modeling

The Design of Modeling and Coaching Scaffolds in an Electronic Educational GameYuxin Ma, Douglas Williams, Guolin Lai

Center for Innovative Learning and Assessment TechnologiesUniversity of Louisiana

Introduction

• Increased interest in learning with games

• Little guidance in the literature on how to leverage the affordances of electronic games to design effective instruction

• Our goal: Explore the use of in-game characters to provide modeling and coaching scaffolds

Reasons for Providing Scaffolding in Educational Games• Minimal guidance during instruction

does not work (Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark, 2006)

• Difficult decision: Should we give learners more agency and choices or provide more structure and guidance?

• Ongoing testing shows that students need a lot of guidance in completing the glim quest

Modeling and Coaching

• Modeling and coaching are two strategies emphasized by cognitive apprenticeship and Jonassen’s constructivist learning environments.

• Modeling: Providing opportunities to observe expert performance

• Coaching: Observing students’ performance and providing hints, feedback, further modeling, reminders, and new tasks

Case-based Learning and Worked-out Examples• Roles of case-based learning and worked-out

examples are critical in modeling and coaching• Case-based learning may support the learning of

conceptual models• Modeling of worked-out examples may enable

formative assessment and scaffold scientific processes, social interactions, articulation, and reflection.

Unique Opportunities for Modeling and Coaching Provided by Games• Fantasy can be leveraged to enhance

case-based learning• Fantasy provides analogies and

metaphors• Fantasy has emotional appeal • In-game characters may provide

modeling and coaching

An Educational Role Playing Game for 7th Grade

Narrative Overview

• Sheft-ma / Murak-ma Conflict

• Geography / Climate

View Opening Scenario and Council Scene Movie

Scientific Inquiry• Define Problem: Fish

Depletion• Hypothesis• Handheld for Data

Collection: turbidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH

• Analysis/Interpretation• Reporting• Support: Embedded in Tools,

Non-player Characters

Educational Outcomes• Scientific Inquiry: develop question,

design an investigation, gather data, draw conclusions, and communicate the results

• Ecosystems: interdependence of components, disruption of balance, invasive species

• Adaptations: Illustrate how variations in organisms determine the success of the population

• Math

Functional Overview

• Role Playing Game• Science

Fiction/Fantasy Setting • Series of Quests

Challenge the Player

Example Scaffolds in Glim Quest

• Map room encounter: Scaffold the development of hypotheses using existing data

• Cilati encounter: Scaffold case-based learning• Cilati encounter: Scaffold the development of

Data Collection Plan (scientific inquiry skill)• Skull encounter: Model the analysis of a skull to

determine the characteristics of a species (scientific inquiry skill)

Formative Evaluation Results

Question 1: Do student participants demonstrate improved performance on life science knowledge measure?• Paired t-test result: t(20) = -8.51, p = .000 (M

pre = 34.26; M post = 56.68)• Significant increase from pretest to posttest

Formative Evaluation Results

Question 2: How well do student participants experience flow in the game?• The mean values of the indicators of flow

and consequence of flow show that students experienced flow while playing the game

• The mean values of the flow antecedents indicate that the game was well designed and provided appropriate circumstances for players to experience flow.

Flow Dimension Mean Standard DeviationFlow antecedent

Challenge-skill balance 3.72 0.91

Clear goals 4.3 0.48

Unambiguous feedback 4.22 0.68

Playability 3.57 0.80

Gamefulness 3.47 0.89

Frame story 4.17 0.66

Indicator of FlowConcentration 3.78 1.12

Autotelic experience 3.87 0.93

Time distortion 3.75 0.94

Sense of control 4.03 0.62

Loss of self-consciousness

3.62 1.05

Flow ConsequenceExploratory behavior 3.62 0.89

Formative Evaluation Results

Question 3: How do students perceive the game?• Overall, positive perceptions• Pedagogical aspect is well designed

o Challenge students to thinko Case studies, feedback, and guidance were

helpful

Discussions

• Scaffolds can be effective in facilitating learning in educational games

• Students need a lot of scaffolding in order to learn from educational games

• Less scaffolding might be provided in future quests when students acquire more skills in scientific inquiry

• Personalized scaffolding might be needed depending on students’ abilities