I hope last blog has given you a general idea about what
Quest Atlantis is. Today, I want to go deeper behind the surface of Quest
Atlantis, to dig out the fundamental rationale of the fancy virtual world.
The whole Quest Atlantis virtual world is intended to engage
children in a form of transformational play. What is "transformational
play"?
"Transformational play is a pedagogical tool, it beyonds perceptual immersion and does not require physical immersion, but instead is tied to situational or projective immersion or what others have referred to as presence. (Debe, 2009; Sheridan 1999)"[1]
From the sentence I quoted above, it can be found that just
playing games doesn't means it is the transformational play. There should be
situation or project gamers (students) immersed in.
"Playing transformationally involves (a) taking on the role of a protagonist (b) who must employ conceptual understandings (c) to make choices (d) that have the potential to transform (e) a problem-based fictional context and ultimately (f ) the player’s understanding of the content as well as of (g) herself as someone who has used academic content to address a socially significant problem. "[2]
Now, we would get the idea why virtual world is a good way
to fulfill transformational play. First, students should be capable to do
something to solve a socially significant problem. Second, students should know
what will happen after his/her decision, by which it means students will get
the feedback quickly. Third, students should use academic content to solve the
problem as a scientist, journalist or other profession.
It is a quite different experience from school learning,
students have less chance to change the world they live by using the knowledge
they learn in class. Students have to solve many problems in school every day,
but all these problems will not affect the world, what they will affect is the
student's grade. Certainly, a student will be happy when he/she has a high
grade. But how could they connect what they learn to their future, to the
bigger world out of school, if the problem offers in class is "Amy has 4
apples, in the morning she eats one, how many apples are left"?
Virtual world is such a good option for school education,
students could take any risk as they like and teachers will not need to worry
about whether it would hurt the students themselves or cause some damage to the
real world. And working like an adult is what all I want to do when I was a
child. I always play teacher-student game with my cousin, imaging I am a real
teacher! But I don't know whether she is happy to act as a student when she is
at home!
[1]Barab, S. A., Scott, B., Siyahhan, S., Goldstone, R.,
Ingram-Goble, A., Zuiker, S. J., & Warren, S. (2009). Transformational Play
as a Curricular Scaffold: Using Videogames to Support Science Education. Journal
Of Science Education And Technology, 18(4), 305-320.
[2] Barab, S. A., Gresalfi, M., & Ingram-Goble, A.
(2010). Transformational Play Using Games to Position Person, Content, and
Context. Educational Researcher, 39(7), 525-536.
I never really thought of the great opportunity virtual worlds can provide in an educational setting. I agree with when you said "students could take any risk as they like and teachers will not need to worry about whether it would hurt the students themselves or cause some damage to the real world." I've noticed how students are so afraid of just trying something because they don't want to fail. But with a virtual world a penalty of doing something wrong may not seem as scary or harsh.
ReplyDeleteYes, agree with you, when I was a k-12 student, I answer questions in class only when I think I was fully prepared. I was so afraid to make mistake.
DeleteThrough your post, I can see how this would be useful for younger students. Do you think any of these games could also be appropriate for college-aged students?
ReplyDeleteThere are games used in college-aged students, I think the most famous is Second Life, using for English learning. I will mention it in future blog.
DeleteCool, thanks!
DeleteI agree with Audrey when reading this post. Like myself when I was younger, I was nervous in performing poorly in class or on assignments. This virtual world, allows us the younger kids to step out of their bubble and to face failure from a different perspective. It will help the younger generation in stepping out of their boundaries.
ReplyDeleteYes, at same time, they can solve problem as a scientist with appropriate support, which may reduce the fear of science or math for some students.
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DeleteThat comment was from me.
Delete-Ricky