Pros and Cons of Using Simulation Games to Teach Climate ChangeIntroduction: Topic: Climate Change and Global Warming This topic involves many complex phenomena and uncertainties. The issues involving climate change not only arise from uncertainties in underlying science, but also from uncertainties about behavioral, economic and political factors. Also, global warming is usually too slow for individuals to recognize, thus making it a hard concept to create concrete understanding. Therefore, simulators are a great way to address the challenge. Something to keep in mind is that a simulation itself cannot replace other learning materials as it cannot depict every aspect of the issue: “a simulation has to choose a very small subset of characteristics around which to build its representation” (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003 ch. 27). Therefore, the simulation is a tool to complement the study of a complex subject matter, but cannot be used alone as the main and only study tool. In this example, we will look at “Climate Challenge” and its features. In the Climate Challenge simulation game, the player takes the role of the President of the European Nations. The President decides on policies and handles international negotiations that change the fate of the European economy, resources and environment. In order to win this game, the player must reduce CO2 emissions. How does this simulation contribute to the learning objectives? The simulator uses mathematical models based on carbon dioxide emission forecasts produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). One of the challenges of this subject is that global changes usually happen too slowly for individuals to recognize, but accumulated human knowledge, together with further scientific research, can help people learn more about these challenges and guide their response (Keller & Quinn, 2012). The climate models are an important tool to forecast change over a short period of time and help us make decisions based on the impact of human actions on the earth. This simulation helps students to understand the complex model of stability and change, and at the same time provides potential solutions to climate change. Exploring explanatory feedback in the simulation Most class materials provide a static representation of the concept, however the interactive simulation provides gradual change based on our actions. Through operation and configuration, the students get real-time feedback on the complex global change system. The simulation provides explanatory feedback that deepens the students’ understanding of the subject (Johnson & Priest, 2014). At the end of each round, the President gets a newspaper report on how people reacted to the policies chosen and the President’s voter approval rate based on their policies. This helps the students to reflect on their choices and their choices’ effectiveness in a different form of evaluation. The game provides immediate feedback on the degree of political approval (bottom right corner) when a certain action card is selected. The game also reveals immediately how the resources would change by selecting each card. According to an experiment by Moreno and Valdez (2005), the immediate feedback in an interactive environment may have a negative interactivity effect. When players are shown immediate feedback, they may abandon learning objectives and proceed with simple “trial and error” strategy, such as selecting the card that reflects the best approval rate, or selecting a card that reflects best the emission reduction. Doing this as a class activity helps to prevent this behavior, as the teacher acts as a guide to help students discuss why such choices have been made and why such choices are a good solution to the current problem. Fiorella, Vogel-Walcutt, and Schatz (2012) examined the modality principle when feedback was provided to students in a complex simulation-based training task and proved that spoken feedback was better than print feedback for learning (Mayer, 2014). The simulation provides only print feedback with no sound effects either. Therefore, the simulation could be improved by the teacher reading the printed feedback outloud. Students with low spatial ability have trouble understanding long explanatory feedback (Johnson & Priest, 2014); the tutorial section of the simulation provides a guided instruction to how to use the simulation, which reduces some of the processing load of a long explanation. It could be improved with a in-game worked-example of the first round to help students with low spatial ability overcome the cognitive load on working memories. A worked-example guided by a live instructor would also help to overcome this. The simulation game creates a guided discovery-based learning environment (Moreno, 2004). The teacher and the simulator prompts are designed to elicit self-explanations (“which variables are you most sure and least sure will have an effect on the emission goal?”) and reason justification (“for the variable you are most sure will have an effect, why do you think so?”). The prompts will help the students through their inquiry process. Process constraints can be a useful tool in this phase of learning to reduce the complexity of discovery-based learning (Jong & Lazonder, 2014). Simulators are a great way to include model progression that allow students to explore one variable at a time while gradually increasing the complexity of the task. References:
Johnson, C. I., & Priest, H.A. (2014). The Feedback Principle in Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., 449-463). New York: Cambridge University Press. Jong, T., &Lazonder, A., (2014) The Guided Discovery Learning Principle in Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., pp. 371-390). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Keller, Quinn, (2012) A framework for K-12 science education : practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Logan Fiorella, Jennifer J. Vogel-Walcutt, & Sae Schatz. (2012). Applying the modality principle to real-time feedback and the acquisition of higher-order cognitive skills. Educational Technology Research and Development, (2), 223. Mayer, R. E. (2014). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., pp. 63). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zimmerman, E., & Salen, K. (2003). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
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Game Reflection Paper - Red Dead Redemption 2IntroductionRed Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) is a Western-themed action-adventure game in an open-world environment. Published by Rockstar Games, it is a prequel of its 2010 release, Red Dead Redemption. The game is probably one of the most anticipated video games this season because of its astonishing graphics, realistic worldbuilding, and engaging narratives. The game is set in 1899, and follows Arthur Morgan, an outlaw and a member of a gang that works on various jobs to secure the group's freedom. Since the game’s release (Oct 26, 2018), it has gained acclaim from all media on its design. Most reviews of the game are positive and many comment on how different the game feels than other open-world games on the market. What makes the game so different? Structure of the Game: Linear, Open-world or Open-ended?
The structure of RDR2 is unique as it sits in between traditional linear adventure games and open-ended simulation-type games. Like several other new games released this year (Legends of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Spider-Man etc.) RDR2 has an open-world environment, but an overarching linear storyline. The game has a clear structure, broken into chapters. Each chapter takes the gang’s camp to a new location. There is a clearly a main storyline and side quests, making it similar to traditional, linear action-adventure games. However, the game has a vast map, a variety of activities and freedom of choice available to players. This structure provides goals within goals (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003, chap 24). In this structure, the player can enjoy all aspects of the game, from moment-to-moment core mechanics (e.g. gunfighting, hunting) to short-term accomplishments (e.g. successfully finishing a bounty hunt) to the final outcome of the game. The game also gives autonomy to the players. Each choice the player makes can potentially affect the Non-Player Characters’ (NPCs’)reactions to the player, providing the player agency. However, the game does not provide true transformation since it does not provide a distinctive different outcome with each play (Mateas & Stern, 2004)—ultimately, you will follow the story as written, even if the activities you complete along the way might differ. The game is not an open-ended simulation like SimCity. A true open-ended simulation would offer multiple trajectories of experiences, multiple trajectories into the space, multiple modes of interaction within the space, and multiple trajectories outward (Squire, 2008). Often, it also allows the player to design their own game scenarios. Though players can create their own conflict (by shooting people down the street or initiating a fist-fight) to create different paths and trajectories (taking certain side-missions, decide on when to do what), it doesn’t offer a vast distinctive outcome of the game. “As a rule of thumb, if a game has many spots where a player can say to another, ‘remember where you did x,’ then the game is a role-playing game, not a sandbox game” (Squire, 2008). Since the main storyline is the same for everybody, I can definitely discuss certain jobs with friends who play the same game. The game is not an open-ended game because the the narrative of the game is heavily guided. Another quality of the open-ended game is that the game is usually not focused on the player identity, but rather “more about inhabiting a world from a general perspective, which the player can play out in whatever manner suits his or her taste” (Squire, 2008). RDR2 sits in the middle for this definition. The player has been given a character identity–the life of Arthur Morgan. You can not change your identity, and players are emotionally invested in the character. However, the player also inhabits a rich world where they can do what they want. The game even provides a mechanic to measure how “honorable” or “dishonorable” your particular version of Arthur Morgan is. The game is a simulated-environment. The game simulates a very realistic image of the Wild West at a specific historical period. From architecture, clothing, to the movement of the horses, the game uses realistic imagery to enhance its embodiment of the West. The game also provides a realistic ecosystem of the world (wildlife, weather, NPCs) for players to interact with. |