Computer Simulations Can Be as Effective as Direct Observation at Teaching Students

Image courtesy of freeimages.co.uk

Only just found this article on the Science Daily website written in February 2010. Note to myself, must keep up.

Anyway, the article discusses a  study conducted by Kathy Cabe Trundle (Ohio State University) and Randy Bell (University of Virginia).

Science Daily quote Kathy Cabe Trundle, "The results suggest the use of computer simulations in science classes may be an effective and often less expensive and time-consuming way to teach some science concepts ... Our expectation was that the computer simulation would be at least as effective as direct observation in teaching about moon phases ... When we did our analysis, the simulation was just as effective in teaching two aspects of moon phases, and more effective in a third aspect. So we were excited by that."

The study was split into three groups: One class learned about moon phases using only a computer simulation, one group from nature alone, and a third group from both a computer simulation and nature. Those who used only computer simulations did just as well as others in learning causes of moon phases and shapes of moon phases. But those who used the simulations were actually slightly more likely than others to understand the sequences of moon phases.

As the report authors suggest, the simulation enabled the students to see all of the phases which is not always possible with nature observations (too true in Manchester, where I am based). And as I have observed in my own use of simulations, the approach is able to accelerate the learning process. Simulations offer other advantages too in terms of cost and risk (simulation or standing on the edge of volcanic crater, anyone).

The study suggests that simulation could have uses in other areas of science such as biology. I would also add that the social sciences are also ripe for the use of simulations. I have developed simulations that can be used in the geography curriculum, for instance. History, business studies, environmental studies etc also are good candidates for the simulation treatment. Simulations are particularly useful at explaining complex non-linear topics. They are also useful for cross curricular activities, so our Sustainaville simulation could be used in Citizenship; Personal  Social Health Education, Business Studies, Geography and Science.

All we need now is for educators to take one small step for their teaching and one giant leap for educational attainment.

ICT Classes are Boring - Its Official

As I have suspected from learning what my own children do in their ICT lessons and what I have seen in schools; ICT lessons aren't really up to scratch. Recently my partner visited a school and was shown the work of a GCSE A grade student, who was using a desktop publishing package. Her impression was that work was about the same level as our 10 year old. Okay, we have a pretty adept 10 year old, but even so...

ICT is a subject that is important for me: from my first fumblings with a ZX Spectrum (actually, I did have a girl friend) through 20 years of working in e-Learning. During that time, ICT has shifted from what nerds do to pretty much a basic skill. So how is the next generation getting on? Well Ofsted paints a pretty bleak picture. According to a recent report, only 31,800 students attempted the ICT examination compared with 81,100 in 2007, while there has also been a reduction in the number of entries at A-level ICT.

As Chief Inspector Miriam Rosen states, “In a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, young people need to be given the opportunity to learn ICT skills in an interesting, challenging and relevant way.” The report states the standards were inadequate in nearly a fifth of 167 schools inspected during the last three years, with secondary schools singled out as struggling with ICT.

So what can be done? Here are a few suggestions:

• Get beyond simple PowerPoint: Putting together slides isn't that challenging, creating an interesting presentation is the key. It is about telling a story and as such could be combined with an English lesson.
• Develop simulations in Captivate: Adobe's Captivate is fairly straight forward to use (see my previous blog showing Captivate experiments developed from scratch over the course of a week). A step through simulation of a ICT package allows each student to learn at their own pace, and frees up the teacher  to work with students who need the most support or need an extra challenge.  
• Let student's use Captivate: Once you are familiar with Captivate, why not teach the students how to use it? Letting students develop learning modules that could put up on the school's Learning Management System for other students to use, now that is a win-win.
• Explore the world of Web 2.0: There are a huge number of amazing tools on the web that go beyond passive viewing. Blogging tools such as  Blogger are obvious and easy to use. But, there are other tools out there for developing presentations, editing video, creating games and building websites.
• Contextualisation: Don't teach technology, teach how it is used in the world of work. Develop a cash flow forecast in Excel and in doing so combine ICT with business studies and work experience (develop a real cash flow forecast for a local shop).
• Games design and development: I have blogged about this before (LAP Recycling Game and Climate Crew) but how about engaging pupils with games? Okay, the example I have blogged about utilised Flash, which is a tad technical, but there are simpler tools such as Construct from Scirra. The added benefit of games development is that students become exposed to the world of programming.

In the next weeks and months, I might start developing some learning materials, so watch this space...

Instructional design, e-Learning and games in Adobe Captivate

A lot of the e-Learning and games I have designed have been developed in Adobe Flash. But,  it is worth noting that authoring tools such as Adobe Captivate can offer rapid development opportunities. And with a little bit of scripting sat under the bonnet, the results can be impressive and not simply PowerPoint with questions.

The following examples were generated by myself. They were designed and coded over the course of 8 days and were an exercise in self-training in Captivate and a vehicle to test the limitations of the authoring tool.

Systems Training

System training is Captivate’s stock in trade and it comes as no surprise that developing systems training is an efficient process in Captivate. The example presented here simulates modifying a widget in a browser. The Show e-Learning Topic shows the trainee what they need to do and Test Topic is an interactive step through.

Systems training has obvious applications in adult training, but can also be used in ICT classes in schools.


Photo Stories

This photo story shows how good instructional design can even elevate a simple multiple choice question. Based on three panel photo strips, the design and development makes use of Captivate's scripting and timeline functionality to display appropriate feedback and modify the next part of the story.

Photo stories are narrative based learning and are an excellent way to present dilemmas. In adult training, they can be used to train procedures and in education they provide a powerful way to teach subjects like PHSE.

SITUATED-training (Game)

This example is an attempt to push Captivate to its limits. The SITUATED-training course puts the trainee in a virtual setting where they need to visit various locations, talk to characters and interact with objects. The instructional design embeds a system simulation inside a dynamic story line. At the end of the training, the trainee is presented with a dynamic end report that shows what they did and didn’t do.

SITUATED-training is built around a cause and effect engine and provides a vehicle to deliver problem solving training. The approach is useful to train skills such as project management and auditing. In education, think history, geography and science.

Opportunity
If you want to know more or want help with instructional design and / or development of e-Learning / games in Flash or Captivate then contact me on my (Paul Ladley) Linked-in profile.

Proof of the Pudding 3 (learning simulations vs. games based learning)

Building on two past posts (Proof of the Pudding and Proof of the Pudding Part 2) I thought I would blog about pixelfountain.

pixelfountain is the company I set up in 1995 and have been working for ever since. The company owns the brand games-ED, which has been the main focus of my blogging activities. But, I thought for a change I would inform my readers about the learning simulation activities of pixelfountain.

I have designed over a dozen learning simulations for pixelfountain. The learning simulations blend the best of traditional and interactive learning. They have been used in over 450 workshops  to successfully train more than 6,500 individuals. We have delivered learning programmes in local councils, public sector, housing associations, community & voluntary sector and the private sector. Long–term evaluation of our learning simulation approach has shown that the immediate benefits translate into changed behaviour, better decision making and improved skills, which ultimately are incorporated into organisational improvements.


Evaluation of our programmes highlight improvements in 3 areas, which translate into improved decisions and allow change to occur at an organisational and partnership level:

• Strategic Thinking – Understanding the key driver and needs. Does a particular decision help us get closer to our goal?  Learning simulations enable delegates to test strategies in a virtual community without the danger of making mistakes. They can then reflect on how their new understanding can be applied in the real world.
• Joined-up Thinking – Understanding cause and effect provides perspective, reduces the chance of perverse outcomes / duplication, and increases the likelihood of win-wins. 
• Collaborative Working – Working with stakeholder groups and partners improves decision-making by allowing organisations to benefit from the ‘wisdom of the crowd’. pixelfountain learning simulations are centred on the people. They consider how people learn, how they collaborate and how they apply new knowledge.

And, here is the interesting the thing, the learning simulations that I have designed, developed and delivered for pixelfountain are pretty much the same products as the games based learning products that we use with games-ED. If you don't believe me have a look at the games-ED Sustainaville demo and compare it to the pixelfountain product Planit-Sustainability. Okay they are not entirely identical as Sustainaville was slimmed down for the education market - not because it was deemed too hard, but because it needed to fit into educational time frames.

Actually, over the last decade we have been invited on special days to use pixelfountain learning simulations in schools, colleges and universities. They worked in education as well as with adult audiences, so we knew we weren't taking a huge risk with branding them as games-ED for the education market. In conclusion: 450 successful learning simulation workshops - that is proof of the pudding for learning simulation and our games based learning approach as well.

Finally, if they are the same product, why use to different terms: learning simulations and games based learning? Well, when we started delivering learning simulations 10 years ago, we didn't think people would turn up if we mentioned the "G" word.

Developing Communication Skills via Games Based Learning

"In socially deprived areas more than 50% of children begin school without the ability to speak in long sentences, which experts say can lead to problems in later life. One hundred schools across England are taking part in a day without pens to tackle this speech deficit... Language impairment is found to be an issue for two-thirds of children with serious behavioural problems, 60% of young offenders, and up to 90% of unemployed young men." - BBC

And from another article from the BBC quoting the communications charity ICAN, "Once upon a time a family would spend a lot of time talking and nowadays of course they have DVDs, the internet, the TV and so this formal communication process in terms of talking and listening has got worse due to lack of opportunity."

To be fair to Jean Gross of ICAN, she is not saying new mediums stop conversations but they can become a distraction in family discourse. Of course the alternative might be true; the family might discuss whether they liked a film and what it meant. This leads me on to point I have previously made in this blog. It is not the technology that is the issue; it is the design and the delivery in the classroom that is limiting games based learning outcomes.

And now for something completely different

As I wrote in a previous blog (The Art of Conversation) games based learning can anchor conversations: In our games-ED products the gameplay is structured around rounds, whole class involvement and phases to encourage conversation. The learners talk in their teams, between teams, at a class level and with the educator. The game anchors these conversations  to flow during the course of the plan > do > review phases. These conversations are at the heart of the learning; they are inclusive and are not formalised / one-way. It is through these questions that learning flows.

Moreover, the game provides a situation (creating a sustainable community)  to practice communication skills in terms of listening, presenting arguments and information, negotiating and providing instruction. The games allow different students to communicate and provides a powerful collaborative learning environment.

Sir Ken Robinson, Education and Gamification

Firstly, let me be honest, the main reason I wanted to do this blog post was to embed the fantastic RSA animation of Sir Ken Robinson’s speech on Changing Paradigms in education.

So, how does this link to games based learning and the gamification of education? Well, Ken Robinson’s main argument is that the current education was designed to meet the needs of the Industrial Revolution and is structured around an intellectual model of the mind that categorises people as academic or non-academic. As a result, he states that many brilliant people think they are not.  He states that we live in an intensely stimulating time yet many children are bored (and thus restless) at school. And there we have it, now I can crowbar gamification and games based learning into Sir Ken’s narrative.

• Games can offer an aesthetic experience. They can immerse students (players) in a situation that challenges them and rewards them or as Sir Ken might say,” allow them to be fully alive in the moment”.
• As Sir Ken states, “collaboration is the stuff of growth … great learning happens in groups”. Games based learning needn’t be a solitary exercise. Most of the games I have designed have been built on the construct of multiple teams playing different roles in a virtual community.
• Games based learning can (and I believe should) support creative thinking. Simulation based games are a particularly powerful way to do so. Games are not linear and allow students to explore complex interactions and cause and effect, constructing creative solutions to problems as they happen.
• Games based learning  allows students to explore contentious issues and potential solutions such as those surrounding climate change.  Our games-ED product The Climate Game requires various teams (stakeholders) to develop a solution from a diverse set of viewpoints and in doing so generates an understanding of the subject while encouraging critical thinking skills.
• Games encourage students of all abilities to work together and provide a way to engage reluctant learners. They can go beyond utility value into encouraging an appetite for learning and so adding vitality into the classroom.

Sir Ken believes that the habits of our institutions need to change. And maybe, at a macro level, they need to. But, we don’t need to wait for a revolution, there are things that can be done right now and gamification / games based leaning is one of those things.

If you want to see the larger speech then here it is:

Gamification, Education and Behavioural Economics

I have turned my recent 4 part blog post into a paper (pdf) that can be downloaded from:

• http://www.games-ed.co.uk/resources-contact.html
• http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/Gamification-Education-and-Behavioural-Economics-6111919/
• http://www.slideshare.net/gamesED/gamification-educationandbehaviouraleconomicsv1 (or the widget in the right side bar)

The original blog begins with:
http://www.games-based-learning.com/2011/08/gamification-of-life.html

Games Based Learning, Education Policy and Market

Looking at a recent speech made by Michael Gove and the responses to it tell us as much about the education system as it does about games in education.

In the section of his speech on harnessing technology in the classroom he stated:

“In addition to the debate over what is taught, and the issue of who does the teaching, we also need to think about how the teaching takes place. So as well as reviewing our curriculum and strengthening our workforce, we need to look at the way the very technological innovations we are racing to keep up with can help us along the way. We need to change curricula, tests and teaching to keep up with technology, and technology itself is changing curricula, tests, and teaching.”

He went on to say:

“Computer games developed by Marcus Du Sautoy are enabling children to engage with complex mathematical problems that would hitherto have been thought too advanced. When children need to solve equations in order to get more ammo to shoot the aliens, it is amazing how quickly they can learn. I am sure that this field of educational games has huge potential for maths and science teaching and I know that Marcus himself has been thinking about how he might be able to create games to introduce advanced concepts, such as non-Euclidean geometry, to children at a much earlier stage than normal in schools.”

He concluded:

“These developments are only beginning. They must develop on the ground - Whitehall must enable these innovations but not seek to micromanage them. The new environment of teaching schools will be a fertile ecosystem for experimenting and spreading successful ideas rapidly through the system.”

A number of games related blogs have been positive about Gove’s speech but others have been more circumspect. For example, The Guardian wrote a critical account in “Is Michael Gove's concept of learning in the digital era outdated?”

My view: I guess we need to take him at his word, until we know more. He recognises the importance of technology in the education system. He cites the use of games in mathematics classes and goes on to say that they enable accelerated learning.

I recognise the Gove didn’t expand greatly on the use of games based learning. But is the Guardian is correct in stating “the problem is, Gove's speech represents an out dated concept of technology and learning; it is part of a lingering belief that computers should be used merely as information retrieval and reward systems within the traditional education system.”

Certainly, there are broader examples of games based learning including the work we do at games-ED:

• Using Games Based Learning in a Primary School 
• Using Games Based Learning in a Secondary School 
• We even used games design and development as a learning activity in its own right.

But, could it be that he simply Gove just hasn’t got very good examples of the use of games based learning. Maybe, we simply need to wait and see. And with one third of secondary schools becoming academies, there will be more freedom in the education system anyway. As he says, “the National Curriculum should provide a foundation of knowledge. Great teachers, inspired by love for their subjects, should make the classroom come alive". Will he practice what he preaches?

Instead of looking for a game based learning to be decided on from the top, the industry needs to create the products teachers want and teachers need to take a few more chances in their classes. Who knows the market might just get it right and then it might not…

A nice overview of games based learning (gamification) from the Online Colleges

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2011/08/25/how-video-games-are-changing-education/


Via: Online Colleges Guide

Gamification and Behavioural Change

Part 4 of a Blog Series

1. Gamification of Life.
2. Behavioural Economics and Education.
3. Gamification in Education.
4. Gamification and Behavioural Change.

In a previous blog on behavioural economics, I stated that students aren’t rationale. Specifically, they need to be nudged into making decisions that might best suit their long-term goals.

Can gamification can help nudge students (and teachers) in the right direction. And what is that direction? A good starting point would be:

• Motivating students and raising attainment
• Preparing students for a changing world
• Improving the quality of teaching

Motivating students and raising attainment 
Games based learning can have a direct impact on performance in terms of subject understanding. I have seen this directly with games-ED products and I have blogged about the “proof of pudding” on a couple of occasions – Proof of the Pudding and Proof of the Pudding Part 2.

Currency (a la reward cards) could focus students on short-term. Why not take a leaf out of retailers’ books? Students could earn reward points for attendance, extra-curricular activities, helping others (students and pupils) and so on. These reward points could be traded in for goodies such as tickets for the cinema – the rewards could be sponsored from local businesses.

Preparing students for a Changing World
Games like The Sims allow individuals to see the life journey of a computer generated character. How about developing a simulation that could function as a game of life / career choice game? Maybe such a game could nudge students to make long-term choices rather than being herded along by their peers and recent events.

Games based learning and more generally gamification can go beyond improving specific subject attainment to improving personal learning and thinking skills. Simulation games allow students to explore the issue of cause & effect. And, if the games are collaborative, students work with others to see the big picture and make connections. In this way, games based learning can improve collaboration plus creative and critical thinking skills. Gamification improves personal, learning and thinking skills and can also be used to tackle specific behaviours.

Improving the quality of teaching
Games as continual professional development (CPD) for teachers – I have delivered over 400 workshops using learning simulations with pixelfountain (read games based learning). I can testify that adults enjoy playing games in workshops. Also, long-term feedback from these workshops confirms that the approach accelerates the development of skills and knowledge and changes behaviours. In addition to offering CPD, data could be saved from teachers’ in-game decision to form the basis of research.

Conclusion
In this series of blogs, I have looked at some of the issues affecting education and aligned these to the move towards gamification and the ideas presented by behavioural economics and B J Fogg’s behavioural model. They have been presented as food for thought and as always I would welcome your comments.

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Further Reading
New Economics Foundation – Behavioural Economics
Dan Ariely (2008), Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions,
Dan Ariely (2010), The Upside of Irrationality
B J Fogg, Behaviour Model
Jack Schofield, PC-PRO (2011) - The Gamification of Life
Richard H. Thaler and Sendhil Mullainathan, Library of Economics and Liberty, Behavioural Economics
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein (2008),  Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Gamification in Education

Part 3 of a Blog Series

1. Gamification of Life.
2. Behavioural Economics and Education.
3. Gamification in Education.
4. Gamification and Behavioural Change.

Overview
Building on a previous blog (Behavioural Economics and Education) that considered education from a behavioural economic view point, this blog looks at gamification design in order to shift behaviours. The argument is focused around B J Fogg’s behavioural model.

Games based learning can have a direct impact on performance in terms of subject understanding. I have seen this directly with games-ED products and I have blogged about the “proof of pudding” on a couple of occasions – Proof of the Pudding and Proof of the Pudding Part 2.

In addition, by providing virtual worlds, games based learning such as simulations improve personal, learning and thinking skills and can also be used to tackle specific behaviours.  So how do we design games and game-like interventions to modify behaviours? And what behaviours do we want to change?

Gamification Design and B J Fogg’s Behaviour Model
If we want to achieve behavioural change then we need to design accordingly. B J Fogg’s Behaviour Model provides a method of understanding how we can change behaviour and specifically how we can design to increase the chance of achieving a likely outcome. The model states that an individual needs to be motivated, have ability and be triggered into action.

The following section considers the three aspects (motivation, ability and triggers) in turn and highlights the design impacts for gamification in education.

Motivation
Fogg’s model puts forward three core motivators (sensation, anticipation and social cohesion) each with two sides.

• Sensation: pleasure/pain
• Games and gamification offer a huge potential to make learning fun and effect behavioural change without the preaching.
• They can be used as a replacement for an existing curriculum activity or they can be used to encourage activity. In the latter the game acts as treat.
• Anticipation: hope/fear 
• Game’s competitive elements encourage the players (learners) to get to the end of the activity. This desire to win is probably more crucial than the fun element. In a game, players (learners) will endure frustration and challenges that in other situations would cause them to give up. This is incredibly important as behavioural change is typically something that will need to be worked at.
• Social Cohesion: acceptance/rejection
• Different types of games allow different students to succeed. A few years back I took a class in school, the young lad who got the highest score got an amazing reaction from his classmates. The teacher told me later that she had never seen him really engaged before and he certainly hadn’t succeeded at anything.
• At games-ED, our games are simulations of real world situations and are collaborative in nature.  Groups build their understanding of the game, the wider world and each other.

Ability (Simplicity)
As Fogg states, there are two paths to increasing ability. You can train people, giving them more skills (more ability) or you make the task simpler. Simplicity is the least risky option and is thus the most effective way to change behaviours.

Fogg outlines 6 Factors affecting simplicity: Time; Money; Physical effort; Brain Cycles (mental effort); Social Deviance (going against the norm); and Non-Routine (breaking habits). And he notes that simplicity is a function of your scarcest resource at that moment.

Questions for designers:

• Time: How much time have teachers got to learn products and what slack is there in the existing curriculum?
• Money: How much do the games costs including hidden costs such as potentially buying kit?
• Physical effort: Will the games based learning session require decamping to the IT suite?
• Brain Cycles: Can teachers and students justify the mental effort required?  
• Social Deviance: games based learning is currently in its early adopter phase. By nature early adopters don’t mind going against the norm (indeed they get a kick out of being the first). But, to be successful games based learning needs to recruit the majority. How can gamification in education be more widely marketed?
• Non-Routine: Isn’t it just easier for teachers to do what they have always done?

I have covered the answers to many of these questions in a previous blog (Six Key Principles of Games Based Learning), so I won’t repeat them here. But what is worth noting is the seeming contradiction between the need for simplicity AND complexity. Specifically, complexity generates a richness to the gaming experience and provides engagement and challenge yet simplicity is key to usage in the classroom.  As a designer, I have squared this circle by ensuring that the rules and interface are simple. As such, the game is quick to get into but the model and gameplay strategies are designed to be complex enough to engage and challenge within educational timeframes (hours not months). Developers, who simply reuse entertainment games, beware.

Triggers
Without a Trigger, the target behaviour will not happen. By trigger, Fogg means: cue, prompt, call to action, request, and so on.

He states there are three types of triggers (facilitator, spark and signal) which can be judged in terms of both motivation and ability requirements:

• Facilitator (high motivation and low ability) such as trainer / walkthrough.
• Within the context of education the teacher has typically been responsible for triggering activity and behavioural change. Gamification can become another tool.
• Spark (high motivation and high ability) such as inspiration from a friend.
• Using devices such as league tables and ideas from social networking, it could be possible to inspire learners into activity and ultimately behavioural change.
• Signal (low motivation and high ability) – an instruction to act.
• Providing the gamification intervention has been well designed (it is simple), then it might be possible to make actions autonomous. This maybe a medium term goal.

In reality, a combination of all three triggers is likely to be required, dependent on the complexity of the intervention and the magnitude of the behavioural change.

And the story continues…
My next blog (Gamification and Behavioural Change) considers some ideas for nudging students (and teachers).

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Further Reading
New Economics Foundation – Behavioural Economics
Dan Ariely (2008), Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions,
Dan Ariely (2010), The Upside of Irrationality
B J Fogg, Behaviour Model
Jack Schofield, PC-PRO (2011) - The Gamification of Life
Richard H. Thaler and Sendhil Mullainathan, Library of Economics and Liberty, Behavioural Economics
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein (2008),  Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Behavioural Economics and Education

Part 2 of a Blog Series

1. Gamification of Life.
2. Behavioural Economics and Education.
3. Gamification in Education 
4. Gamification and Behavioural Change.

Behavioural Economics Primer
Before I delve more into gamification and behavioural change in education, it is worthwhile doing a quick primer on behavioural economics.

Behavioural economics considers the weaknesses in the standard economic model which assumes that individuals are rational and behave in a way to maximise their individual self-interest. Writers such as Thaler and Mullainathan suggest that “the standard economic model of human behaviour includes three unrealistic traits—unbounded rationality, unbounded willpower, and unbounded selfishness—all of which behavioural economics modifies”.

Irrationality: We are not robots and our decisions can be swayed by factors such as overconfidence, optimism, recent events, unlikely events and extrapolation. We are loss averse (a bird in the hand may not be worth more than two in the bush). And we can fall foul of mental accounting (where individuals frame value relative to their income, another product or a suggested number).

Lack of willpower: Drug dealers know it, gym owners know it, fast food restaurants know it, but do we know it? If we only had the will power we would stop doing things that are bad for us and start doing things that are beneficial for us. Unfortunately, we are habitual in our nature and our herding mentality means we tend to go with the flow when making decisions.

Selflessness: As Thaler and Mullainathan state, “Although economic theory does not rule out altruism, as a practical matter economists stress self-interest as people’s primary motive.” But this approach does not explain the huge numbers of people that give to charity and volunteer. But, as the New Economics Foundation put it, “People are motivated to do the right thing”.

Behavioural Impacts in Education
In a rational world students would put the least amount of effort in to gain the necessary qualifications to enter the professional world. The market for skills would drive students’ efforts and individuals would be magically allocated to the perfect job.  But markets don’t always run smoothly in the short term and as already stated individuals don’t always behave rationally.

Quite the opposite, students behave irrationally. They are overly influenced by short term results rather than long term goals. Their expectations can be framed by the students that they study alongside and the subjects they study rather than the wider world. Presentation of information, specifically grades, can lead to optimism and an unrealistic view of the future.

Will power has a huge impact on success in education. Handing in that course work on time, doing revision and (for some students) even attending classes require a huge amount of will power. And herding is ever present in education, as pupils are influenced by their peers. Creating a short-term reward system rather than a long-term hope system might generate improvements.

As in the real world, selfishness is a limited educational strategy and collaboration plays a huge role in success. Students need to work in groups; sharing knowledge and giving encouragement. Encouraging these behaviours improves performance and develops employability skills.

As Dan Ariely notes, individuals behave irrationally but in predictable ways. Gamification in education can utilise this fact both in terms of design and achieving behavioural change. Instead engaging students as though they will make the rationale choice (study hard, get the highest grades they can and develop the life they want) educators need to delve further into the psychology of their students.

The story continues…

• My next blog Gamification in Education – Designing to Shift Behaviours looks at how B J Foggs’s behavioural model can help designers.
• And following that some ideas for nudging students (and teachers) are discussed in a blog entitled Gamification and Behavioural Change.

Further Reading
New Economics Foundation – Behavioural Economics
Dan Ariely (2008), Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions,
Dan Ariely (2010), The Upside of Irrationality
B J Fogg, Behaviour Model
Jack Schofield, PC-PRO (2011) - The Gamification of Life
Richard H. Thaler and Sendhil Mullainathan, Library of Economics and Liberty, Behavioural Economics
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein (2008),  Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

Gamification of Life

Jack Schofield in a recent article for PC-PRO notes that “the techniques developed in computer games are finding their way into shopping, education and the workplace … Gamification is one of this year’s big technology buzzwords, and some people think it’s going to go global.”

The article doesn’t explicitly state it, but much of ideas about games and changing behaviours are based on nudging individuals to make one decision rather than another. And by nudge, I am referring to the title of a recent book by Thaler and Sunstein that considered the issue of behavioural economics and how it can improve decisions about health, wealth, and happiness.

My next few blogs are going to expand on these issues:

• Behavioural Economics and Education.
• Gamification in Education – Designing to Shift Behaviours. 
• Gamification and Behavioural Change.

As ever with my blog posts – these ideas are work in progress.


Further Reading
New Economics Foundation – Behavioural Economics
Dan Ariely (2008), Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions,
Dan Ariely (2010), The Upside of Irrationality
B J Fogg, Behaviour Model
Jack Schofield, PC-PRO (2011) - The Gamification of Life
Richard H. Thaler and Sendhil Mullainathan, Library of Economics and Liberty, Behavioural Economics
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein (2008),  Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

GETideas: New Look Web Site

Home page of GETideas.org

GETideas.org have recently revamped their website. For those of you who don't know about GETideas.org, they provide anopen, online global community for 21st-century education leaders that exists to foster Global Education Transformation–the “GET” in GETideas.org–via virtual collaboration and international dialogue, including the sharing of best practices and resources.

Contributors to the site  include distinguished education leaders, innovators, visionaries, strategists, and practitioners from around the world. They offer an opportunity for thought leaders to share ideas - see  http://getideas.org/programs/featured-thought-leaders/. I recently wrote a games based learning article for them, which you can find at http://getideas.org/thought-leader/let-the-games-begin-advice-for-educators/.

Also, the site content is in part membership driven, so why not join in the conversation: join up and tell everyone who you are on their members' profile section http://getideas.org/members/paul-ladley/profile.

Sugata Mitra – Four Implications for Games Based Learning

I recently listened to a talk by Sugata Mitra at the Education Technology Conference in Leeds.  I am sure you have all come across Sugata Mitra – he is widely known for his Hole in the Wall experiments carried out in India, which the inspired Vikas Swarup to write his debut novel Q & A, which later became the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

By the way Sugata’s talk followed a similar format to one given at TED (Ideas worth Spreading) – Child-driven education, which you can see below.

When listening to Sugata , I was struck by four implications for games based learning: 


1. Generating Interest: Sugata discussed his work with Arthur C. Clarke, who pointed out that “if there is interest, then education happens.” Games based learning can generate a lot of interest. And a lot has been written about games based learning and its ability to motivate and engage learners. I won’t repeat those points here, but what I will say is that games can suffer from being too interesting. Specifically, the design of the game needs to support the learning process – see blog post “Six Key Principles of Collaborative Games Based Learning”.

2. The role of the teacher: Again, quoting Arthur C. Clarke Sugata said that “A teacher that can be replaced by a machine; should be.” It is worth noting that Sugata doesn’t believe that teachers can be replaced (well not yet), but he does believe that teachers shouldn’t be the purveyors of mere information. He believes that is what Google is for. Instead, they should inspire and help pupils analyse what they have found. Teachers can provide scaffolding and expertise, this particularly true in collaborative games based learning products such as games-ED. As game decisions are input into the game (at a class level) the teacher can ask questions such as, “Why did you buy that?” Game reports can be analysed by the students and the teacher – “What worked, what didn’t and how are we going to improve things this round?”

3. The method of the grandmother: Inspiration can come from unusual quarters. Both in experiments in India and Gateshead, Sugata discovered that students could achieve dramatic results (20% increase in test scores) just by being encouraged by an adult – “wow that looks good can you show me again”.  Again, this isn’t to say that teachers aren’t required, but it shows how important inspiration is in the education process. Games based learning can motivate learners by presenting both an interesting narrative and a competitive challenge. The role of the teacher, as previously stated, is to provide scaffolding and expertise, but they should also simply nudge the players along rather like a grandmother. By moving away from rigid traditional instructional method, teachers allow the students to work together to construct their understanding. See blog “Learn by Doing”.

4. The power of collaboration: Key to Sugata’s learning ideas is the power of collaboration. In his experiments, he encourages the students to work in groups of four with one computer. He believes that the key to delivering improved education outcomes is generating conversations. I completely agree and as I written previously in a blog titled “The Art of Conversation”, collaborative games based learning anchors conversations and enables students to learn complex subjects quickly.

Imagine Counselling

One of the Directors of pixelfountain (games-ED) has started a new venture called Imagine Counselling. Now this blog post could be a cheeky plug for Mary Dees and Imagine Counselling (which it is) but it also does have some bearing on games based learning.

Mary recently used Sustainaville (a games-ED product) in a workshop session. I blogged previously about this workshop (http://www.games-based-learning.com/2011/06/they-are-ok-are-you.html) so I won't go into too much detail. In brief, though, the workshop was run at ITA National Conference 2011. It examined the Transactional Analysis theory of life positions. It explored conflict and collaboration including existential and behavioural life positions in both 2 and 3 dimensions using the Sustainaville games based learning product as an anchor.

Mary and I believe that games based learning / serious games and Transactional Analysis can be used to deliver organisational change - click the following link if you want to know more about Organisational Transactional Analysis.

Imagine Counselling offers counselling and psychotherapy located in Mellor, Stockport: close to Marple, Marple Bridge, Romiley, New Mills, Glossop & High Peak, Stockport & South Manchester and Tameside.

Neuroscience, Stress and Games Based Learning

This blog is going to be a bit ambitious and is much about getting my thoughts down, as sharing ideas with others. I am currently listening to “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” and some of its ideas got me thinking about games based learning; in particular stress and its impact learning acquisition and flow, self-mastery and retention of knowledge.

Renowned psychiatrist  John J. Ratey’s book  delves into neuroscience to explain the transformative effects of exercise on the brain. The book includes chapters on the beneficial effects of exercise on Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Attention Deficit, Addiction, Hormonal Changes, Aging and Learning. I won’t give too much away, but on learning he cites an example of a revolutionary fitness program in Naperville, Illinois, which has put this school district first in the world for science and sixth for mathematic based on internationally recognised testing methods. These results put the school significantly above the US average.

"I need a break, or do I?"

There is a huge amount of interesting material in the book, but one particular point about stress got me thinking about what I have experienced in workshops and about how games based learning could be achieving some of its learning outcomes.

According to Ratey, stress works at a fundamental level in the brain. It is linked to the ‘fight or flight’ response. Stress focuses the brain martialling resources for immediate use. Adrenaline kicks in, increasing heart rate and dilating bronchial tubes to allow more oxygen to get to the muscles.  Two neurotransmitters put the brain on alert: neoroprenephrine arouses attention then dopamine sharpens and focuses it. Cortisol takes over from adrenaline to allow more glucose to be freed up for the brain.

Too much stress can overwhelm us, and inhibit learning and performance, but a little can be beneficial.  For example, mild stress before going on stage ramps up chemicals in the brain, which means the brain becomes more focused and performance improves.

Ratey states that people suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Didorder (ADHD) can sometimes be seen as stress junkies, but they are probably using stress as a mechanism to achieve focus. He also suggests engendering stress is a primary focus of procrastination. We only can get motivated and focused when the stress has ramped up to the required level.

So what as this specifically got to do with my experiences of  games based learning at games-ED and using learning simulations at pixelfountain. Well, at the start of our workshops, learners are often stressed as they are asked to quickly learn the rules of a game. This usually takes around ten to fifteen minutes, as we design the game rules to be simple so that it doesn't take too long for the learners to get into the learning. But maybe this initial ‘out of their comfort zone’ experience is not a hurdle to quickly jump over; it could actually be an integral part of the learning process. The stress could be putting the learners’ brains in a more attentive and thus receptive frame of mind to take on new information (build synaptic links).

In fact in our adult workshop, it has often been delegates that have struggled the most at the start that have raved the most at the end. I can think of one specific workshop, where a woman in a local council said, “I have only just learned Monopoly, how do you expect me to do this.”  At the end of the workshop, she was praising the games based learning approach and stated that everyone in the council should do it.

We have thought of this turnaround as a journey that these individuals go through, and that this experience means they feel the need to talk about it. I think this is probably still the case, but maybe the initial stress has focused their brain, meaning they have learned a lot more as a result.  This would make sense, as these individual are recommending the process in terms of “this is the best training I have done and everyone should do it”.

Furthermore, the stress of dealing with challenges could be the biological mechanism behind learning flow. The mild stress enables the individual to keep going and discover more. In our games designs we include incidents, so that in later rounds of the simulations, learners have an extra challenge. We do this to increase realism and to spice things up a little. But, maybe we have inadvertently designed games that keep stressing the learners a little in order that they learn a lot. The games based challenges generate learning flow.

The idea of a learning journey is powerful. The initial stress and challenges along the way, enables the individual to achieve a degree of self-mastery. And in doing so, learners feel good about themselves. They have earned that pat on the back. I think that this presents a fantastic way to motivate learners.  So, games could offer up an opportunity to create a “learning arc”, where learning can be seen in terms of beginning, middle and end with crises along the way building to a learning climax.

The stress response goes beyond generating focus and providing an opportunity for self-mastery; it can help with the process of learning and memory. A bit more neuroscience courtesy of Ratey . The stress response elevates cortisol, hypothalamic corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) and neoroprenephrine. These agents enable glutamate to be boosted which in turn speeds up the flow of information to the hippocampus and changes the dynamic at the synapses. Cortisol turns on genes inside cells which make proteins that are used to build up the very structure of the brain and solidify the memory.  Put simply, stress improves learning and memory. But, there is a downside.  Too much cortisol can have a negative impact on memory and is probably the reason why when people are severely stressed they do not learn very well. “Everything in moderation” works for the brain as well.

And they all lived happily ever after.

We have gathered a huge amount of feedback from delegates and have conducted long-term evaluation on a number of large regional programmes. Delegates have talked about accelerated learning of complex subjects and that long-term changes have occurred in their organisation. These may have occurred because games based learning and specifically simulations provide high quality learning, but possibly stress has played its part in focussing delegates brains and forging strong memories and learning. This could also be why Games Based Situated Learning is such a powerful learning theory and approach.

As I said at the start of this blog post, these are ideas that are very fresh in my mind. Hopefully, I have got them down in a coherent manner. Over the next weeks and months, I may pick up on the idea of mild stress being an enabler for generating focus, flow, allowing the opportunity for self-mastery and improving the efficiency of learning and memory. Alternatively, I may bin the whole concept. Possibly, because it doesn’t stack up or probably because it makes my brain hurt!

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If you want to know more about John J Ratey ideas on learning then grab a copy of his book, and you can also find information on his blog “Exercise Revolution” or on his website.

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If you have got this far in the blog you may also be interested in the work we do at pixelfountain on Organisational Transactional Analysis.

Innovate my School - Games Based Learning Expert.

Just written an article for Innovate my School. I have been asked to be one of their industry experts, not surprisingly in games based learning. Innovate my School's Expert Voice section can be found at http://www.innovatemyschool.com/industry-expert-articles.html.

My first article compares purpose built games based learning to commercial entertainment games in terms of their use in the classroom. The comparison is done using the five factors: design, delivery, technology & support, outcomes and cost. The five factors are drawn from my Games Based Learning and Analysis Tool, which I briefly blogged about in Getting Started with Games Based Learning. The tool can can be found on the games-ED website along with other musings on games based learning theory.

The full Innovate my School article can be found at http://www.innovatemyschool.com/industry-expert-articles/item/40-purpose-built-education-games-vs-commercial-entertainment-games.html

Anyway, my next article will be written for my blog and it is going to focus on games based learning and neuroscience - well sort of.

Best of Both Worlds

I recently wrote an article on games based learning for Headteacher Update.

The article looks at the debate around games based learning and considers what educators and developers need to think about to when using / creating games based learning products.

Anyways, before I blog a spoiler, why don't you have gander a page 36 of the digital edition of Headteacher Update.

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Edit: Headteacher Update have published a web page version of my games based learning article.

Thoughts on the Horizon Report 2011

The NMC Horizon Report series identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. The following blog post is a summary of the 2011 report (black text) along with some of my own thoughts (in blue italics). Oh, and given this a games based learning blog, pride of place is given to this technology.

Games Based Learning (two to three years away)
Early studies of consumer games helped to identify the aspects of games that make them especially engaging and appealing to players of various ages and of both genders: the feeling of working toward a goal; the possibility of attaining spectacular successes; the ability to problem-solve, collaborate with others, and socialize; an interesting story line; and other characteristics. These qualities are replicable for educational content, though they can be difficult to design well.

The production requirements seen in popular consumer games thus far have exceeded education providers’ abilities to build them. In The NMC Horizon Report: 2010 K-12 Edition game-based learning was also positioned on the mid-term horizon, and that remains the case today, although it does seem to be gaining acceptance.

One of the problems with the interest commercial games and education is that they seem to have overly influenced game based learning design. I agree that designing good games based learning might be a challenge, but central to the design should be that the learning experience is paramount. Throwing in all the bells and whistles like the latest blockbuster Xbox / PS3 game isn’t necessary. And in reality, in the commercial gaming world there is a growing segment of simpler game designs – Angry Birds, anyone?


What determines the design of games like Angry Birds or Wii Sport (two of the most successful games of recent times)? Well, they have to run on low spec devices; they have to be understood quickly; they don’t have to be complex; and (in the case of Wii Sports) they need to get individuals playing together. Sounds like The 6 Key Principles of Collaborative Games Based Learning, funny that ;)

This year, there has also been a great deal of traction surrounding online games and game apps for mobile devices.

See comments on mobiles in UK classrooms, below.

Designing and developing games is another way to bring games into the curriculum. Good game design involves research, creative thinking, the ability to envision both problems and solutions, and many other learning skills.

Have a gander at a couple of game design development projects that I have been involved:

• Developing Games with Young People: LAP Recycling Game.
• Climate Crew: creative media skills and games development.

Another area of gaming that is increasingly interesting to schools is simulation-based games. When game design is of sufficiently high quality, it is increasingly clear that these approaches can deeply engage students in learning.

As gaming and the science of engagement become better understood, we are likely to see significant investment in large-scale educational games. The compelling nature of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games in particular is attracting researchers and educators who appreciate the revolutionary power of including games in the curriculum.

I agree with the simulation-based games point - I would, wouldn’t I, given that is what we do at games-ED. I  do worry about MMO games, though. As stated above, the learning should come first and the technology second, but MMO do offer a forum to get schools across the world working with each other and that could be very exciting. 

Other Education Technologies
Near-term Horizon (within the next 12 months)
Cloud computing has already transformed the way users of the Internet think about computing and communication, data storage and access, and collaborative work. Cloud-based applications and services are available to many school students today, and more schools are employing cloud-based tools all the time.

It will be interesting to see how the drive for academy status frees up schools to choose IT more flexibly and move away from Local Authority provided solutions.

Mobiles, especially smartphones and tablets, enable ubiquitous access to information, social networks, tools for learning and productivity, and hundreds of thousands of custom applications.

The power of mobiles is without question. But there are a number of issues worth noting in UK schools. Firstly, some teachers are starting to ban them from the classroom. Secondly, at present in the UK smart phones have not become the ubiquitous tool they might have in the US due to their cost, particularly if the user is on a pay as you go contract. In the UK, therefore, the adoption horizon might be two to three years. 


The second adoption horizon (two to three years out).
Open content is the current form of a movement that began a decade ago, when universities such as MIT began to make their course content freely available. Ten years later, schools have also begun to share a significant amount of curricula, resources, and learning materials.

TES teaching resources is starting to do this in the UK. So, it could be argued that, open content is on the Near-term Horizon (one year) rather than two to three years out.

Far-term Horizon (four to five years away)
Learning analytics loosely joins a variety of data gathering tools and analytic techniques to study student engagement, performance, and progress in practice, with the goal of using what is learned to revise curricula, teaching, and assessment in real time.

Being an avid user of Google Analytics, I think this concept could revolutionise how we understand learners’ use of digital resources.

Personal learning environments (PLEs) refer to student-designed learning approaches that encompass different types of content — videos, apps, games, social media tools, and more — chosen by a student to match his or her personal learning style and pace. Despite the use of the word “environment” in the name, the notion of a collection or a physical or online space is somewhat irrelevant to a PLE. The goal is for students to have more control over how they learn, and for teachers to set expectations that their students will be more engaged in understanding and applying their learning strategies.

Further Reading
The full Horizon Report can be found at http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf

Proof of the Pudding Part 2

Building on a previous blog post (proof of the pudding), this post looks at the practical use of games based learning in the classroom. I didn't deliver the lessons, instead it was delivered by teachers at Kings's School Winchester.

What was particularly interesting for me, is that it wasn't delivered as a facilitated game - this is the way I normally deliver our Sustainaville product. Kings' School still used it as a collaborative game, but the students inputted their own decisions into the game and the teachers supported the game sessions more lightly. The students quickly picked up the game rules (due in part to worksheets produced by Kings' School Teachers) and made group decisions in what is a reasonably complex simulation game.

Report on Sustainaville by Jane Berridge, Enterprise Co-ordinator, Kings' School Winchester
For our year 9 Enterprise Day, we took the 330 students in the year group off time table and set them a business challenge based around a theme.  The theme was sustainability and the students were asked to investigate how they could improve their community in a sustainable way.

We wanted to provide the students with information and learning that related to a sustainable community project whilst being motivational and fun.  So, we chose to start the day with Sustainaville.

Sustainaville Dynamic Main Screen

The whole year group was split into teams of three.  Each team worked at a computer and took on the role of town planners.  Their brief was to look at different sectors of Sustainaville and decide where they needed to invest to improve the town and make it a better place to live.

To make the activity even more challenging, there were tutor group competitions with spot prizes and a prize was awarded to the team with the highest score in the year group.

The game was very successful and the feedback from students and adults was excellent.  The students said ‘we really enjoyed the game, especially when we won the tutor group challenge. We have learned what sustainability is and how to help the environment. Also, we learned how to work with others and to be confident when making business decisions.’  

The teachers said they thought it was a very useful and the students gained a lot from it.

Background on Sustainaville by Paul Ladley (games-ED)
Sustainaville is a games based learning product produced games-ED. The key to success of Sustainaville is that it incorporates the 6 Key Principles of Collaborative Games Based Learning. In particular: it supports group game play; it uses technology appropriately (in Kings's case 1 computer per group not 330 computers) and it supports multiple conversations. The last principle is expanded in an earlier blog post - The Art of Conversation.

Feedback provided via report screens

In terms of Enterprise Education, Sustainaville helps learners to understand the importance of businesses in providing employment and prosperity. Learners understand how investment and specific sector skills underpin sustainable growth plus how generic skills and business improvements impact on competitiveness. They also discover that businesses do not operate in a vacuum and that social and environmental factors can both impact on the success of businesses and can be made worse by business activities.

The game allows the learners to practice skills that they and businesses need. They develop strategies, plan actions and manage budgets. They make choices and work within constraints. They use decision-making skills, practice problem-solving skills and work in teams.

Teaching Methods Deployed:
• Debates
• Discussions (experience transfer)
• Educational games
• Role-playing
• Simulations
• Pupil/student-led activities or exercises.

They Are OK, Are You?

I'm Okay, You're Okay

This post isn't strictly about games based learning; instead it describes a games based workshop delivered by my colleague Mary Dees to an adult audience. The workshop has some very interesting implications for education, hence the reason it is worthy of a blog post.

Before I describe the workshop, it is worth noting at games-ED / pixelfountain we think of games based learning as an education tool and when we deliver to adults we use the term learning simulations. This is pretty much a (marketing) terminology issue, as there is a huge amount of overlap between the two audiences in terms of the actual games and their delivery. So when I refer to game or simulation in this post, then I am essentially describing the same thing.  Anyway, before I get muddled in mire of the learning lexicon, let me tell you about the workshop and its application in education.

The Workshop
The workshop was run at ITA National Conference 2011. It examined the Transactional Analysis theory of life positions. It explored conflict and collaboration including existential and behavioural life positions in both 2 and 3 dimensions - 2D OKness and 3D OKness. 2D OKness is concerned with I and You; it is most commonly known in the expression "I'm okay, you're okay". 3D OKness adds another dimension - Them.  The theories were practically explored and demonstrated using the Sustainaville games based learning product developed by pixelfountain (games-ED).

In the simulation game, the delegates had three years to make the community sustainable in terms of social, environmental and economic issues.  The delegates were divided up into eight teams and had limited resources and both common and conflicting priorities. As the learning-simulation progresses, the learners must explore the interrelationships between the different stakeholders in the community. They have the means of making improvements but the timing of some improvements can cause other areas of the community to suffer.

The simulation is a situated learning approach and provides the delegates with an opportunity to explore their interrelations with each other: one to one, inside their teams, between teams and as a whole community. What life positions do they adopt? Do they avoid conflict? Do they manage to stay ok / keep others ok whilst resolving conflict? How do they respond to stress? How well do they collaborate and work together for the good of the whole community?


Application in Education Settings
Sustainaville has been successfully used in education (see older post on Proof of the Pudding), but this workshop opens up more possibilities. We have understood and shown how collaborative games can develop team working /creative / critical thinking skills, but combining the approach with concepts from Transactional Analysis delivers additional outcomes.

2D OKness and 3D OKness help individuals and groups firstly understand how and why they interact in certain ways and also to help them to move into more constructive ways of behaving. By delivering these concepts within a collaborative games based lesson, the learners are able to move from theory into practice. The Sustainaville situated learning simulation will give learners the opportunity to explore how they think, feel and behave under certain circumstances. It will enable them to experience conflict and practice collaboration. The simulation also includes the context of protecting the planet enabling the learners to look at life positions in relationship to future generations and species.

Specifically (in terms of the UK) the approach could support: Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL); Personal, learning and thinking skills (PLTS); and Personal Social Health Economic education (PSHE).

SEAL: Improving behaviour, improving learning. SEAL seeks to develop skills such as understanding another’s point of view, working in a group, sticking at things when they get difficult, resolving conflict and managing worries.

PLTS provides a framework for describing the qualities and skills needed for success in learning and life. The framework comprises six groups of skills: independent enquirers, creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self-managers and effective participants.

PSHE is a planned, developmental programme of learning designed to help learners develop the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. It deals with real life issues which affect children and young people, their families and their communities, and engages with the social and economic realities of their lives, experiences and attitudes.

Further Reading:
The full paper “They Are OK – Are You? ITA Conference Delegates run a Simulated World” can be found at http://www.pixelfountain.co.uk/organisational-transactional-analysis.html
Blog post: The Art of Conversation.