Games Based Situated Learning and Sustainaville

Welcome to the first blog post in this series!  I spoke briefly in my previous blog post about how pixelfountain and games-ED use Games Based Situated Learning (GBSL) as the theoretical underpinning of our products.  In this series of blog posts, I will explain further what I mean by this and offer a case study of one of our products in particular: Sustainaville.  This learning simulation is typical of our approach although all of our products are underpinned by the same theory.  The series draws material from the Games Based Situated Learning paper written by the other author of this blog, Paul Ladley.  The full paper can be found on the resources page of our corporate website.

Click for Sustainaville demo.

Index:

• Games Based Situated Learning – A Contradiction?
• games-ED (Games Based Learning)
• Marrying up to Situated Learning Theory

The first part of the series will introduce briefly some of the theories that underpin our products and games based learning at large.  The main focus of this series is Games Based Situated Learning, which we have discussed before, but several years ago and very briefly.  I will also try to uncover whether Situated Learning can actually occur through games and simulations, i.e. is that situated enough?

I will then introduce one of our games-ED products: the learning simulation Sustainaville.  I will explain the simulation and how it is used in a workshop including the plan > do > review stages.

The final and main part of the series will essentially be a judgement of Sustainaville using some theoretical principles outlined in the first part of the series (put forward by Jan Herrington and Ron Oliver, 1995).  This checklist can be used to judge other serious games and learning simulations in a similar way.  We will back up our judgements with both qualitative and quantitative feedback from our workshops.

Games Based Situated Learning - A Contradiction?

Situated learning / cognition considers how knowledge is acquired in the context of authentic activity, defined as the common activity of experts or ‘community of practice’.  Situated cognition considers that "representations are not at the center of the mind, but rather emerge from the interaction of the mental processes with the environment’, Clancey (1991).  This notion overturned previous theories that explained the human mind as a biological computer.   Knowledge is not the sum of what is currently held inside a person’s head, but the real-time formulation of understanding combining what was previously known with new experiences.   Brown, Collins and Duguid (1989) state that ‘A concept will continually evolve with each new occasion of use, because new situations, negotiations, and activities inevitably recast it in a new, more densely textured form. So a concept, like the meaning of a word, is always under construction’

A critical aspect of the situated learning model is the notion of the apprentice observing the ‘community of practice’.   Over time, the inexperienced novice moves from the periphery of community to the centre where they participate as experts.  This process of enculturation occurs by means of involvement in authentic activity (real world / simulated as opposed to analogous activity) and interactions with experts.

The theory has moved away from the rigid apprentice model, and has been reconstituted as a classroom learning theory.  A situated learning experience has four major premises guiding the development of classroom activities (Anderson, Reder, and Simon 1996; Wilson 1993): (1) learning is grounded in the actions of everyday situations; (2) knowledge is acquired situationally and transfers only to similar situations; (3) learning is the result of a social process encompassing ways of thinking, perceiving, problem solving, and interacting in addition to declarative and procedural knowledge; and (4) learning is not separated from the world of action but exists in robust, complex, social environments made up of actors, actions, and situations.

These four premises differentiate situated learning from other experiential forms of acquiring knowledge. In situated learning, students learn content through activities rather than acquiring information in discrete packages organized by instructors. Content is inherent in the doing of the task and not separated from the noise, confusion, and group interactions prevalent in real work environments. Learning is dilemma driven rather than content driven. Situations are presented that challenge the intellectual and psychomotor skills learners will apply at home, in the community, or the workplace (Lankard 1995).

David Stein puts forward that “situated learning uses cooperative and participative teaching methods as the means of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge is created or negotiated through the interactions of the learner with others and the environment. Subject matter emerges from the cues provided by the environment and from the dialogue among the learning community. The structure of the learning is implicit in the experience rather than in the subject matter structured by the instructor.” For Stein, Situated Learning in the classroom integrates content, context, community, and participation.

To sum up, the main tenets of situated learning theory are:

1. Information must be given in a relevant context or setting.
2. Learning must take place within social interaction and collaboration.

On the surface, Computer Based Situated Learning seems a contradiction in terms. Hummel (1993) maintained that ‘instructional designers who apply situated learning theory by implementation in electronic media should realize that they take an important step away from this theory ... courseware becomes the learning environment and not the authentic situation’ (p. 15 Jan Herrington and Ron Oliver, 1995).  But, the consensus has moved in favour of the feasibility of using computer methods to simulate authentic activity (Herrington and Oliver).

In fact, in some situations it is only possible to simulate such as emergency situations.  In terms of authentic activity, simulation maybe as close as it is possible to get to the real thing.  It is not just emergency training where simulation provides the only option.  For example, it is only through simulation that young people are going to experience many scenarios that occur during adulthood. Logistical and cost barriers exist, but time is a key problem. Game can compress time and can simulate events in a different time period.

A well designed simulation that has been modelled on expert knowledge, which offers collaborative learning in the form of blended delivery provides a powerful experience that does not merely engage the learner, a benefit in its own right, but anchors the learning process by contextualising it with ‘real’ scenarios. Games based situated learning moves away from the pure “apprentice model” of learning but it still stays true to the key tenets with little modification, as shown below:

1. Information must be given in authentic simulated context.
2. Learning must take place within social interaction and collaboration.

Herrington and Oliver, who have written extensively on situated learning and multimedia, suggest that to marry up to the theory, programmes need to:

• Provide authentic context.
• Provide authentic activities.
• Embed expert performances and model processes.
• Provide multiple roles and perspectives.
• Support collaborative construction of knowledge.
• Provide coaching and scaffolding.
• Promote reflection to enable abstractions to be formed.
• Promote articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be made explicit.
• Provide for integrated assessment.

These are the criteria by which we will judge our learning simulation Sustainaville (see next blog post: Introducing our Games).

games-ED (Games Based Learning)

This is the second blog post in the series.  Click back to the index if you are lost.

games-ED current products can be described as resource management games. They are played in a classroom environment on a single computer by the whole class. The games narrative is structured around a relevant context such as a community – they are situated. The class is spit into sub-teams that have to collaborate to achieve common goals such as improving the community.  Sustainaville is one such game.

The games have been used in schools, college and universities and are built on tried and tested adult learning products.

Using the Game in a Lesson
The game plays over a number of rounds (simulated years). The rounds are sub-divided into three phases (plan > do > review). The rounds progressively speed up, as the learners get to grips with the task at hand.

The class is divided into sub-teams. In Sustainaville, the teams are: Local Authority; Education, Learning & Skills; Health; Third Sector; Housing; Utilities; Transport and Enterprise Partnership. Each sub-team is presented with a mission outlining their objectives. Ultimately, the sub-teams work as one team with one score.

It is important to note that the game based lesson sits within a games based learning pedagogy. In essence, pre work, taught material, follow on exercises and assessment wrap around the game based lesson. As Francis notes (2006), games need to sit within broader games based pedagogy in order that a game might be effectively used in classroom contexts.

Phases of the Game Rounds (Plan > Do > Review)
Each round of Sustainville has three phases: plan > do > review:

PLAN:

• Investigate the main graphic, which shows a virtual community with problems such as air and water pollution, congestion, poor housing, unemployment, poor health and rising waste.
• Investigate report screen that help learners to make decisions. The reports show cause and effect and will enable the learner to see the impact their decisions.
• Learners consider cross linkages with other sub-teams and understand that they can achieve more if they work together.

DO:

• Having looked at their reports and developed a plan, the sub-teams can invest their budgets by making purchase decisions.
• Negotiate with other teams and choose win-wins to create a sustainable community.
• After all the budget decisions have been made, the sub-teams present their decisions to the whole group explaining what they have bought and why.  
• The purchases are input into the game by the teacher.

REVIEW:

• The round is updated to the next year.
• The learners consider the impact of their decisions (improvements made to the community):
• The main graphic changes: wind turbines, less pollution, recycling facilities and more housing.  
• The sub-team reports change.
• The score shows how the teams have performed as a whole group. The educator gives feedback on their performance, and the learners can reflect on the decisions they have made. 
• The learners now need to plan what they want to achieve in round 2.

See the next post in this series for how Sustainaville Marries Up to the Theory.

Marrying up to Situated Learning Theory

This final part of the series uses Herrington & Oliver’s ideas (described in the first part of this series) as a design checklist for our product Sustainaville.

Authentic Context
The Interface must map to the situation where the authentic activity would normally take place.  In addition, the learning should be complex and sufficiently large in scope to provide realism when problem solving.

In Sustainaville, learners are presented with a dynamic screen that shows the virtual community changing. The game play itself maps to the real world as learners play the role of decision makers (sub-teams in the overall game) in a virtual community.

Feedback from primary school students:

• “It is harder than I thought to run a town.” 
• “When you could see the town from the past years how it changed.”
• “Sometimes there is a disaster that you don’t know.” 

Over the workshops there was also between 67% and 88% improvement in understanding of sustainable development.

Authentic Activities
Along with an authentic context, the programme should enable learners to participate as though they are the experts.  It is through simulated authentic activity that the learner becomes immersed in the process of learning.

In Sustainaville learners are assigned objectives. They have to develop strategy, deal with incidents, make decisions on how to use resources and negotiate with other sub-teams.  These authentic activities and context interplay to produce a rich learning environment.

Feedback from primary school students:

• “It was like you were a proper business man.”
• “I liked making the decisions on what to buy and how much to buy.”
• “I will take away… planning, working together, making the right decisions.”

Over the workshops there was around a 57% improvement in decision-making skills.

Modelling of Processes and Expert performance
At the core of games-ED products sits the algorithm. It is the algorithm that fires out numbers in response to delegates’ decisions. Purchases in the game alter parameters, which in turn alter other parameters. The algorithm and the interface / activities that surrounds it represent the model of the reality. The algorithm is developed with the aid of desk research and interaction with subject matter experts.

Multiple roles and perspectives 
A situated learning environment provides the learner with the opportunity to investigate multiple roles and perspectives.  Roles and perspectives are brought to the fore in Sustainaville by the placing of delegates into sub-teams. Each sub-team has its own report (perspective), but at the same time the whole group is scored collectively (big picture). These sub-teams need to work together to achieve the overall goal (a constructed understanding). It is this pluralism of thought that the learners need to balance to gain a fuller understanding.

Feedback from primary school students when asked ‘what key learning messages will you take away?’:

• “That when your managing somewhere you need to make sure people are happy and that little things can be very important.”
• “That people have harder jobs than I thought.”
• “We need to keep the environment healthy and public transport is better than cars.”

Collaboration
From the perspective of the situated learning theory, the decision to run Sustainaville as a whole class exercise rather than as standalone software makes sense and adds real value to the experience of learning. The sub-teams need to work together as one team and it is those that do so, that go on to post high scores.

Feedback from primary school students:

• “I liked that we worked together to make the community good.”
• “I liked it when we had to work in a group and play a game to improve the area.”
• When asked ‘what key learning messages will you take away?’: “Work together, make group decisions.”

There was between a 41% and 61% improvement in group working after playing the game.

Game collaboration can have wider benefits. “Social interactions and relationships were seen by some of the interviewed teachers as having been positively enhanced by game-based learning activities in the classroom.” Ben Williamson, Futurelab 2009.

Reflection
A situated learning environment should allow learners to reflect upon a much broader base of knowledge to solve problems. The game anchors the discussion, but the delegates are encouraged to share experiences and knowledge. At the end of the session and after each round, the class is asked to think about the experience from different points of view. The learners are encouraged to build abstractions. Follow-on exercises, either completed as homework or in the next class, allow the learners to further consolidate their understanding and reflect on what they have learned.

A pupil from one workshop responded on his questionnaire that he would like “To do this in citizenship lessons.”

Articulation
Dialogue and articulation of knowledge occurs amongst learners (sub-teams), at the class level and can be educator-led. These conversations, not the technological interactions, should account for the majority the lesson.  In a workshop, the educator’s role is to encourage debate. A key question, as the learners’ decisions are keyed into the simulation is, “so what were you thinking when you made those choices?” The group can be encouraged with, “so what do the rest of you think about that?”

The learners often go through a process of transformation and feel able to participate in a way they could not have dreamed of before.  This is in part because of the inclusive nature of the exercise, but also because democratising nature of the game - games have a leveling effect: prior knowledge is only partially useful and game format may allow previously disengaged or under performing students to succeed.

A class teacher observing one workshop commented: “The children were fully engaged for all the session and the ‘buzz’ in the room was one of real active learning”.

Feedback from a primary school student when asked ‘what key learning messages will you take away?’: “How to discuss and think about decisions.”

Coaching and scaffolding
‘Many designers of interactive multimedia believe their programs should be self-contained ... Situated learning sees the teacher’s role in coaching – observing students, offering hints and reminders, providing feedback, scaffolding and fading, modeling, and so on – as integral to the learning situation’ (Herrington and Ron Oliver, 1995).

The role of the educator in Sustainaville is crucial. The teacher acts rather like the conductor in a orchestra, keeping the process flowing and providing scaffolding and stimulus as and when required.  The educator plays the role of the expert, as described in traditional situated learning. To enable the educator to do so, the software supports them. Contextual help is provided, by clicking on screen elements, to enable the educator to discover what makes up the particular element and its current value in the game.

A teacher overseeing one workshop commented: “the children were able to work [the purchase items] out with peer support or asked for clarification from an adult”.

Integrated assessment
Rather than considering the assessment as an add-on to the course, it should be integrated into learning itself.  Integration should not merely be a case of placing multiple choice questions within the learning sequence, instead the learning and assessment is one and the same thing, creating an authentic experience.

The score in Sustainaville is a highly motivating device. The decisions that the delegates make are fed into the algorithm and the score is fired out each round as the team endeavors to make the community a better place.

The in-game reports can be exported for analysis by the educator and to provide the basis for follow-on reflective / extension work. The reports are aligned to the curriculum, so that they can provide part of the evidence base for broader assessment.

A teacher overseeing one workshop commented: “[The children] were genuinely interested to see the impact their purchases had made on the town. They were disappointed to see the results/consequences of their purchases in Year 2 and were keen to rectify them in Year 3!”

Feedback from primary school students:

• “I liked finding out what score you got at the end and looking at the improvements.”
• “It was very fun and you learnt a lot.  It was great being in charge of the town and seeing what the result was.”

I hope you enjoyed this series!  We thought we had better show some practical evidence of the benefits of games based learning after so much theory.

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Games Based Learning Supports Multiple Learning Styles

As we have discussed in the past (‘Ten Reasons why GBL works in Education’, ‘Boys will be Boys’, and ‘Kinect Games Based Learning’), we believe that games based learning supports different learning styles.  These are typically understood as visual learners, auditory learners and kinaesthetic learners (learning by doing).  This infographic (pictured below) gives more information about each learning type and some useful learning suggestions based on the characteristics common with each type of learner.

http://www.onlinecollege.org/what-type-learner-are-you

One of the reasons that games based learning works so well is possibly because (amongst other reasons) it makes use of these different learning styles.  In particular kinaesthetic learning can occur through the use of learning simulations.  In these cases, a real world scenario or situation can be played out and the learners can ‘learn by doing’ actions in a safe environment.

Some people question whether learning styles under this model should be used in instructional design.  At pixelfountain and games-ED, the key learning theory that underpins our work is Games Based Situated Learning (GBSL).  This goes further in saying people can learn better by ‘learning by being’ (see ‘Games Based Situated Learning’ and 'Learn by Doing AND Learn by Being’).  This is again extremely related to simulation based learning as people can put themselves into the position of a character in the virtual city, hotel, economy and so on.  For us, supporting VAK is a by-product of our instructional design amongst other benefits and is not the starting point.

What is interesting about the infographic though, is that it suggests that 27.8% of people are predominantly kinaesthetic learners.  This makes up the biggest proportion of learners.  They suggest the next highest proportion learn best through reading / writing, followed by aural and visual.  This could mean big things for games based learning, if accurate.

However, what is important is how the games are used.  If you have a workshop or classroom full of people, they are unlikely to all share the same learning preferences.  Additionally, some people may learn different things in different ways or need a combination of stimuli to really understand something.  It would be foolish to plonk people down in front of a game and expect them all to become experts in that topic.

This is where workshops and full lesson plans are important.  Games based learning is often misunderstood as people fear that the learners will fail to see the point of the game and may just play to win and then forget what they have learned.  This does not have to be the case as tailor-made games (as opposed to commercial games) can avoid this.  However, another way to anchor and reinforce learning and capitalise on peoples learning styles is to offer additional activities (see ‘Six Key Principles of Collaborative Games Based Learning’).  These could be as simple as a brief introduction on the subject and a few questions at the end.  However, they could also involve mini games and exercises before and after the main game.  This also serves the function of ‘waking people up’ and getting them enthused and engaged.  This is the innovative approach that pixelfountain and games-ED take (this page from our website explains perfectly what I mean).

A recent New York Times article talks about ‘Harnessing Gaming for the Classroom’.  It discusses several reasons why games based learning is so exciting and why it works.  It also discusses some general trends of games and technology being used in education.  It is definitely worth a read and explains how people can learn things by physically doing them rather than reading or thinking about something.  They give the examples of improvisation on the piano or catching a baseball.  They suggest that in the future, school children will be able to turn into the thing that they are studying and become immersed in a virtual world related to what they have become.  They give the example of becoming a molecule and this would make molecules more exciting as that molecule is you.  This really is immersive learning at its best.  However, current games and simulations offer a pretty good alternative for now (and for relatively cheap).

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