Leonard A. Annetta

The I's Have It: A Framework for Serious Educational Game Design

Serious educational games have become a topic that has seen increased popularity in recent years. This article describes lessons learned and a framework for people interested in designing educational games. Although there are many critical components of a quality educational game, a nested model of 6 elements for educational game design is presented. These nested elements are grounded in research and theory in both education and psychology, along with instructional technology and the learning sciences. The 6 elements of educational game design are derived from several studies on game design and development from Grade 5 through graduate school.

Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used

Todays K–20 students have been called, among other names, the net generation. As they matriculate through the education system, they are often exposed to materials and manipulatives used for the past 40 years, and not to the digital media to which they are accustomed. As student scores continue to regress from Grade 3 to Grade 12 and technical jobs once housed in the United States continue to be outsourced, it is critical to expose and challenge the Net Generation in environments that engage them and motivate them to explore, experiment, and construct their own knowledge. The commercial popularity of video games is beginning to transpose to the classroom; but is the classroom ready? Are teachers and administrators ready? This article provides a practical rationale for and experiences with integrating video games into the K–20 (kindergarten through graduate school) curriculum.

Assessing twenty‐first century skills through a teacher created video game for high school biology students

As twenty‐first century skills become a greater focus in K‐12 education, an infusion of technology that meets the needs of today’s students is paramount. This study looks at the design and creation of a Multiplayer Educational Gaming Application (MEGA) for high school biology students. The quasi‐experimental, qualitative design assessed the twenty‐first century skills of digital age literacy, inventive thinking, high productivity, and effective communication techniques of the students exposed to a MEGA. Three factors, as they pertained to these skills, emerged from classroom observations. Interaction with the teacher, discussion with peers, and engagement/time‐on‐task while playing the MEGA suggested that students playing an educational video game exhibited all of the projected twenty‐first century skills while being engrossed in the embedded science content.

Cognitive diagnostic like approaches using neural-network analysis of serious educational videogames

There has been an increase in student achievement testing focusing on content and not underlying student cognition. This is of concern as student cognition provided for a more generalizable analysis of learning. Through a cognitive diagnostic approach, the authors model the propagation of cognitive attributes related to science learning using Serious Educational Games. One-way to increase the focus on the cognitive aspects of learning that are additional to content learning is through the use cognitive attribute task-based assessments (Cognitive Diagnostics) using an Artificial Neural Network. Results of this study provide a means to examine underlying cognition which, influences successful task completion within science themed SEGs. Results of this study also suggest it is possible to define, measure, and produce a hierarchical model of latent cognitive attributes using a Q-matrix relating virtual SEGs tasks, which are similar to real-life tasks aiding in the modeling of transference. We model the propagation of cognitive attributes used during Educational Games.We examine the underlying attributes thought to influence successful completion.Neural-Network analysis suggests the presence of hierarchical cognitive attributes.Evaluation of the factors found in matrix Q indicates process similar to real-life.

Drugs and the Brain: Learning the Impact of Methamphetamine Abuse on the Brain through a Virtual Brain Exhibit in the Museum

Drugs and the Brain: A Serious Game, a prototype museum exhibit, was designed to employ virtual models of the brain into a video game format. It was done to create a fun and engaging way of conveying knowledge and concepts about neuroscience, as well as the impact of methamphetamine abuse on the brain. The purpose of this study is to evaluate this prototype exhibit that promises to educate participants from various age, ethnicity, and gender backgrounds, and to establish a stronger concept of drug abuse prevention among children. A quantitative methodology using the pre‐ and post‐experimental designs was conducted on 175 museum visitors. A series of two‐sample paired t‐tests and subsequent ANOVAs were performed to examine the difference between pre‐ and post‐tests and to determine if there was a difference in the results in age, gender, ethnicity, and race. Results showed that both the understanding and attitudes of the participants toward the impact of methamphetamine abuse on the brain improved significantly (p < 0.01).

A Comparison of Rural Elementary School Teacher Attitudes Toward Three Modes of Distance Education for Science Professional Development

Distance education is a significant topic of discussion among faculty at all levels of education. This study produced evidence regarding the attitudes toward three distance education delivery modes for science professional development. The study involved 94 elementary school teachers who were participating in a professional development project. The three distance education strategies studied were live, interactive television (Live); videotape presentations with live wrap-around discussions (Video); and asynchronous, Web-based sessions with streamed video presentations supported by interaction through discussion boards (Web). A repeated measures design was used to analyze the attitudes of the study participants. Data on the participants’ attitudes toward their distance education involvement were collected through the CTLSilhouette™ instrument.

The Impact of a Multi-Year, Multi-School District K-6 Professional Development Programme Designed to Integrate Science Inquiry and Language Arts on Students' High-Stakes Test Scores

This paper is a report of a quasi-experimental study on the impact of a systemic 5-year, K-6 professional development (PD) project on the ‘high stakes’ achievement test scores of different student groups in rural mid-west school districts in the USA. The PD programme utilized regional summer workshops, district-based leadership teams and distance delivery technologies to help teachers learn science concepts and inquiry teaching strategies associated with a selection of popular science inquiry kits and how to adapt inquiry science lessons in the kits to teach and reinforce skills in the language arts—i.e. to teach more than science when doing inquiry science. Analyses of the school district-level pre-post high-stakes achievement scores of 33 school districts participating in the adaptation of inquiry PD and a comparative group of 23 school districts revealed that both the Grade 3 and Grade 6 student-cohorts in the school districts utilizing adapted science inquiry lessons significantly outscored their student-cohort counterparts in the comparative school districts. The positive school district-level high-stakes test results, which serve as the basis for state and local decision making, suggest that an inquiry adaptation strategy and a combination of regional live workshop and distance delivery technologies with ongoing local leadership and support can serve as a viable PD option for K-6 science.

Cognitive Aspects of Creativity: Science Learning Through Serious Educational Games

Teams of some of the most imaginative people develop successful commercial video games. The design processes for successful video games permit critical thinking and innovative thought. The integration of Serious Educational Games (SEG) (Annetta, 2008) into science curriculum was once thought an impossibility, but through several years of work, and funding by the National Science Foundation, it has now become a reality. Using a constructionist approach to science education and SEG development has the potential to impact the process of science learning rather than science content learning alone. Taking it a step further, we ask how can SEG design foster creativity in high school science students? In this chapter, we will share some of the theory that drives SEG development, the SEG development steps, and the results from one high school science class development exercises.

Assessing Serious Educational Games

Games can train and teach just like teachers do in a traditional sense. However, bad games (like bad teachers/trainers) don’t teach well. A standard for Serious Educational games must be established. This chapter discusses the rationale, development, and psychometrics of a Serious Educational Game Rubric.

Use of Virtual Learning Environments in Distance Education

Distance education has changed as it has become more popular with the advancement of new informational technologies and the need for continuous lifelong professional development. Virtual learning environments (VLEs) are the current trend in distance education. VLEs are software programs or systems designed to assist teaching and learning in an educational setting (e.g., Learning Management Systems, Personal Learning Environments, Massively Multiplayer Educational Games (MMEG), and Virtual Worlds). Learning Management Systems are used in many distance education and blended learning courses, but Massively Multiplayer Educational Games and virtual worlds are seen as the future of distance education. Research has shown that recreational Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG), like World of Warcraft, teaches players important life skills, for example, teambuilding, communication, and leadership skills. Players also can learn about economics, social skills, math, and science. One of the interesting components that comes from MMORPGs is the learning culture that is created around these games. Players create new ways to build and share knowledge both online and in real life that educators would like to use to create the classrooms and workplaces of the future. MMEG and virtual worlds take learning to a whole new level by allowing students to experience things that may not be possible in real life. Educators are currently using these 3D VLEs as classrooms, laboratories, places to test entrepreneurial skills, and experiment with skills such as architecture. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the educator.