Welcome to the InfoSci Platform
Reference Hub2
Using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Video Games to Facilitate Habits of Mind: Spore™ in the Seventh Grade Life Science Classroom

Using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Video Games to Facilitate Habits of Mind: Spore™ in the Seventh Grade Life Science Classroom

Michael A. Evans
Copyright: © 2010 |Pages: 16
ISBN13: 9781615207817|ISBN10: 1615207813|EISBN13: 9781615207824
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-781-7.ch018
Cite Chapter Cite Chapter

MLA

Evans, Michael A. "Using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Video Games to Facilitate Habits of Mind: Spore™ in the Seventh Grade Life Science Classroom." Design and Implementation of Educational Games: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives, edited by Pavel Zemliansky and Diane Wilcox, IGI Global, 2010, pp. 262-277. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61520-781-7.ch018

APA

Evans, M. A. (2010). Using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Video Games to Facilitate Habits of Mind: Spore™ in the Seventh Grade Life Science Classroom. In P. Zemliansky & D. Wilcox (Eds.), Design and Implementation of Educational Games: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives (pp. 262-277). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61520-781-7.ch018

Chicago

Evans, Michael A. "Using Commercial-Off-the-Shelf Video Games to Facilitate Habits of Mind: Spore™ in the Seventh Grade Life Science Classroom." In Design and Implementation of Educational Games: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives, edited by Pavel Zemliansky and Diane Wilcox, 262-277. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2010. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-61520-781-7.ch018

Export Reference

Mendeley
Favorite

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a theoretically based argument for using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) video games to teach life science topics in the seventh grade science classroom. Specifically, the game Spore™, a turn-based strategy game, will be examined as a potential tool and environment for cultivating knowledge building and model-based reasoning. Though the diversity in methods of the reasoning processes are great and varied, researchers believe that “scientists’ work involves building and refining models of the world” (Lehrer & Schauble, 2006, p. 371). The argument forwarded is that Spore™, contextualized by purposeful efforts of instructors and researchers, may facilitate the development and refinement of scientific habits of mind and computational thinking. An exploratory case study derived from an overview of five sections of a seventh grade life science course (n=85), where a two-week lesson on evolutionary biology was significantly revised, illustrates opportunities for and challenges to incorporating COTS games into formal middle school science classroom.

Request Access

You do not own this content. Please login to recommend this title to your institution's librarian or purchase it from the IGI Global bookstore.