(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers? What is your best answer and why?
- How can we maximize player learning experience in educational video games with minimal expense to the entertainment?
- One of the most crucial methods to ensure an educational game has an enjoyable learning environment is by designing it to have intergenerational gameplay wherein multiple age groups can interact with one another in a positive manner.
- For the player to gain the most out of their playing experience, a game designer should program their games with an adaptive system so that the player be able to change variables and learn by observing the consequences of their manipulations.
- Not only is this a well-supported answer, but there is additional benefits of adaptive systems in video games if they were implemented into classrooms. For example, some games can have a function that increases or decreases the difficulty for the game depending on the students' aptitude on the problems. In recording this, teachers will have a good assessment on the students' actually abilities, and students can enjoy a game without the frustration of something being to simple or too challenging.
- Having a narrative is one of the most essential factors in both the entertainment and educational factors in learning game.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
- In my interviews with Sean Bouchard and Elizabeth Swensen, it so happened that they both mentioned Oregon Trail, a classic game that many deem educational. For this reason, I knew there was some special trait that made Oregon Trail stand out. Bouchard and Swensen were consistent in their praise for the game, which was that it was a game that allowed for much room for manipulation. Depending on the players' abilities and choices, they would go down one of thousands of various branches the game had available, as well as resulting in different endings. Through this, game designers minimize opportunities for players being bored by allowing them to essential do as they please and exploring how their interaction with the game gives them feedback. And, by allowing for much experience to be made by having many pathways for players to go down, players are more likely to understand and learn a concept.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
- If I had to be honest, there was a part of me that almost regretted having this as my EQ. I was afraid that I wouldn't find any resources that would gravitate to specific answers, or the answers that I did come up with would lack support. However, I'd later find that my fears were for naught; though it initially seemed there seemed to be no PARTICULAR answer from my research as a whole, once I zeroed in on a seemingly viable response, it turned out to be much easier to find supporting sources now that I knew what to look for.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
- Hands down, my interviews with my mentors and their colleagues had influenced my answers as well as the entirety of my Senior Project the most. In fact, I would say all the answers were in one way or another rooted to one of the things my mentors had said or done. When I did identify an answer, they helped push me towards sources that would support it, or would validate my answer by giving their own input to it.
- Several online sources helped, but if I had to decide on one, I'd say that the expert James Paul Gee and his various scattered works on the internet were much help. He was well-versed in both interactive media as well as psycholinguistics, and always strongly elaborated on the connection of learning games and human development.
