http://epistemicgames.org/eg/reblogged-thinking-like-an-engineer/ building the future of education Mon, 21 May 2012 06:45:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://epistemicgames.org/eg/reblogged-thinking-like-an-engineer/comment-page-1/#comment-69 Todd Mon, 19 Mar 2007 05:55:48 +0000 http://epistemicgames.org/eg/?p=462#comment-69 The use of gaming in education is a professional interest of mine, especially authentic simulations such as those you seem to favor. With regard to your study on the learning of what are apparently transferable problem-solving skills in the field of engineering, it does not appear that you compared the game-educated group to one that was more conventionally trained in the subject. I believe there is evidence that game-based approaches are effective, however there is also even more evidence that for novice learners in any field, highly-scaffolded methods are more effective and efficient than less guided approache. This is due to the fact that such an approach prevents the learning of "weak, problem-solving skills" and promotes the development of expert schemas. There seems to be general agreement today that authentic scenarios are the ideal focus of any learning endeavor, so my question centers on what degree and type of scaffolding should be provided in learning that is centered around the use of epistemic games. The use of gaming in education is a professional interest of mine, especially authentic simulations such as those you seem to favor. With regard to your study on the learning of what are apparently transferable problem-solving skills in the field of engineering, it does not appear that you compared the game-educated group to one that was more conventionally trained in the subject. I believe there is evidence that game-based approaches are effective, however there is also even more evidence that for novice learners in any field, highly-scaffolded methods are more effective and efficient than less guided approache. This is due to the fact that such an approach prevents the learning of “weak, problem-solving skills” and promotes the development of expert schemas. There seems to be general agreement today that authentic scenarios are the ideal focus of any learning endeavor, so my question centers on what degree and type of scaffolding should be provided in learning that is centered around the use of epistemic games.

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