in the early 80s
 Useful to liven up an online chat
 Development cost: $0
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Slide 50
Turoff’s Game
Two lines will be shown
 Intertwingled between them is a word or
phrase that matches the clue
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Example: A U.S. President
 GARPETCHACHINA
 WOTRONGYERDUNG
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GARPETCHACHINA
WOTRONGYERDUNG
WARRENGHARDING
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Turoff’s Game
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Another Example: A city in Europe
SPLIBOKGABECRIK
 BATZEURZEUSTHOA
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SPLIBOKGABECRIK
BATZEURZEUSTHOA
SALZBURGAUSTRIA
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Learning Power of Turoff’s
Game
Attention will be high
 Depth is low (factual recall)
 Efficiency is high, so
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Power = .8 x 20 x .9 = 14
 But it’s a fun addition to a lecture at no cost
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Slide 53
Simulated Diaries
Role play for introverts
 Requires getting into
character, context,
another point of view,
another body of
knowledge
 Encourages research &
reflection
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Slide 54
Simulated Diaries
Each player or group of players given a role
 Background, motivation, context
 Access to a blog in which they express their
opinions of what’s happening and their
thoughts about what to do next
 Simulation is driven by a central blog that
reports news of the organization
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Simulated Diary
Role 1
blog
Role 3
blog
News
blog
Role 2
blog
Role 4
blog
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Simulated Diary Affordances
Personal vs. objective
 Comments
 Easy hyperlinks
 Easy publishing & revision
 Group authorship
 RSS feeds
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Slide 57
Simulated Diary Software
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Simulated Diary Learning Power
Attention high
 Depth high
 Efficiency medium to high
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Power = .8 x 90 x .7 = 50
Slide 59
Range of Applicability
Glass Bead eGame
Medium to large body of
content that is
interlinked
 Goal = understanding &
transfer
 Concepts, principles,
facts… not procedures
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Slide 60
Range of Applicability
Choose Your Own Edventure
Contextual knowledge
 Principles
 Creative thinking
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Slide 61
Range of Applicability
Turoff’s Game
Large body of facts
 Rehearsal for automaticity
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Slide 62
Range of Applicability
Simulated Diaries
Contextual knowledge
 Ill-structured problems
 Opinions, values
 Community-building
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Slide 63
Integrating Games on a
Shoestring
Remember offline, no-tech games
 Adapt, rethink
 Match to type of learning required
 Look for tools like Purpose Games
 Keep P=ADE in mind
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Slide 64
Questions & Comments?
Slide 65
Engaging Brains Through
Games and Simulations
Bernie Dodge, PhD
San Diego State University
http://webquest.org/workshops/engaging/