INTEGRATING GAME-DESIGN KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION THEORY TO COMMUNICATE BIOLOGY CONTENT A Dissertation Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Thomas R. Beatman August, 2019 INTEGRATING GAME-DESIGN KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION THEORY TO COMMUNICATE BIOLOGY CONTENT Thomas Robert Beatman Dissertation Approved: Accepted: ______________________________ ______________________________ Advisor Program Director, Integrated Bioscience Dr. R. Joel Duff Dr. Hazel A. Barton ______________________________ ______________________________ Committee Member Interim Dean of the College Dr. Gavin Svenson Dr. Linda Subich ______________________________ ______________________________ Committee Member Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Hazel A. Barton Dr. Chand Midha ______________________________ ______________________________ Committee Member Date Dr. Randall J. Mitchell ______________________________ Committee Member Dr. Gary M. Holliday ii ABSTRACT Civic scientific literacy requires communication between scientists and the public. To bridge this gap, scientists must acquire skills and knowledge from those who study science communication. Improving scientists’ communication of science requires better implementation and availability of science communication skill sets and tools. One such tool is the use of games, in whole or in part, as tools to improve engagement, motivation, and understanding in science learning. The appeal of games in learning traditionally is based on their familiar form and perceived value of fun to audiences. While modern research on games in learning focuses predominantly in assessing and quantifying motivation & engagement and learning outcomes, development of good game-design practices as a major tool in educational endeavors has been slow to develop, which can impact their usefulness. In this dissertation, I illustrate a number of theories of motivation and ideas that support the idea of using games in learning, followed by quantifying the lack of consensus on the differences between the numerous fields and terms, which describe the idea of using game to effect better learning outcomes. This is done using a novel variant of the item sort method, the Item Definition Semantic Sort. This method is also used to explore another set of fields and terms in a different format, and other methodological implementations are considered and described iii The second half of this dissertation presents a number of proof-of-concept projects which use gameful experiences in learning contexts. an advance organizer for field trips as part of a curriculum developed by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History that provides game-elements and competition to enhance student experiential learning in the classroom, a teaching-laboratory module utilizing an analog simulation to convey large-scale numbers and population growth concepts for non-majors biology students, and a game communicating how community watershed runoff and the development of harmful algal blooms interrelate. These products utilize numerous ideas and theories from educational psychology and informal education combined with game-design knowledge acquired through relevant communities of practice, to provide experience for developing good games in learning, and important takeaways and recommendations for stakeholders. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would have never made it without the help, support, and love of a number of people. I’d first like to thank my advisor Joel Duff and Integrated Bioscience Chair Hazel Barton. Hazel’s encouragement for me to pursue my passion for biodiversity awareness and science communication, and support in changing my research and lab saved me from a dire fate. She was the first to recognize and address my impostor syndrome, and will always be a beacon of positivity. Joel also shares this honor, and helped develop and support my dissertation work. Joel always made for fantastic conversation that would tangent frequently out of and back into materials relevant to my research; his passion for science communication helped to inspire me to pursue my career. Joel always played a wonderful role as a supportive skeptic, and often he would start conversations feeling doubtful about things so, I suspect, I would have to convince him otherwise. I will point out here as I have frequently pointed out to others that I never give him his due share in the great Beatman rescue of 2016. I’d like to thank my committee members Hazel Barton, Gary Holliday, Gavin Svenson, and Randy Mitchell for their contributions to my research and education, especially in my incredibly fruitful comprehensive candidacy qualifying exams. Without each of them, I would never have delved as deeply into the education and biology materials I needed to fully form my dissertation. I’m especially thankful to Gavin and Hazel for their eyes lighting v up when I first brought up how I felt board games could be used for biology education. Joel was a little more hesitant, but I’d be nowhere without him. My committee as a whole provided a diverse range of content backgrounds, and consistently provided unique perspectives as my dissertation developed. I am especially thankful that my candidacy exams provided a perfect nexus of intersection between biology content, science communication, informal education, and psychology, which lead to the synthesis of the integrations found in my dissertation. I am especially thankful that I continued to be able to use what I had written in my qualifying exams throughout my studies. A careful eye might recognize passages from them used here. I’d also like to thank my friends and colleagues, Rafael Maia Villar de Quieroz, Ashley Bair, Jonathan Gilmour, Travis Magrum, Carrie Buo, Lara Roketenetz, Michael Derr, and Michael Logsdon for their support during some of the hardest and darkest times during my time in the program. Rafael provided a constant sounding board for problems, dilemmas, challenges, and opportunities I faced during the full seven years of my time in the program, and was the one who got me into the hobby gaming community in the first place. Ashley Bair kept an eye on me when I most needed a watchful eye. Jon Gilmour has taught me near-everything I know about game design, and his and Travis’ friendships and support has been boundless, whether it’s giving me feedback on game designs, just hanging out, or checking on me after I had to be driven to the ER because I had acute appendicitis. Carrie provided a useful sounding board and colleague in doing education as my integration. Lara’s positivity, can-do attitude, and wealth of experience in doing informal ed was profoundly useful. The Michaels have been constant friends and outlets to get my board game on both before and after that became a pivotal element of my dissertation. vi I’d also like to thank various members of the University of Akron Faculty and Staff, including Sarah Rieder-Bennet, Marilia Antunez, Debbie Ammerman, and Ashley Ramer, for their assistance in my research and success in completing my dissertation work. I’d like to thank my tiered mentoring student Cass Johnson for her assistance in recruiting participants and entering data for Chapter III, Ryan Trimbath and Wendy Wasman without whom Chapter V would never have happened, as well as Lamalani Siverts who originated what would become Chapter VII. Finally, I’d like to thank my parents for their constant love and support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF BOXES & FIGURES ....................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter Summaries .......................................................................................................... 2 II. THE TRANSITION FROM MOTIVATION- TO TRANSER-FOCUS IN GAMES IN LEARNING RESEARCH ............................................................................................................... 4 Civic Scientific Literacy ................................................................................................... 7 Games in Learning........................................................................................................... 8 Structure and Function: Psychology and Design ...................................................... 15 Conclusions .................................................................................................................... 20 III. DEFINING GAMES IN LEARNING: AN UMBRELLA TERM TO ADDRESS THE FIELD’S DISORDER ............................................................................................................ 21 Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 22 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 23 Methods ........................................................................................................................... 26 Results.............................................................................................................................. 29 Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 35 IIII. ITEM DEFINITION SEMANTIC SORT: METHODOLOGY ...................................