Researchers have explored representations in traditional video games, yet have not significantly investigated the representations in video games used in classroom contexts. Moreover, socially marginalized group members’ perspectives are rarely centered in academic research. This dissertation examined representations of people, ideas, and stories in video games for classroom use, focusing on how 16 self-identified US Black women who were teachers, learners, or both have perceived and encountered them. Furthermore, it drew from cultural studies traditions, which encompass theories that provide the language and space for seeing the world as diverse and nuanced, such as social constructionism, intersectionality, and experience. Data were gathered through using three qualitative methods: content analysis, three individual interviews per participant, and a questionnaire. A theme was recognized when four or more participants referenced a mutual idea. The results of the first research question on in-game representations of race, social class, and gender showed that these constructs were represented through human characters, anthropomorphic characters, or avatar creation options for users. Each game’s overarching structure influenced how it approached representation, with longer games and those designed to be played multiple times having more frequent opportunities to demonstrate character building and convey complex representations. Many games also centered the socially privileged via their representations of people, avatar options, ideas, and stories. Social class was often represented through in-game purchases, possessions, hobbies, and settings. Users often needed to actively create or implement diverse representations in classrooms. The second research question, which addressed participants’ conceptualizations of ideal representations in games for classroom use, showed that overall, participants wanted to see games featuring character, narrative, and ideological diversity across many socially constructed categories, including race, gender, social class, ability, sexual orientation, religion, and age, although they did not all agree on how to approach such representations. They wanted games to be relatable to all audiences while also being sensitive to those who were affected by not being represented. Content-wise, they wanted to see representations that engaged multiple senses and included fantasy elements and opportunities for users to express their creativity. Most participants reported that they would not want games to represent violence, and several participants did not want them to include stereotypes, social -isms, or racial jokes. The third research question’s results showed that the relationship between participants’ perspectives on ideal representations, their experiences, and their individual-centered characteristics—which comprised role descriptors, social constructs, and personality traits—was highly contextual. Participants who self-identified using the same terms, or underwent similar experiences, did not consequently share the same views. Rather, participants’ thoughts on representation were specific to the intersections of their individual-centered characteristics and experiences. In conclusion, this study underscores that it is important to privilege complexity and diversity when examining texts and audiences. It demonstrates how academic research can center members of socially and culturally marginalized groups while preventing myths of group sameness from obscuring individuals’ perspectives. Representations in games for classroom use would benefit from teachers, media practitioners, and researchers acknowledging the diversity of classroom audiences while addressing traditional learning objectives. / Media & Communication

This investigation opened with justification of the association of simulation and rhetoric found in the works of Bitzer, Bryant, Burke, and Nichols. It then focused on some advantages that association provides in the classroom: provides learning experiences for diverse groups, applies to problem solving, gives variety to lecture approach, develops social behavior, and increases awareness of alternatives. A list of simulation procedures was provided for specific rhetorical principles: cooperation/competition; decision making; reasoning; recall; perspective; negotiation; and goal setting. Existing, modified, and original games were included. Simulation with a college Interpersonal Communication class provided two case studies. Procedures, results, and evaluative feedback described degrees of effectiveness, and future application and research were also provided.

[pt] Este trabalho registra e analisa criticamente uma experiência de inserção dos jogos de RPG (Role Playing Game) como parte integrante do currículo de uma escola particular da zona sul do Rio de Janeiro, com o objetivo de se trabalhar a expressividade e a criatividade dos alunos por meio do uso de múltiplas linguagens e também como meio de se promover o desenvolvimento de variadas competências dentro de sala de aula. Ao todo, 69 crianças e jovens dos 9 aos 17 anos, alunos da 5ª série do Ensino Fundamental ao 2º ano do Ensino Médio, participaram das oficinas focalizadas nesta pesquisa. A metodologia utilizada no trabalho de campo incluiu tanto a observação, apoiada em cadernos de campo e fotografias, quanto a análise dos artefatos produzidos pelos alunos durante (e para) as sessões de jogo, sob a forma de descrições dos personagens, histórias, textos diversos, desenhos, mapas, maquetes etc, além da participação na montagem de mostras dos trabalhos, visitadas por pais, professores, familiares e demais membros da comunidade escolar. Ao lado do teatro, da música, da dança, do vídeo, dos desenhos animados e de outras linguagens e meios de expressão artística e cultural, a prática de jogos como o RPG, que reúnem ludicidade e criatividade, pode servir como forma de se aproximar o ambiente da escola do mundo complexo, múltiplo e multi-midiático no qual as crianças e os jovens das grandes cidades se encontram imersos em seu dia- a-dia. / [en] This work documents an experiment in which Role Playing Games were part of the curriculum in a private school in Rio de Janeiro. The game was used as a tool to promote expression and creativity among the students and also the development of several competencies inside the classroom. Sixty-nine children and adolescents (ages 9 to 17, from the 5th to the 10th grade) took part in the workshops studied here. The filedwork methodology included observation, supported by field notes and photos, along with the analysis of artifacts produced by the students during (and for) the game sessions, such as character profiles, stories, assorted texts, drawings, maps, schetches, mock ups and others, and also their engajement in the preparation of a show, visited by parents, teachers, family membres and other members of the school community. As with theater, music, dace, video-production, animation and other forms of artistic and cultural expression, games like RPGs, that unite creativity and fun, might serve as a way to straighten the ties between the school and the complex, multiple and multimidiatic world where children and adolescents in major cities are imersed in day-to-day basis.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:42:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JanduirES_DISSERT.pdf: 2266375 bytes, checksum: c9d10fe73c5e9796337be1a7e3030bc4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-15 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Educational games can work as a complementary tool in teaching and learning chemistry, playing an important role in the development of the students cognitive structures, familiarizing them with certain conceptual content, which may arouse interest in the study of such content. In this work, we made an analysis of organic chemistry textbooks recommended by Programa Nacional do Livro Did?tico 2012, for high school students in order to verify the existence of methodological proposals using educational games. From this analysis, we proposed an educational game to be developed for students on 3? year of high medium and undergraduate chemistry, that are in 1? semester of the course, which is constituted of a tray and 48 letters, which work various concepts concerning organic functions, such as: structural characteristics, physical properties, chemical and properties diverse of the compounds used for the confection of the letters. The game was applied to a class degree in chemistry, period 2012.1 to a Federal Education of Rio Grande do Norte and a group of students of the 3rd year of the state schools of Rio Grande do Norte, in the period the months of April and May 2012. The analysis of the performance of the game proposed was made using visual observations, photographic records and testimonials of students who participated in the games. The instrument used for the data collection was the student questionnaire, which was similar for both groups, differing only in the amount of questions, because one of them had one more question. During application of the game it was observed that it constitutes a dynamic strategy in the teaching and learning of chemistry concepts, given that students actively participated in the classes as well, demonstrated more motivation in the construction of concepts, furthermore, it was possible to observe evidence of other possibilities of the game. This could be verified through visual observations and testimonials at the end of each game, by reading the answers to the questionnaires / Os jogos educativos podem funcionar uma ferramenta complementar no processo de ensino e aprendizagem da qu?mica, desempenhando importante papel no desenvolvimento das estruturas cognitivas dos alunos, familiarizando-os com determinados conte?dos conceituais, podendo despertar interesse pelo estudo de tais conte?dos. Neste trabalho, realizou-se uma an?lise nos livros did?ticos de qu?mica org?nica recomendados pelo Programa Nacional do Livro Did?tico 2012, para alunos do ensino m?dio, a fim de verificar a exist?ncia de propostas metodol?gicas utilizando jogos educativos. A partir desta an?lise, foi proposto um jogo educativo para ser desenvolvido a alunos de 3? ano do ensino m?dio e de gradua??o em qu?mica, que estejam no 1? semestre do curso, o qual ? constitu?do de um tabuleiro e 48 cartas, onde s?o trabalhados diversos conceitos relacionados ?s fun??es org?nicas, tais como: caracter?sticas estruturais, propriedades f?sicas, qu?micas e propriedades diversas dos compostos utilizados para a confec??o das cartas. O jogo foi aplicado em uma turma de licenciatura em qu?mica, per?odo de 2012.1 de uma Institui??o Federal de Educa??o do Rio Grande do Norte e em uma turma de alunos do 3? ano da rede estadual de ensino do Rio Grande do Norte, no per?odo compreendido entre os meses de abril e maio de 2012. A analise do desempenho da atividade l?dica proposta foi feita a partir de observa??es visuais, registros fotogr?ficos e depoimentos dos alunos que participaram das partidas. O instrumento utilizado para a coleta dos depoimentos dos alunos foi o question?rio, o qual era semelhante para ambas as turmas, diferindo apenas na quantidade de quest?es, pois em um deles havia uma pergunta a mais. Durante a aplica??o do jogo foi poss?vel observar que o mesmo se constitui de uma estrat?gia din?mica no processo de ensino e aprendizagem de conceitos da qu?mica org?nica, haja vista que os alunos participaram ativamente das aulas, bem como, demonstraram mais motivados na constru??o dos conceitos, al?m disso, foi poss?vel observar evid?ncias de outras potencialidades do jogo. Isso p?de ser constatado atrav?s das observa??es visuais e dos depoimentos dos mesmos ao final de cada partida, atrav?s da leitura das respostas dos question?rios

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Felipe Neves de Almeida.pdf: 4362157 bytes, checksum: e1e167b18d2cb044bf635f82cd169ad3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-10 / This dissertation approaches the problem of implementing an educational project using a game with no clear educational goals or characteristics. It s a qualitative work based on a case study. Four methods of applying games in education have been identified and several projects using one of these methods have been analyzed. The goal of this dissertation is to implement and analyze an educational project that uses said method. This work is based on know authors of the field like Edgar Morin, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Burrhus Skinner, Jerome Bruner and David Ausubel and on the field of games applied to education there are Barbi Honeycutt, John Hopson, Ricardo Mena, Brett Shelton e Eric Zimmerman. A modern vision about traditional theories. The analyses of educational projects and theories is used to formulate a teaching plan that is applied to high school students. This case study confirms the dissertation hypothesis: Experiences that balance focus on educational content and ludic elements result in greater meaningful learning, therefore increasing the effectiveness of the learning process / A presente dissertação aborda a implementação de um jogo sem características e objetivos claramente educacionais em um processo educacional. É uma pesquisa de caráter qualitativo embasada num estudo de caso. Foram identificados quatro métodos de se utilizar jogos na educação e analisou-se uma série de projetos que utilizam esses métodos. O objetivo dessa dissertação é implementar e analisar um projeto educacional utilizando um desses métodos. A dissertação tem base em teóricos conhecidos da área como Edgar Morin, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Burrhus Skinner, Jerome Bruner e David Ausubel e no campo dos jogos para a educação utiliza Barbi Honeycutt, John Hopson, Ricardo Mena, Brett Shelton e Eric Zimmerman. Uma visão moderna sobre autores clássicos. Essa análise de projetos e teorias educacionais é utilizada na formulação de um plano de aula que foi aplicado em alunos do sétimo ao nono ano do ensino fundamental. A análise do caso confirma a hipótese dessa dissertação: experiências que equilibram o foco entre conteúdo educacional e elementos lúdicos resultam em uma aprendizagem mais significativa, potencializando o processo de ensino-aprendizagem

For the Degree of MCom by Dissertation in the Field of Information Systems / The study aimed to investigate the impact of the introduction of digital game-based learning (DGBL) and its effect on students’ perceptions of competence, usefulness, and enjoyment, as well as their achievement. The context of the study was a third year Business Process Management (BPM) module, within an information systems course at the University of the Witwatersrand. Eight research questions were formulated and ten hypotheses were derived. The study was underpinned by Deci and Ryan (2002)’s self-determination theory (SDT) of human motivation, which included two of the sub-theories of SDT, cognitive evaluation theory (CIT) and organismic interaction theory (OIT), as well as Ryan et al. (2006)’s adaptation of the construct of presence into SDT. The study adopted a single group natural experiment pre-post design and a longitudinal relational design. The study was conducted with a sample of 24 students. Three baseline surveys were used to measure students’ levels of intrinsic motivation, perceived competence and perceived usefulness. This was done prior to the introduction of IBM’s Innov8 2.0, which was the digital learning game used in the study. The baseline surveys were administered one week apart, prior to the introduction of the game. After the game was introduced, an endline survey was used to capture students’ levels of intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, perceived usefulness and presence with the game. Learning achievement was measured through the use of three assessments conducted one week, one month and two months after the end of the BPM course. Hypothesis testing was conducted using t-tests, correlation, and PLS regression techniques. Results confirmed significant effects of the digital game to decrease perceived competence, a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and achievement, and a positive relationship between presence and intrinsic motivation. As a result of the study, we now know that DGBL effects achievement through intrinsic motivation when in close proximity to the assessments. DGBL can appear to decrease perceived competence as it appears to be a feedback mechanism, which should be seen as a positive rather than negative effect. Certain DGBL characteristics such as presence increase intrinsic motivation perceptions. / MT2017

[pt] A presente pesquisa propõe uma análise e reflexão acerca dos jogos eletrônicos com fins pedagógicos e para isto, utiliza a metodologia do estudo de caso, tendo como objeto de pesquisa o jogo eletrônico Mansão de Quelícera, criado para apoiar o ensino de artes plásticas para o ensino médio e fundamental. Este estudo se preocupa com o projetar de um jogo eletrônico e para tal, traz questões teóricas para dar uma base a discussão entre o que foi projetado para o jogo, revelando aspectos particulares de sua elaboração, com o uso pelos alunos jogadores e a visão que estes têm deste objeto de pesquisa. Para coletar dados para analisar esta questão, foi realizada a pesquisa de campo. Nela, o jogo foi testado na prática em duas fases distintas, uma de pré-teste com até 27 estudantes e outra de análise mais profunda, de teste com 4 alunos. Participaram da pesquisa de campo, estudantes da Escola Municipal Artur Ramos, entre 10 e 11 anos, do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental I. Das observações de uso do jogo com os alunos surgiram algumas questões que serviram de norteadoras para uma entrevista com o desenvolvedor do jogo, a qual é descrita na análise de campo desta presente pesquisa. Com a reflexão do que foi apresentado na pesquisa, foram apontados requisitos importantes para o projeto de novos jogos com fins pedagógicos. / [en] The present research proposes an analysis and reflection about digital games with pedagogical purposes. It is based on a case study methodology and has as an object of research the game Mansão de Quelicera, which was created with the purpose of helping to teach plastic arts for the fundamental and medium stage of the Brazilian school system. This study observes the project process of a videogame development. Because of this, it brings into consideration theoric topics in order to fundament the discussion about what had been projected for the game, presenting some particular aspects of its elaboration with the usage of the student players and the vision that they have about the subject of research. For collecting the analysis data for this matter, it was made a field research, which consisted on testing the game into two different stages: one as a previous test with up to 27 students and other for deeper analysis, with only 4 students. Students from the 5th grade, between 10 and 11 years old from the Arthur Ramos Municipal School participated on this field research. From the observations of the students’ usage of the game, some questions where formulated and gave the direction for an interview with the developer of the game. This interview is described at the field analysis of the present research. Based on the reflection of what is presented in the research, it is pointed important requirements for the project of new games with pedagogical purposes.

Edutainment refers to curriculum and instruction designed with a clear educational purpose, including multi-faceted virtual learning game design. Tools such as the Jacob's Ladder pre-production design tactic have been developed to ensure that voices of both engineers and educators are heard. However, it is unclear how development team members experience and perceive their collaborative work while designing a virtual game using such tactics. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of agile software team members using Jacob's Ladder pre-production design as an interdisciplinary collaboration tool while designing a virtual learning game. Seven design team members (3 educators and 4 engineers) participated in semi-structured interviews and transcripts were analyzed via an inductive coding process that led to the development of key themes. Findings indicated that using Jacob's Ladder design tactic influenced the experience of the team by keeping the team focused on common goals and learner needs, organizing the team work, supporting interdisciplinary collaboration, and promoting shared understandings of the software platform limitations. Individuals played various roles, appreciated diverse views, recognized prior experience and idea sharing, and felt the design tactic supported flexibility for interdisciplinary collaboration. By linking integration strategies to interdisciplinary collaboration, findings from this study may be used by organizational leaders to consider best practices in team building for virtual learning game design, which will further support the development of effective games and growth of the edutainment industry.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-109).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Aug., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.