Game+like+Learning-+Gee

Game-Like Learning: An Example of Situated Learning and Implications for Opportunity to Learn By: James Paul Gee toc Group Members: Ibrahim Aladross, Sana Iqbal, Armando Brito, Brenda Minjares, Sultana Sadaf Abassy

=**(1) Knowledge as a Noun vs. Verb** =

Our traditional take on education employs a “content fetis h”, requiring the majority of teaching to take the form of fact and information consumption (lectures) and regurgitation (tests and assessments).

 What is //“content fetish”//? James Gee’s term for the traditional practice of schools to separate subject areas in school and assign definitive content  to each subject area that can then enable knowledge and knowing to be evaluated ina standardized test.

However, in this paper, Gee a rgues that this is not how learning takes place in the real world. In order to approach learning in the real world, we do things. Example: Physicists perform, talk, see, and value the physics that they study. Students are novices in the classroom, and one way we can transform their education is to take them into contextualized learning environments where they can benefit from guidance rather than rote learning. We cannot know new information until it becomes apparent to us in an alternative way, until it enters our domain of knowledge by way of **doing, being, seeing, acting, interacting. **

To put it simply, old ways of teaching decontextualized, explicit content don’t work.

Students will not fully understand them new information experiencing it. The formula:

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=(2) General Vs. Situated Understanding =

Situated Understanding- the ability of using a word to understand a concept in different situations. It's building meaning through context.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">General/Verbal Understanding- the ability of using other people's words to explain one's understanding without being able to apply knowledge in specific situations.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The problem with general understanding is that it enables a person to pass information focused tests, but it does not result in problem solving ability
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Examples: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Newton's Laws - it is possible for people to understand Newton's laws and formulas, however, applying the laws to practice real world problem solving is more difficult.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">An example of situated learning: coffee <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If someone says, "The coffee spilled, get the mop" versus "The coffee spilled, get the broom" versus "The coffee spilled, stack it again." <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">You can learn a great deal about a topic from the context.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Verbal/general learning is top down. This means that learning a concept begins with understanding basic words or principle that explain that concept. This is something that is not very abstract. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">Situated understanding is the opposite because it starts with a concrete case and becomes more and more abstract as different cases are taken into consideration. Situated understanding not only looks at the concept, but the contextual information that influence the concept.Gee emphasizes the importance of approaching knowledge as an activity before knowledge as facts which greatly impacts learning and assessment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Situated learning has recently been integrated in new technologies that produce "game-like" learning that has recently been developed by researchers. Gee refers to two examples of commercial video games that will give insight to how video games can beneficially influence learning.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(3) Game-like Learning =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In this portion of the article, diSessa uses “game-like learning” in order to teach science education. Using a computer programming language called Boxer, diSessa teaches sixth graders about Galileo’s principles of motion. The program allows students to enter in various commands which affect an object’s motion. By altering an object’s speed or acceleration, for example, a model is created which illustrates to students exact situations with the laws of motion in full effect. In other words, according to diSessa, “programming turns analysis into experience and allows a connection between analytic forms and their experiential implications that algebra and even calculus can't touch.” Although diSessa does not actually refer to his work with Boxer as game-like learning, people continue to push the design of actual games for learning which have been inspired, in part, by his approach to learning and science education.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Boxer__**
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">

__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Graphics Box** __
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=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(4) Supercharged =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In one classroom, an alternative approach to teaching concepts about electricity and magnetism was used. Instead of going over the textbook definitions and using simple, one-time demonstrations (that don’t really involve student participation) the students were instructed to play a physics-based game. This game was centered around solving puzzles that highlighted key properties of EM fields.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The students were able t <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">o acquire a different understanding of the properties of these fields after participating in the game. They improved intuition regarding electricity and magnetism as noted by their own descriptions of fundamental characteristics. This was also more than just a different way of learning for the students; they were engaged and interested. The game they played kept them excited about what they were doing, and that is a very difficult task when discussing the topic on hand.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 1.5;">The game involved mazes, a ship that moves by manipulating charge, and positive or negative points and planes of charge that could be places on each stage as the student saw fit. At first, many players didn’t record their actions and experienced a little difficulty improving performance. After this problem was identified, the students were instructed to record their actions in tables, listsor charts. Students readily kept these records and made significant progress in this game called “supercharged.”
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is a game designed to teach physics concepts to students
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">navigate mazes by placing charges and use a ship that moves by adjusting charge
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">each level requires planning and playing and contain obstacles that are common EM physics concepts (points/planes of charge etc)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">goal is to improve intuition
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">showed improvement in experimental vs control group
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">they felt more engaged and this showed in their descriptions
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">adept players often pick up these tools for future use
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">many players did not critically analyze their play so teachers encouraged logbooks, etc.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(5) //Full Spectrum Warrior// =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This portion of the article revolves around the kinds of elements educational games should possess according to Gee. To highlight this point Gee discusses //Full Spectrum Warrior//, a military based game released for the Xbox and PC, and notes that certain mechanics and elements it possesses must be mimicked by future educational or learning games. Specifically, it is based on the concept of “distributed authentic professionalism.”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The “distributed” portion of the game entails actual insightful interactions between the real life player and fellow soldiers that already possess certain skills. The “authentic professionalism” portion entails obtaining certain skills that can be used flexibly and one develops as one continues to play the game. It is important to note that “authentic professionalism” follows from the “distribution” of knowledge. So, for //Full Spectrum Warrior//, an individual will ultimately become a master tactician as a result of this formula. //Full Spectrum Warrior// also incorporates certain phrases such as “just in time” that help to assess the player’s actions and also help serve as an instructional guide. Gee also points out that individuals also learn certain facts when playing interactive games and perhaps these facts may even have deeper significance to them since they have already previously applied them in particular instances or settings in games like //Full Spectrum Warrior//.

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=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(6) Implications =

//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assessment: // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If students are going to be assessed on their conceptual knowledge, then those exposed to game-like learning have a clear advantage because they will be able to recall experiences and apply what they've learned in different situations. The author explains that although students that use game-like learning don't become experts, they will have a deeper understanding of the use of technical language and have a sense of their own ability to understand and use knowledge.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But is this type of learning practical for students who have to take assessments that measure their verbal/general understanding of knowledge? Gee argues, yes. He says that when students are given the ability to explore and engage in situated learning, the facts and information eventually "come free." Facts and information come effortlessly to someone who has a deeper and more experiential with knowledge.

//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Unequal Divide // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However, access to situated learning environment is unequally distributed. Many less economically privileged learners come from schools where verbal and a fact based curriculum is dominant. These learners do not have the same opportunity to learn and pass tests as privilege learners. More students from wealthier homes have an opportunity to learn through experience and activities. Gee predicts that digital technologies may further the divide not only in distribution of test scores, but in higher forms of understanding.

=Class Activity=

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">pre-discussion: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">@http://linoit.com/users/bmminj/canvases/game%20like%20learning%20I

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; display: block; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px;">post-discussion: @http://linoit.com/users/bmminj/canvases/game%20like%20learning%20II

=Citations=


 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Born to Learn video [section 1] Retrieved 8 July 2013 < @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=falHoOEUFz0 >
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Transforming the way we learn: and why kids should play video games. McQuirre, Ashley. Blog. 29 March 2012. [section 1, image] Retrieved 8 July 2013. < @http://blog.k12.com/sites/default/files/blog/pictures/pictures/wordle_ludoliteracy.png >
 * 3) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Interview with Gee [section 2] – Retrieved 6 July 2013 < @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNfPdaKYOPI >
 * 4) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Maze Imagine [section 4] – Retrieved 6 July 2013 < @http://www.thinkmaze.com/nutty-squirrel-maze/ >
 * 5) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Video [section 5] -Retrieved 7 July 2013 < @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0VRvQIsszQ >
 * 6) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Boxer: A Reconstructible Computational Medium. diSessa, Andrea A., Abelson, Harold. Communications of the ACM. September 1986, Volume 29, Number 9. Retrieved 7 Jul 2013 < @http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Boxer >