Gamelike sims

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Gamelike sims CPI 494, April 30, 2009 Kurt VanLehn

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Gamelike sims. CPI 494, April 30, 2009 Kurt VanLehn. River City: What do users do?. In a 1890 city Learning about infections diseases Talking with virtual people Collect data e.g., bug counts Share research with others tudents; present hypotheses. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transcript of Gamelike sims

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Gamelike simsCPI 494, April 30, 2009

Kurt VanLehn

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River City: What do users do?

• In a 1890 city • Learning about infections diseases• Talking with virtual people• Collect data e.g., bug counts• Share research with others tudents; present

hypotheses

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River City: What should users learn (i.e., what’s on pre/post tests)

• Inquiry techniques• Hypothesize/test/revise -- inquiry cycle• Maybe? Some infectious disease knowledge

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Akiko’s hints• First visit to hospital

– What kinds of symptoms do you see in the chart?

– Where do most of the sick people live?– Is there anything about this hospital that is

different than the ones you have seen?• Second visit to the hospital

– You have talked to sick tenement residents. How many sick people are from that area?

– Last time you talked to a doctor. What does she have to say this time?

– Have the symptoms of the patients changed since the last time?

These hints direct attention, but to what end?

Could student answer the questions dutifully and not think further?

How are these hints generated/implemented?

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Evaluation & results

• Treatments/conditions– No hints gain 0.14 points– 3 hints per hot spot gain 0.13 points– 1 hint per hot spot gain 0.45 points– Not reliable

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Did they click on the hint buttons?

• If 3 hints available per hotspot– average 15 total– Out of 600 possible

• If 1 hint available per hot spot– average 12 hints total– Out of 200 possible

• 25% of students never clicked on a hint button– Other 75% called “takers”

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Analysis using Takers only• Treatments

– No hints 0.08 gain– 3 hints per -2.57 gain (reliable vs. both)– 1 hint per 0.19 gain (not reliable vs. No hints)

More hints more gain?

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Gender differences• Gains

– Boys -0.27– Girls +0.54

• Non-takers– Boys 24%– Girls 16%

• Among takers, number of hints – Boys 14.3– Girls 19.3

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Crystal Island: What did users do?

• 5 problems embedded in an hour-long narrative– Pathogens– Inquiry

• Narrative elements– Protagonist asked to discover cause of illness– Father is ill & leader (full narrative only)– Accusations of poisoning (full narrative only)– Backstories & personalities of characters (full only)

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What should users learn?(i.e., on the pre/post tests?)

• Microbio from NC state standards• Inquiry?

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Evaluation & results• Treatments/conditions

– Powerpoint: gain 0.15– Minimal narrative : gain 0.06– Full narrative: gain 0.02

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Eliminating students who failed to finish the narrative

• Only 49 of 116 students in min & full narrative conditions finished or nearly finished (50 min)

• Post-test – Power-point = narrative (p=0.58)

• Gains– Power-point > narrative (p=0.05)– Because of high pre-test scores of min-narrative

students

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Gender

• Gains– Boys: gained 1.3 problems– Girls: gained 0.4 problems

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Gates of Horus: What do students do?

• http://planetjeff.net/html/pro_gates.html• runs on Unreal Tournament engine driving a…

– VR cave (e.g., in the Carnegie Museum of Oakland, PA), or – Flatscreen

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Gates of Horus: What do students do?

• Student clicks on stuff in an Egyptian temple, solving puzzles about Egyptian religious beliefs

• in order to enter deeper into the temple (= levels)

• 45 to 90 minutes• QA with tourguide/priest

Gate, leading deeper into

temple

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In the Carnegie Museum

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Evaluation

• Treatments– VR: played game in Carnegie Museum– Desktop– Control (took post-test before game)

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Game groups affective results

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Post-test results

• Multiple choice test on Egyptian religion– Game > Control – reliable p<.001– VR >? flatscreen – not reliable

• Student produced documentary videos judged blind by 3 experts– Factual: VR > {Desktop + Control} p<.05– Conceptual: VR > {desktop + control} p<.01

• Follow up test: 1 or 2 months later – not reliable

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Quest Atlantis• http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/• Barab, Sadler, Heiselt, Hickey & Suiker (2007) Jscience Education & Technology, 16, 1,• MUVE• Text chat• Several Quests

– Narative– Problem– environment

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Taiga Fishkill• Taiga Park’s fish are dying – why?• Talk to virtual and real students• Loggers, indigenous population, fishing

company• Make recommendation that respects

erosion, overfishing, eutrophication…

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Talking to Lim the logger• Lim: Welcome to our little piece of the Kongakut. I am Lim.

We’re just a small operation now, but we are growing. Did you know that we added 20 new jobs to this area last year? I’m very proud of our logging efforts.

• Student chooses either:– I thought this was a national forest. Why do you call it “our” little

piece?– You have an impressive operation here. Could you give me any more

information about this area?

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Other activities

• Collect samples & bring to lab– Each student can collect only 2 samples so must

collaborate• Virtual Ph meters, oxygen levels, turbidity,

phosphates…– Virtual technician helps them interpret findings

• Write up recommendations as a report

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Evaluation: A “Design Experiment”

• 4th grade gifted class of 28 students• Exceptional teacher• 2 weeks• Periodic videos and interviews• “crafting a rich account of the experience”• Coded in terms of

– Narrative– Inquiry practices– Inscriptions (de)constructed

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Smithtown

• Shute, V. J., & Glaser, R. (1990). A large-scale evaluation of an intelligent discovery world. Interactive Learning Environments, 1, 51-76.

• Students explore economics of a simulated town– Generate & test hypotheses– Fixing some variables and varying others

• Does increasing the price of coffee affect the demand for Cremora?

• Plotting results

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An ITS for inquiry

• Detectors for learning opportunities– “congratulations! You’ve just discovered what

economists call the law of supply and demand.”– Errors of omission: failing to test a hyp– Errors of commission: varying two things at a time

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Evaluation: expt 1• Treatments

– Smithtown– Classroom– No instruction

• Tests cover– Economics– inquiry

• Results– Classroom = Smithtown (p =.70)– Control < {Classroom, Smithtown}

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Why?

• Smithtown didn’t intervene that much