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• Virtual museum exercise was not appreciated

SCOM 5056Design Theory

inScience Communicationweek 4: fun and games

SCOM 5056Design Theory

inScience Communicationweek 4: fun and games

Motivation, games andscience communication

What we can learn from games and

how we might even use games

to communicate science?

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Outline

• Motivation

• Why games?

• Motivation in games - flow

• Concepts from game design

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MotivationPotential

– Talent, skill, natural ability, preparation

Performance

Effort

Motivation

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Kinds of motivation – based on Keller

Potential

Motives (personal values, meaning)

Expectancy of success

Effort Performance Consequences

Learning design

Contingency design

Motivational designA

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Potential

Motives (personal goals, meaning)

Expectancy of success

Effort Performance Consequences

Learning design

Contingency design

Motivational design

Example – contingency design

What consequences for performance?

-Extrinsic reward (money, candy)

-Intrinsic reward (content based)

Timing and pace of feedback?

-Immediate?

-Frequent?

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Potential

Motives (personal goals, meaning)

Expectancy of success

Effort Performance Consequences

Learning design

Contingency design

Motivational design

1. Motivational design? 2. Learning design?

3. This is an instructional design model;

what about free choice contexts?

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Motivation in free choice context

Curiosity• Attracting motivating participation

• Maintaining motivation to participate

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Motivation in free choice context

Berlyne

• Diversive exploration

• Epistemic curiosity -> specific exploration

Day

arousal

efficiency

unmotivated curious anxious

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Attracting Participation

Potential

Motives (personal goals, meaning)

Expectancy of success

Effort Performance Consequences

Learning design

Contingency design

Motivational design

Attraction design

Epistemic -> Specific

Curiosity

Diversive

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Why games?

1Successful games are

free choice activitiesthat can

attract and hold

participants’ attention.

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Free choice participation

How much time do participants spend on• sports• video games• hobbiesHow much time do participants spend on• museum/science centre exhibits• science in school• watching TV

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Why games?

2Rules, play, culture;

Games can create the contexts

that influence learning.

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Rules, play, culture

• Tic Tac Toe

• Texas Hold’em

• Armadillo Run

• Sims

• Second Life

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Eight Key Factorsthat influence Learning1

Personal context1. Motivation and expectations2. Prior knowledge, interests, and beliefs3. Choice and control

Sociocultural context4. Within-group sociocultural mediation5. Facilitated mediation by others

Physical context6. Advance organizers7. Design8. Reinforcing events and experiences outside the

museum1: Learning from Museums,Falk and Dierking, 2000, p.148

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Why games?

3Games are about learning.

“Fun from games arises out of mastery. It arises out of comprehension. It is the act of solving puzzles

that makes games fun.

In other words, with games, learning is the drug.”

(Koster, 2005, p.40)

Do you agree?

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Why games?

4Games have deep structure.

“…these eight factors (Why games? #2) help us know more about how visitors learn; they

tell us relatively little about what visitors learn.”

Falk and Dierking, 2000, p.149

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Deep structure

‘real’ system

• in a state

action

• new state

shallow representation

• representation of state(s)

no actions

deep representation

• representation of state

representation of action

• representation of new state

Think of Armadillo Run

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What people learn

Interactions with games

Based on deep structure– Players’ actions demonstrate what they know– Changes in actions show what they have

learned

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Motivation in games

Long term fun

Long term motivation (must be intrinsic)

Long term effort

Long term performance (learning)

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Intrinsic motivation:related to activity

Intrinsic

Curiosty – puzzle

Reward - achievement

Extrinsic

Curiosity – flashing lights

Reward - candy

time

effect

Potential

Motives (personal goals, meaning)

Expectancy of success

Effort Performance Consequences

Learning design

Contingency design

Motivational design

Attraction design

Epistemic -> Specific

Curiosity

Diversive

intrinsic

extrinsic

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow

1. Task with clear goals 2. Task that is achievable3. Conditions to concentrate on task4. Sense of control over action5. Activity with immediate feedback6. Deep but effortless involvement7. Reduced self-awareness8. Altered sense of time

Think of Armadillo Run

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Flow equilibrium

chal

len

ge

skill

anxiety

anxiety

frustration

boredom

apathy

flow

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Flow activities

chal

len

ge

skill

anxiety

anxiety

frustration

boredom

apathy

flow

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An ideal game experience

chal

len

ge

skill

anxiety

anxiety

frustration

boredom

apathy

flow

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Some game design concepts

Game Rules determine possible actionsGame Physics determines response to actions

In a video game, the computer manages play:• enforces rules (referee)• generates responses to actions (scorekeeper)

(compare to sport or board game)

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1. Meaningful play

• descriptive analysis:– factual definition of what happens in game– player action relates to system response

• evaluative analysis:– judging effectiveness of action-response to

create emotional experience– discernable – responses are apparent to player

(Suchman)– integrated – response has influence on further

play and outcome

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Salen and Zimmerman, p.34

• “Meaningful play occurs when the relationships between actions and outcomes in a game are both discernable and integrated into the larger context of the game. Creating meaningful play is the goal of successful game design.”

• Let’s play

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2. The Magic Circle

• games exist within a magic circle with an explicit boundary– players agree to be in the magic circle – the

lusory attitude – so play can occur– within the circle, rules create special meanings

(for symbols, tokens, actions) that guide play– as a rule system, a game is closed– as a play system, a game is open / closed– as a culture system, a game is open

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The Magic Circle

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3. Some other gaming terms

• Casual games – easy to begin playing

• Serous games – games with learning goals

• Core mechanic – the main activity that the user is engaged in most of the time

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Defining Games

• no standard definition• features proposed by various writers:

– rules that limit players– conflict– goal orientation– activity– involves decision-making– absorbing but not serious– not associated with material gain– artificial / safe

– outside ordinary life– creates social groups– voluntary– uncertainty– make-believe /

representational– inefficient– system of parts,

resources, tokens– art form

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The problem with games…

• Physical inactivity

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The problem with games…

• Violence, no redeeming value

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Sporeevolution

Will Wright

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2

3

4

5

6

7

8

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Make love and war

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Games and science

Science

1. natural world

2. experiments

3. theory

4. how science works

Games

1. game physics

2. rules

3. skilled play

4. game culture

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Sample sites to analyze• http://www.scienceworld.ca/teachers_outreach/play_online/bw_gam

es.htmhealth games

• http://www.poissonrouge.com/puzzler/index.htm kid’s puzzles• http://www.canadainspace.ca/activities.php?sectionName=activities

CSA astronaut school• http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Cosmos/english/wormhole

s/wormholes.html a space game

• http://www.engagingscience.org/games/onlinegames/games.html• http://www.strangematterexhibit.com/index.html • http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Spirits/English/Dig/digdow

n.html an archeological activity