Tag Archives: classroom game

All Classes, Blog, Conference, Education Games

Conference Recap/Guest Blogger: Dave Eng – Experiential GBL

…and just like that, CUNY Games Conference 2019 has come to a close.

From my observations, it seemed like everyone learned something worthwhile during the conference – I certainly did! Now, how do we each keep the momentum going as the semester begins?

Here are some quick ideas:

  1. I could write about the conference here, but hearing the perspective of attendees is preferable. While it’s fresh in your mind, consider sending a few sentences (or a full post) about your conference experience. What did you learn? What new ideas will you implement in your classroom or related profession? In the coming weeks I will compile any conference-related submissions  into a special CGC 2019 blog entry. Stay tuned.
  2. As the semester begins, remember that it’s okay to “fail.” Each time I introduce a new game, I tell my students that this is an experiment and their input is appreciated, then we debrief and share suggestions for improvement after playing. As we learned at the conference, even a “bad” game is appreciated by students.
  3. Remember to keep things simple. As Joe Bisz shared, even having students roll dice to determine which questions to answer can be exciting.
  4. Document your journey with game-based learning. A record of what you do can be great to reflect on later. Plus, we’d love to hear about your process if you’d like to share it!

To keep the energy of GBL fresh, we’ll end today’s entry with a guest post from conference attendee Dave Eng, Ed. D. Read a summary of Dave’s post below, or click here to read the whole entry. 

Dave Eng, Ed.D. is an intellectual and creative educator, designer, and researcher who combines, games, theory, and technology to define NEXT practice. He currently consults privately in design, training, research, and writing at University XP.  His research interests include learning theory, technology, and games. Find out more at www.davengdesign.com

Experiential Games Based Learning by Dave Eng, EdD

First, what is Experiential Education? “Experiential Education is an educational philosophy that describes the process occurring between a teacher and a student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content.” Sometimes that teacher-student relationship is traditional: like classroom lecture or one-on-one apprenticeship.

Experiential education can be summarized by the phrase: LEARNING BY DOING The best part is that Experiential Education is already out there.

All of these opportunities apply experiential education methods and directly infuse learning through the relationship between the student, teacher, content, and environment.

The process of experiential learning applies Kolb’s philosophy on learning beginning with experience and addresses a four stage cycle of experiential learning.

Kolb outlined four components of experiential learning: Abstract Conceptualization “The, Huh?”, Active Experimentation “The, Try”, Concrete Experience “The, Do”, and Reflective Observation “The, Think.”

But how does this all relate to games-based learning?

Let’s have a look at that definition: “Game-based learning is a type of game play that has defined learning outcomes. Generally, game-based learning is designed to balance subject matter with game play and the ability of the player to retain, and apply said subject matter to the real world.”

Let’s think, what do games have? Games have Abstract Conceptualization from players trying to discern objectives and what the goals of the game are.

Games-based learning’s strengths lie in its application to different learning styles by incorporating players abilities to see, hear, and touch content that they could not otherwise engage in.

Weaknesses in games-based learning lies in its ability to best support short term learning.

For more info check out: What is Games Based Experiential Learning? 

Are you interested in being featured on the CGN website? If so, submit a blog post on any topic related to GBL in higher ed., and/or send links/descriptions of your blogs to contactcunygames@gmail.com. Stay tuned for another guest contribution next week. 

 

All Classes, Blog, Business Games, Education Games, History/Government Games, Social Science Games

Guest Blogger: Mary Gross – Distrust and Greed

This week, we continue our four-part series from guest blogger Mary Gross, Associate Professor of History at Marian University of Wisconsin (click here to read her first entry). Mary’s second post explores how the mechanic of hidden information can lead to distrust and greed among players learning about market bubbles, Group Threat Theory, and Scapegoat Theory. It is important to note that Mary’s games each include a debrief; in educational settings a game can be useful on its own, but is almost always more effective when a debrief/discussion of players’ experience accompanies it.

REMINDER: Proposals for The CUNY Games Conference 5.0 must be submitted by Nov. 10th, 2018 for consideration. To learn more, click here. 

Part II: Distrust and Greed
by Mary Gross

In the previous blog, I wrote about the foundational ideas of using games to increase students’ historical empathy skills.  Rolling dice and instant death mechanics increased student awareness of why soldiers during World War I often wrote in fatalistic terms and why they were so devoted to other soldiers.  This blog will explore the use of varying values, trade, and hidden information to help students make sense of communities devolving into dysfunction as the result of greed and distrust.

When reading about the 1920s economy which culminated in the stock market crash of 1929, students are often dismayed.  They think, “People were stupid.” They didn’t realize that what goes up always comes down. Discussing the 2008 market crash doesn’t help them develop empathy because they were in grade school and didn’t have stocks.  To them, 2008 is only slightly less distant than 1929. To help them gain empathy with the people who created the conditions of market bubbles, I created the “Don’t Lose Your Marbles” game.

At the beginning of the game, each student receives a bag which contains an identical amount of fake money and a set amount of marbles.  They are told that the goal of the game is to have the most assets (value of marbles plus cash on hand) and to obtain the assets through the buying and selling of marbles.  They are told that prettier marbles are worth more money than ugly marbles. No other measure of value is given.

The ambiguity of the situation leads to some awkwardness in the beginning, but soon students are actively bargaining.  The more entrepreneurial among them make dramatic statements about the rare beauty of the humblest marbles in an attempt to get a better price.  As play continues, the amounts of money paid increases as does the energy in the room. After about 15 minutes, I announce that no marble is worth more than $20, thus crashing the market.  Students are then allowed 5-10 more minutes to trade.

The game relies on hidden information, the value of the marbles, as its core mechanic and for its emotional punch.  They are given only a few hints regarding the true information. One is valid, in creating my chart of marble values, I used my measure of “pretty” to determine the values.  The other is invalid. The money they are given ranges from $10,000 bills to $1 bills. This gives the illusion that the marbles must be worth a lot of money, thus leading them to falsely believe, as many people do, that value is based partially on the amount of money one has to spend on it.

In the debrief, it is not uncommon to learn that some students paid $15,000 or more for a marble.  They are quite upset when the market falls. The more economically savvy students sell their marbles and keep the cash.  Some marbles, usually the shooters, have been bought and sold multiple times, with the market price increasing with each sale, again mimicking behaviors seen in many market bubbles.  During the debrief, students speak with pride or shame about their actions. “How could I have been so stupid” is an irrational but very common statement, allowing for the lesson to be driven home.  Market bubbles lead people to act on greed and hope, emotions that often create decisions which people regret.

Another game “The Tragedy of the Hat” involves a different form of hidden information.  The winner at the end of the game is the person who has the most number of magic points.  As a simulation of the Tragedy of the Commons, students are told that I have a magic hat (a Pilgrim type hat I bought for a Thanksgiving decoration).  The hat is magic, but the magic is limited. If everyone uses their fair share of the magic, everyone benefits. If a few people use more than their fair share, they will prosper.  If too many people use more than their fair share, the hat’s magic will be lost. The total amount of magic in the hat is revealed and students may choose how much of the magic to use in each round.

The game is played in five rounds.  At the beginning of the first round, each student has five points of magic, which can be put in the magic hat.   In each round, students are allowed to talk among themselves and determine collectively how many magic points they will put in the hat.  After they are allowed to talk things over, each student secretly writes down a number between zero and five on a slip of paper and places it in the hat.    The directions clearly state that agreements of the whole are not binding. Students are free to write down as many or as few points as they want and no one, other than the professor, will know how many points they actually put in the hat.

I total up the number of points students have put in the hat and announce only the total.  No student knows what any other student wrote down. If the total is below the total magic in the hat (predetermined based on the number of students), students double the amount of points they put in the hat.  If the total of the points in the hat exceeds the magic of the hat by between one and five points, students lose half of the points they put in the hat. If the total points added to the hat exceeds the magic of the hat by more than five points, the hat is broken and students lose all of the points they put in.  They then begin the next round.

The announcement of the total number of points put in the hat reveals only if some students have not stuck to the agreement.  The conversations in subsequent rounds are dominated by growing distrust and blame. I often have to step in to stop students from blaming one or two students, explaining that they don’t know who is putting how many points in the hat.  Those who have violated community agreements are frequently the most vocal in blaming innocent students. Their reactions demonstrate engagement and emotional investment in the game. Sometimes students will demand that everyone show the slips of paper on which each student writes the number of points he or she will put in the hat.  Significant social force is placed on all students in this case. In other classes, trust completely breaks down and there are no negotiations in the later rounds. Students display frustration and an eagerness for the game to be over.

Because tensions tend to rise quite high in the game, a careful debrief is important.  It is important that the information about who put in how many points is never revealed.  The feelings of distrust are discussed carefully as are the ways in which people reacted to their feelings.  The debrief offers the opportunity to discuss Group Threat Theory and Scapegoat Theory as common ways in which community spirit can be broken down and how innocent people can easily be targeted by a group.  Students who have been frustrated or disappointed are allowed to process those emotions. The debrief concludes with actual Tragedy of the Commons experiences which allow students to see the complexity and humanity involved in individual decisions.

In both games, there is a finite resource.  There are only so many marbles, so much money, and a set amount of magic in the hat.  Variations come about as students try to maximize their own outcomes. Greed becomes a factor in both games.  The uncertainty regarding the hidden information allows students’ greed to take over. The energy that is generated as students pursue their own goals, even as they try to work as a community, is palpable to all.

In life, hidden or unknown information is common.  Any investment in the stock market, any purchase, any use of a public resource entails a balance of risk and reward.  Greed often leads to negative outcomes for communities even as the greedy are rewarded. “That’s not fair” is the most frequent comment heard during the debrief.  This allows for the discussion of historical market bubbles and misuse of community resources. Although it is never possible to tell if students take use of these lessons into their own lives, their papers and exams reflect a deeper understanding of why people in the past have chosen to make seemingly irrational decisions which caused harm to themselves or others.

Are you interested in being featured on the CGN website? If so, submit a blog post on any topic related to GBL in higher ed., and/or send links/descriptions of your blogs to contactcunygames@gmail.com. Stay tuned for another guest contribution next week. 

Announcements

A Game for Evaluating Internet Sources

Games Network member Maura Smale (that’s me!) just published Get in the Game: Developing an Information Literacy Classroom Game in the latest issue of the Journal of Library Innovation. In the article I describe the process of creating a game to help undergraduates learn how to evaluate websites so they can find credible and reliable information for use in their coursework.

The inspiration for this game came from a CUNY Games Network meeting a couple of years ago, and I’m very grateful to my colleagues in the Games Network for continuing to inspire me to keep planning and making games for information literacy and library instruction. Thanks, everyone!

Image by Joe Schlabotnik