Study: Scientific Method Best Taught in Video Games

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.

Weight Watchers, the Video Game

Here’s an interesting article from Clive Thompson over at Wired comparing Weight Watchers Online to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft. There are many similarities, Thompson notes, including leveling and rewards. He’s got a great point. I noticed the same thing about my kids’ tae kwon do classes. Of course the idea of designing work teams modeled after WoW guilds is not new, either. Here’s a closer look at the idea of “Corporate Warcraft.”

Beck and Wade pointed out, and are echoed by people like Karl Kapp, that young workers often approach work in a gaming framing of mind. Work objectives become “quests,” paychecks bring in “gold,” promotions equate to “leveling up,” and their bosses either become “guild leaders,” or “dungeon bosses,” depending on whether they help or hinder the employees (“players”) in attaining their quests.

So the idea of making other life goals into games, such as placing diet and fitness within a MMORPG framework, makes good sense. I agree with Thompson. Weight Watchers has something going there.

One (Video Game) Controller to Rule Them All: Game Technology Invades the Military

Military reporters were buzzing this week about the new Universal Control System (UCS) from defense contractor Raytheon. The device is designed to control unmanned aerial vehicles (AEVs), and borrows liberally from videogame technologies.

Mark Scott from BusinessWeek reports from England:

On display at the biennial Farnborough Air Show in Britain, this next-generation ground control system for the likes of General Atomics’ Predator UAV has more in common with the Sony (SNE) PlayStation 3 than with the Northrop Grumman (NOC) F-14 Tomcat made famous by the classic 1980s movie Top Gun.

David Hambling over at Wired notes a variety of videogame technologies are finding their way into military applications.

- A Wii-mote controller is used for bomb disposal robots

- X-box contollers are used for piloting drones and robots

- The world’s fastest computer, to be used for nuclear simulations, is made using chips originally designed for gaming systems

- DARPA is developing technologies for ground forces from gaming chips that include radar, mapping, and tracking of enemy forces in real time while a soldier is in combat

References:
Hambline, D. (2008, July 19). Game controllers driving drones, nukes. [Online]. Retrieved July 20, 2008 from http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/07/wargames.html

Scott, M. (2008, July 16). Raytheon taps video games to pilot drones. BusinessWeek. [Online]. Retrieved July 20, 2008 from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/
gb20080716_470794.htm

Blind Hero: UNev Reno Team Modifies Game Interfaces for the Disabled

Chris Kohler at Wired’s Game|Life Blog writes about Dr. Eelke Folmer’s work over at University of Nevada, Reno.

Folmer’s most awesome project thus far is informally referred to as “Blind Hero.” It’s a guitar-based music game that can be played without looking at the screen. Folmer’s group developed a glove that vibrates your fingers a split-second before you’re supposed to play each note in the game. It’s difficult to play, but with enough practice you can experience the sensation of playing guitar without the onscreen commands.

Kohler noted that “Blind Hero” is the brainchild of UNR PhD student Bei Yuan. Additional work by Folmer & company includes modifying existing games so that they can be played easier by the disabled.

One example of how this works is a modified Mario Kart-style game for PC. The player’s kart automatically accelerates and steers to the right. Pressing the switch allows the player to steer to the left. A modified version of Half-Life 2 that Folmer showed us puts the player into the body of an automatically controlled bot, and the player simply needs to press the fire button when an enemy gets in his sights … Folmer stresses that his group’s ambition is not to create new game designs for people with disabilities, but to modify already-existing games, to show that any game can be rendered accessible.

This continues a long series of efforts to make videogames more accessible, many springing from the minds of university researchers. I’ve noted past efforts on brain computer interfaces that don’t require hands, and more recent presentations on neural networks at GDC this year.