Games+Learning+Society 10 Conference

Discussant:  
Ira Sockowitz

Facilitating the Discovery and Use of Learning Games
William Jordan-Cooley
Despite the growing popularity and development of educational games, poor distribution, technical challenges, and lack of teacher support impede successful implementation. As a solution, BrainPOP's GameUp provides a curated database of quality educational video games. Additionally, each game is aligned with K-12 learning objectives and accompanied by supplemental materials. This paper will present the internal evaluation process used for selecting games, including technical, logistical, legal and quality considerations. The evaluation criteria for quality combine a standardized set of heuristics with open-ended qualitative analysis. The purpose of presenting our process is to invite feedback and inform interested game developers about GameUp as a support for successful discovery and use of educational games.

A theoretical framework for the research and design of serious games to promote problem solving
Richard Van Eck, Woei Hung
While problem solving is lauded as a benefit of video games, little empirical evidence exists to support this assertion. Current definitions and taxonomies are often contradictory and do not capture the complexity and diversity of modern games. Many video game researchers are also unfamiliar with the 75+ years of problem solving research in Europe and the United States. We propose a classification of gameplay that accounts for the cognitive skills during gameplay, relying in part on Mark Wolf's concept of grids of interactivity. We then describe eleven problem types and the dimensions along which they vary. Finally, we use the shared dimensions of gameplay and problem types to align gameplay types and problems. We believe that this framework for thinking about games and problem solving can guide future design and research on problem solving and games.