Game-Based Literacies & Learning Hiller A. Spires Professor & Senior Research Fellow College of Education NC State University

What is the New Literacies Collaborative (NLC)? A multidisciplinary team of researchers and educators who promote research, professional development, and global connections around new literacies. New literacies emerge from the theoretical and practical intersection of literacy, technology, and media.

New Literacies Collaborative New Literacies Teacher Leader Institute July 12 – 17, 2009 at the Friday Institute Join Us!

Pew Internet & American Life Project (September, 2008) Game playing is universal--almost all year olds play games. Most popular game categories (puzzle, sports, action and adventure). Game playing is social--most teens play games with others at least some of the time. Almost a third of teens play games that are listed as appropriate only for people older than they are.

10 Most Frequently Played Games Guitar Hero 158 Halo Madden NFL (no specific version) 77 Solitaire 65 Dance Dance Revolution 60 Madden NFL Tetris 59 Grand Theft Auto (no specific version) 58 Halo (no specific version) 57 The Sims (no specific version) 54

Games and 21st Century Learning American Federation of Scientists (2006) Game players are able to: Rapidly analyze new situations Interact with characters they don’t really know Solve problems quickly and independently Think strategically in a chaotic world Collaborate effectively in teams Becker & Wade, 2004

NLC Research: Game-based Learning Bayesian Pedagogical Agents for Dynamic High Performance Inquiry-Based Science Learning Environment (NSF ) Research Team –James Lester, Computer Science –Hiller Spires, Literacy & Technology –John Nietfeld, Educational Psychology –Scott McQuiggan, Kim Turner, Eleni Lobeni, Kristin Hoffman, Sunyoung Lee - Graduate Assistants –Betty Welsh & Ada Lopez - Teachers

Research Questions What are the effects of game-based performance on science content learning? What game-based student performance profiles can be derived from time series data of student actions and plot points? How do individual student differences contribute to clusters of game-based performance?

Methods Participants 54 female and 62 male 8 th grade students randomly assigned to three conditions Curricular Development Five Curricular Goals Defining pathogens Defining virtual, bacterial, and fungal pathogens Integration and comparisons of different types of pathogens Scientific method and hypothesis testing Treatment and prevention of pathogenic illnesses

Methods Measures Microbiology Content Pre- and Post-Test Problem Solving Measure (PISA, 2006) Computer and Gaming Interest Survey Interest in the Intervention Survey Procedures Three conditions: CI Narrative (n = 58), CI Narrative-Lite (n = 55), and Control (n = 34)

Results Among Experimental Conditions Science Content Learning Problem-Solving No differences across conditions CI Narrative CI Narrative-Lite Control

Results Across Experimental Conditions Self-Reported Interest in Intervention CI Narrative CI Narrative-Lite Control

Clusters of Navigation Traces within the Narrative Condition Navigation traces describe how each student maneuvered through the game environment Operationalized by the number of cumulative actions, number of plot points completed, and completion time Hierarchical clustering, using SAS JMP, to cluster students into three groups

Navigation Traces

Think Aloud Verbal Unit Distribution Student NameLogisticAestheticEfferentTotal Verbal Units David84 (57.93%)38 ( 26.21%)23 (15.86% )145 Henry34 (34.34%)38 (38.38%)27 (27.27%)99 Steven26 (23.64%)46 (41.82%)38 ( 34.55%)110 Peter91 (47.15%)50 (25.91%)52 (26.94%)193 Sydney9 (16.36%)34 (61.82%)12 (21.82%)55 Elizabeth30 (28.57%)60 (57.14%)15 (14.29%)105 Nick12 (14.29%)53 (63.10%)19 (22.62%)84 TOTAL286 (36.16%)319 (40.33%)186 (23.51%)791

Theoretical Implications Narrative Centered Learning Theory Transactional Theory (Rosenblatt, 1983, 2004; McEneaney, 2006 ) Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 1999, 2005; Mayer, 2005, 2008) Extraneous processing Essential processing Generative processing

Future Studies Implement multiple assessment measures, including performance-based assessment Provide intelligent scaffolding informed by students’ game behaviors Pair think-aloud protocols with navigation traces to determine transactional strategy use Assess effects of student collaborative problem-solving

The Promise and Peril of Games Child: Guess what? I got to spend 15 extra minutes playing a computer game at school today. Mom: Oh great. What were you learning with the game? Child: *sigh* Mom, you don’t learn stuff with games – you just play. 2 nd Grader