How do children evaluate complex causal events? This study investigates preschoolers' representation of "force dynamics" in causal scenes, asking whether (a) children understand how single and dual forces impact an object's movement and (b) this understanding varies across cause types (Cause, Enable, Prevent). Three-and-a half- to…

Accurately predicting other people's actions may involve two processes: internal real-time simulation (dynamic updating) and matching recently perceived action images (static matching). Using a priming of body parts, this study aimed to differentiate the two processes. Specifically, participants played a motion-controlled video game with…

Humanity has entered an era where computing technology is virtually ubiquitous. From websites and mobile devices to computers embedded in appliances on our kitchen counters and automobiles parked in our driveways, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and IT artifacts are fundamentally changing the ways we interact with our world.…

Research on individual differences indicates that students vary in how they interact with and perform while using intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs). However, less research has investigated how individual differences affect students' interactions with game-based features. This study examines how learning outcomes and interactions with specific…

If one wants to learn about the role that games play in education, then the University of Wisconsin at Madison is the place to go. It's home to the Games, Learning, and Society Initiative and its current director Dr. Kurt Squire. In this interview, Squire talks about his research and how libraries can embrace gaming as a tool for learning.

A game is a set of activities involving one or more players. It has goals, constraints, payoffs, and consequences. A game is rule-guided and artificial in some respects. (Richard Wilson, 2010). According to Garris et al. (2002), define educational game play as "voluntary, nonproductive, and separate from the real world"; and they found…

It is a common misconception that game-based learning is, by its very nature, engaging for the majority of learners. This is not necessarily the case, particularly for learners in Higher Education who may need to be persuaded of the value of learning games. For some learners, games may simply not be perceived as engaging--either in terms of an…

The attention to learners with special needs, in particular those with intellectual disabilities, is an area of continuous development. It is considered important to develop adaptive educational solutions for the integration of people with educational difficulties according to their needs. Digital games provide an attractive and direct platform in…

Contemporary digital games do little to help novice and disadvantaged players wanting to learn to play. The novice-expert divide is a significant barrierfor entry for disadvantaged groups who want to play digital games; this is especially true for women (Jenson, Fisher, & De Castell, 2011). In response to this problem, three new tutorial…

This paper reports on research of a game designed for scientific inquiry in a new and publicly available massively-multiplayer online environment (MMO). Educators and game designers worked together to create a highly immersive environment, a compelling storyline, and research-grounded tools for scientific inquiry within the game. The designers…

The battle between educators and entertainers continues when it comes to gaming. While this is so, the edutainment battleground has expanded to include actors outside formal schooling agencies, namely International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs). These actors employ digital games with the aim to educate and activate towards specific social…

Business simulations serve as learning platforms that stimulate the "gaming" interest of students, that provide a structured learning environment, and that should help manage the time resources of faculty. Simulations appear to provide a context where students feel learning can take place. However, faculty perception of simulation…

As video games have become an important economic and cultural force, scholars are increasingly trying to better understand the ways that engagement with games may drive learning, literacy, and social participation in the twenty-first century. In this book, the authors consider games and just as importantly, the social interactions around games,…

This response to Leah A. Bricker and Phillip Bell's paper, "GodMode is his video game name", examines their assertion that the social nexus of gaming practices is an important factor to consider for those looking to design STEM video games. I propose that we need to go beyond the investigation into which aspects of games play a role in learning,…

In this paper I explore how Margaret Beier, Lesley Miller, and Shu Wang make claims for the validity and reliability of the instrument they developed to explore the construct of "possible selves" as described in their manuscript, "Science Games and the Development of Scientific Possible Selves."