Tom Hanson is editor of the highly regarded OpenEducation.net. We talked earlier via e-mail about an excellent post he has on empirical research by Constance Steinkuehler over at U. Wisconsin and doc student Sean Duncan. The title of their paper sums up nicely Steinkuehler’s and Duncan’s research: Scientific Habits of Mind Within Virtual Worlds, accepted for publication in the Journal of Science Education and Technology and due to appear in the Spring issue. They looked at online discussion forums for World of Warcraft, long the most popular MMORPG, and found the vast majority of the posts consisted of “social knowledge construction” rather then “social banter.” About 2,000 posts in 85 threads were examined.
Over half of the posts evidenced systems based reasoning, one in ten evidenced model-based reasoning, and 65% displayed an evaluative epistemology in which
knowledge is treated as an open-ended process of evaluation and argument.
Steinkuehler and Duncan suggest that scientific habits of mind, developing proper skills of inquiry and increasing students’ scientific literacy, are not effectively developed in traditional school environments. On the other hand, virtual worlds and online games like World of Warcraft do engage students and encourage them to use the scientific method, or at least certain elements of it, along with teamwork and persistence to solve problems.
Hanson notes a recent interview in Wired between Dr. Steinkuehler and Clive Thompson, in which she describes her epiphany regarding the potential of MMORPGs for instilling scientific habits of mind. It occurred during 12 hour stints in Lineage, playing mostly with young boys scattered across the four corners. She and the boys would construct a theoretical model on defeating a raid boss, try it and see what worked; modify accordingly and try again. She realized she was witnessing the scientific method put to work within an online gaming environment, often without the participants realizing it. Thompson states it thusly:
This led Steinkuehler to a fascinating and provocative conclusion: Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today.
Click on over to Tom Hanson’s summary. I think you’ll find that his OpenEducation.net is well worth visiting.
September 20, 2008 at 12:25 pm |
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September 23, 2008 at 4:25 am |
I want to applaud the authors, they have made vissible and what I have experienced in 30 years of serious application of games.
For the general reader: scientific reasoning doesn’t happen only in video games; it happens in (almost) all serious applications of games. The evaluation discussion phase is a critical phase or part for learning in game play. It is the part where learning takes hold. At least until it is improved, or disproved by the next round of play.
For the authors: I like to read more. You have made explicit for me what I saw but could not describe analitically. I have obeserved and taken part in many discussion. Mostly on strategic and tactical games, depicting historical (conflict) situations. However, I have not logged all those conversations, and as yet lacked a good framework to describe and analyse these conversations. Thanks to this article I think I can do better now.
Perhaps more importantly, the case presented does seem to hold over other games as well, and does include games in other media as well, namely (historical) minitaure games or board games.
A follow on question, for me, is to what extend should information (on game world/system dynamics) be presented in game to facilitate, improve or just support learning (of scientific reasoning) in game.
The feedback here is on the fly, meaning a more detailed reply might follow. For now I just need to express my happiness with the article.
Kind regards,
Swen
September 30, 2008 at 4:59 pm |
Nice catch. My only quibble is the title word “Best”, no real proof of that. But I certainly agree the popular and readily available games today are a big part of many kids’ educations, including scientific method.
I’ve been a WoW player/raider (raider = ’serious’ player) for three years and I’ve learned a lot about being part of an organization as well as helping lead it. I speak here of the guild system whereby people freely organize themselves in order to solve problems that are impossible for individual players (kill boss get nice loot
).
The entire context is of course, kind of silly (fantasy world and monsters). But the nuts and bolts of what is being done is a nice simplification of a human society, working together, collective problem solving, organization and on and on.
As far as scientific method goes – for many who play a more apt metaphor might be that it is more the spread and application of “technology”. A few high end guilds learn how to down bosses and post their methods. A few zealous players experiment with their class (i.e., mage, warrior) to discover how they really work mathematically (yes – most raiders I would venture to guess see boss encounters as a serious of simultaneous equations running in real time). These ’scientists’ post their results. It is checked and cross checked by the smallish community of zealous players and guilds. This is the science.
Other guilds tend to copy strategies and modifying them only as needed to suit their particular raid’s strengths and weaknesses so they get the job done. This is technology.
Anyway, its a fascinating virtual society – and I do believe that it is a nice introduction to scientific/technical reasoning. In good games, even ones with magic, things happen for reasons!
My final thought is the quality of the game is paramount. Those that make us thing and interact to solve problems are head and shoulders above simple shooting games for example. Thanks again for the article!
October 7, 2008 at 9:07 pm |
Very true – there’s a lot of applicability and it’s a great way to reach kids. The quality is indeed an issue though.