Epistemic game plan
A recent article in techLearning looks at educational games in general, and highlights epistemic games in particular:
A powerful argument for video games in schools as a concept whose time has come can be found in the 2004 publication, “Video Games and the Future of Learning,” by David Williamson Shaffer, Kurt R. Squire, Richard Halverson, and James P. Gee of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-Laboratory. In it, the authors paint a compelling picture of today’s best-designed video games fulfilling Papert’s early vision: an environment in which engagement and higher-order thinking skills combine in a challenging, learner-centered instructional setting. The authors make the point that “computers are already changing the way we learn, and if you want to understand how, look at video games–look at video games because they create new social and cultural worlds, worlds that help people learn by integrating thinking, social interaction, and technology, all in service of doing things they care about.”
Key to realizing this promise of the video game to provide a deep learning experience, the authors report, is the notion that it must be “epistemic.” Epistemic games involve students in communities of practice that offer a frame, or what the authors call “the grammar of culture: the way of thinking and acting that individuals learn when they become part of that culture.” One example is the game Full Spectrum Warrior (Pandemic Studios, for PC and Xbox), which is based on a U.S. Army training simulation. Players are challenged with learning how to think and act like soldiers, which requires them to take on “the values, identities, and ways of thinking of a professional soldier.” The authors argue that this type of epistemic experience can be just as effective in other contexts, such as in the game Madison 2200 (University of Wisconsin-Madison), which teaches students about ecology and urban planning through redesigning a mall. The same principal could be applied to games investigating the professions of medicine, economics, business, and others.
