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Design Principles of Educational Virtual Worlds for Preschool Children a Case Study of Jumpstart World Kindergarten’S Pedagogical Methods

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Design Principles of Educational Virtual Worlds for Preschool Children a Case Study of Jumpstart World Kindergarten’S Pedagogical Methods Jana Pejoska Design principles of educational virtual worlds for preschool children A Case Study of JumpStart World Kindergarten’s pedagogical methods Master’s thesis Digital Culture University of Jyväskylä Department of Art and Culture Studies Jyväskylä May 2010 1 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta – Faculty Laitos – Department Faculty of Humanities Department of Art and Culture Studies Tekijä – Author Jana Pejoska Työn nimi – Title Design principles of educational virtual worlds for preschool children. A Case Study of JumpStart World Kindergarten’s pedagogical methods Oppiaine – Subject Työn laji – Level Digital Culture Master’s thesis Aika – Month and year Sivumäärä – Number of pages September 2010 86 p + 4 p Appendix Tiivistelmä – Abstract This thesis studies the design principles of educational virtual worlds for pre-school children. It examines the culture and contextualization of the virtual worlds for children used for the purpose of informal education through learning games in the case study of JumpStart World Kindergarten. The theoretical background provides an overview of the historical development of educational virtual worlds based on the progression of MUDs, MOOs and MMORPG. In addition, the issues in implementation and adaptation of information and communication technologies (ICT) as part of educational methodologies are examined, thus a perspective is given of possible problems and solutions for optimization of use of virtual worlds as an alternative way for acquiring knowledge with a constructionist approach. In the second part of the study, the design principles of virtual worlds are elaborated by framing the technical aspects, content, virtual world typology and user types thus mapping educational virtual worlds between other genres of virtual worlds. The design principles, as well as the cultural and social aspect of educational virtual worlds provide a base for the analysis of the pedagogical approach of JumpStart World Kindergarten. In this section a qualitative and quantitative study of this virtual world’s game-play, characteristics and learning games was made. The results indicated the pedagogical problems in the implementation of the learning by doing theory, thus proving that this model is not well adapted to the interactive method of learning where a player learns most efficiently by meaningful interaction and personal constructivist experience. Asiasanat – Keywords Educational virtual worlds, children, constructionist, ICT, pedagogy, pre-school Säilytyspaikka – Depository University of Jyväskylä Muita tietoja – Additional information 2 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta – Faculty Laitos – Department Humanistinen tiedekunta Taiteen ja kulttuurin tutkimuksen laitos Tekijä – Author Jana Pejoska Työn nimi – Title Suunnittelun periaatteet esikoululaisten kasvatuksellisia virtuaalimaailmoja varten. Tapaustutkimus Jump Start World Kindergartenin kasvatusopillisista menetelmistä. Oppiaine – Subject Työn laji – Level Digitaalinen kulttuuri Pro Gradu - tutkielma Aika – Month and year Sivumäärä – Number of pages Syyskuu 2010 86 + 4 sivua Appendix Tiivistelmä – Abstract Tämä lopputyö tutkii esikouluikäisille lapsille suunnattujen koulutuksellisten irtuaalimaailmojen sunnittelua. Se kuvaa JumpStart World Kindergarten tutkimustapauksen kautta virtuaalimaailmojen kulttuuria ja kontekstualisaatiota. Tarkemmin sanottuna irtuaalimaailmojen, joita käytetään epäviralliseen koulutukseen niiden sisältämien oppimiseen tarkoitettujen pelien avulla. Teoreettinen taustatutkimus luo yleiskatsauksen koulutuksellisten virtuaalimaailmojen historialliseen kehitykseen, joka perustuu MUD, MOO ja MMORPG:n kehittymiseen. Lisäksi tutkimus ulottuu informaatio ja viestintäteknologioiden (ICT) toteutukseen ja sovellutukseen osana koulutuksen metodologiaa. Tästä osasta tutkimusta syntyy perspektiivi mahdollisiin ongelmiin ja ratkaisuihin optimisoida virtuaalimaailmojen käyttö vaihtoehtoisen tiedonhankkimisen välineenä konstruktionistisen lähestymistavan mukaisesti. Tutkimuksen toisessa osassa virtuaalimaailmojen suunnittelun toimintaperjaatteet käsitellään yksityiskohtaisemmin raamittamalla tekniset aspektit, sisältö, virtuaalimaailmojen typologia ja käyttäjätyypit. Täten sijoitamme koulutukselliset virtuaalimaailmat muiden, eri genrejen virtuaalimaailmojen kartalle. Suunnitelun toimintaperjaatteet sekä virtuaalimaailmojen kulttuuriset ja sosiaaliset aspektit antavat pohjan pedagogisen lähestymistavan analyysille JumpStart World Kindergarten:sta. Tässä osiossa kvalitatiivinen ja kvantitatiivinen tutkimus kyseisen virtuaalimaailman oppimispelien pelattavuudesta ja ominaisuuksista rakennetaan. Tutkimuksen lopputulokset osoittavat suuntaa pedagogisiin ongelmiin "tekemällä oppimisen" mallin toteutuksessa, täten osoittaen että tämä malli ei ole riittävän hyvin sovellettu interaktiiviseen oppimismetodiin, jossa pelaaja oppii tehokkaimmin tarkoituksenmukaisen kanssakäymisen ja henkilökohtaisen konstruktiivisen kokemuksen kautta. Asiasanat – Keywords kasvatukselliset virtuaaliset maailmat, lapset, konstruktionistinen, ICT, kasvatustiede, esikoulu Säilytyspaikka – Depository Jyväskylän Yliopisto Muita tietoja – Additional information 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Structure of the Research .............................................................................................. 9 2. History .................................................................................................................................. 14 2.2. From MUDs, MMORPG to educational virtual worlds ................................................. 14 3. Issues in implementation and adaptation of information and communication technologies (ICT) as a part of educational methodologies ......................................................................... 21 3.1. Digital native learners................................................................................................... 22 3.2. The language of digital learners .................................................................................. 24 3.3. The path of ineffective implementation of ICT............................................................28 3.4. The relation of constructionist approach to today’s digital learning .......................... 31 4. What are the main design principles guiding the creation of educational virtual worlds for pre-school children? ................................................................................................................. 33 4.1. Technical aspect ...........................................................................................................34 4.2. Content and content creators .................................................................................... 36 4.3. Virtual World Typology ................................................................................................ 37 4.4. Users ........................................................................................................................... 39 5. Virtual worlds as a society ....................................................................................................45 5.1. Geographic ...................................................................................................................45 5.2.Economic ..................................................................................................................... 46 5.3. Social ............................................................................................................................ 47 5.4. Cultural aspect ............................................................................................................ 48 6. Analysis of the pedagogical approach in the virtual game world JumpStart World Kindergarten ........................................................................................................................... 49 6.1. JumpStart World Kindergarten (JWK) history ............................................................ 50 6.2. Pedagogical approach ................................................................................................. 52 6.3. Game-play .................................................................................................................... 53 6.3.1. Roles and dynamics ............................................................................................. 53 6.3.2. Actions and strategies ........................................................................................54 6.3.3. Motives .............................................................................................................. 59 4 6.4. Game world aesthetics ................................................................................................62 6.5. Game structure ........................................................................................................... 65 6.5.1. Navigation .......................................................................................................... 65 6.5.2. Interaction ......................................................................................................... 66 6.5.3. Objects and object inventory ..............................................................................67 6.5.4. Learning games in JWK...................................................................................... 68 6.6. Curriculum ...................................................................................................................70
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