Questions that appear after a major stage, decision, or action in the game and are designed to elicit thinking and analysis about the conceptual content of the game. Usually involves analysis or inference about the underlying game algorithms, provided those algorithms reflect conceptual relationships from the domain.
Published in Chapter:
Dino Lab: Designing and Developing an Educational Game for Critical Thinking
Kirsten R. Butcher (University of Utah, USA), Madlyn Runburg (Natural History Museum of Utah, USA), and Roger Altizer (University of Utah, USA)
Copyright: © 2017
|Pages: 34
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0513-6.ch006
Abstract
Dino Lab is a serious game designed to explore the potential of using games in scientific domains to support critical thinking. Through collaborations with educators and scientists at the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU), game designers and learning scientists at the University of Utah, and Title I middle school teachers and students, the authors have developed a beta version of Dino Lab that supports critical thinking through engagement in a simulation-based game. Dino Lab is organized around four key game stages that incorporate high-level goals, domain-specific rule algorithms that govern legal plays and resulting outcomes, embedded reflection questions, and built-in motivational features. Initial play testing has shown positive results, with students highly engaged in strategic game play. Overall, results suggest that games that support critical thinking have strong potential as student-centered, authentic activities that facilitate domain-based engagement and strategic analysis.