EXPLORING THE ELEMENTS OF EDUCATIONAL VIDEO GAME DESIGN AND CREATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Osvaldo Jiménez June 2013 © 2013 by Osvaldo Jimenez. All Rights Reserved. Re-distributed by Stanford University under license with the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 United States License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/ This dissertation is online at: http://purl.stanford.edu/xj238xb0164 ii I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Shelley Goldman, Primary Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Amado Padilla, Co-Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Daniel Schwartz Approved for the Stanford University Committee on Graduate Studies. Patricia J. Gumport, Vice Provost Graduate Education This signature page was generated electronically upon submission of this dissertation in electronic format. An original signed hard copy of the signature page is on file in University Archives. iii iv Abstract It is difficult to create video games that are both entertaining and educational. Few educational video games have empirical evidence to support their claims of effectiveness (Honey & Hilton, 2011). Educational video games are explored through research and discussion aimed at making the development process more effective for other educational game designers. The discussion unfolds in several chapters. First, concerns surrounding the making of educational games are discussed. For instance, educational game designers are often given the task of delicately balancing the fun and educational aspects of their games. This balancing is highlighted in a framework presented of the development journey that educational game developers often must take, navigating around these two aspects, which are called sirens. Literature in psychology and other fields that make arguments for elements that can help make a game more educational and more fun are reviewed. On the educational side, the domain of fractions is explored, and the misunderstandings and difficulties encountered by students who are learning fractions are reviewed. The learning of fractions anchors the development and research since there is much work needed to improve student understanding. On the fun side, some of the motivational choices that have been used to increase the amount of fun are considered. Although there are elements in games that explicitly help either fun or learning, three areas are reviewed – choice, collaboration, and fantasy/story – that have properties that can help both fun and educational aspects of a game. It is the third area (fantasy/story) that this dissertation further explores as an element to be used in games. Since fantasy/story warrants further exploration, the literature on fantasy and more specifically story are reviewed. The review of the literature concludes that story can be helpful with learning by assisting with comprehension. Research on story grammars and scripts provide evidence for story helping people comprehend information, making it more likely for these people to remember that information. On the other hand, story can also help persuade people. The persuasion aspect is notable v because it can help with both motivation and learning. Persuasion is important because it gives the audience a willingness to accept a different outcome or piece of knowledge. Using this information, the dissertation then details the process that colleagues and I followed in order to create an educational game called Tug-of-War. After an initial study showing no significant achievement differences in learning, Tug-of-War was refined and demonstrated significant differences on pre-post measures in two quasi-experimental classroom studies. These three studies also provided evidence that children enjoyed playing Tug-of-War, based on survey results adapted from motivation scales. The process for creating the game as well as the study design and results for these three studies are provided. Next, a qualitative, interview-based study of how students conceptualize story both in interactive and non-interactive media is reported. The methods are described, including how game were selected for children to play, and how the interview protocol that was accomplished with the children. The chapter ends by describing the analysis, and highlights recurring themes that were discovered around children’s notions of story. The findings all of the initial studies resulted in a classroom study, where students were randomly assigned to play one of three versions of the Tug-of-War game. The first version was similar to the previous versions, having a context/story of the children participating in a tug-of-war match. The second version had similar game mechanics, but had no story or images related to the story. The third version embellished the first version by providing students with images of the relevant characters that are present in the game. The chapter provides analysis of pre and post measures of achievement, students reporting of fun, and a video analysis of ways students engaged in two of the conditions. Results of the final study indicate that story had a positive impact on the student engagement and involvement with the fractions content. The advantages that story brings to bear in educational games is discussed. vi Acknowledgements I would like to thank my dissertation reading committee (Shelley Goldman, Daniel Schwartz, and Amado Padilla) for their invaluable support and wisdom during this entire process. To Shelley, thank you for keeping me going and for guiding me through the whole process. To Dan, thank you for helping me correctly think about how to conduct, study, and analyze a topic of interest for me. To Amado, thank you for always believing in me and helping me keep the entire process in perspective. I would also like to thank my oral committee (Mehran Sahami and Eric Roberts) for their valuable insight and questions. Next I would like to thank Ugochi Acholonu and Dylan Arena for their help in creating the initial designs of the Tug-of-War game, and in helping conduct the research. I would also like to thank fellow colleagues and researchers Jessica Tsang, Ilsa Marie Dohmen, Jennifer Tackman, Doris Chin, Kristen Pilner Blair, Joe Prempeh, Min Chi, Nicole Hallinen, Jacob Haigh, and Rassan Walker for their advice and for their contributions in helping me conduct the research. I’d also like to thank the administrators, teachers, and users in the Bay Area that contributed to this project. I would also like to thank the DARE Fellowship for helping make the goal of completing my dissertation a reality. If it were not for the support of my colleagues in that program as well as Anika Green and Chris Golde, I may not have finished. Finally I would like to thank my family & friends for their unwavering support throughout this whole journey and the numerous ways they helped. Specifically I’d like to thank my nieces and nephews (aka “las crías”) for their constant playtesting, my parents Jaime & Alicia for telling me never to give up, and my friends Dan G, Daniel and Javier for their writing advice. Finally, and most importantly I’d like to thank my wife Cheryl Lynne for her incredible support at every imaginable stage of this process. I would not have finished if it were not for my family. I will be forever indebted to all of you. vii Table of Contents Abstract........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................ xii List of Illustrations........................................................................................................ xii Section I – Difficulty in Making Educational Games .................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 Researching the Learning............................................................................................ 7 Fractions .................................................................................................................. 8 Researching the Fun – Empirical Research on Motivation....................................... 14 Intrinsic Motivation ............................................................................................... 15 Challenge............................................................................................................... 17 Other Structural Qualities ..................................................................................... 18 Researching Elements useful both for fun and learning ........................................... 21 Control/Choice .....................................................................................................