In recent years, much attention has been directed to the use of educational games for learning computer science concepts. The motivation of game-based learning with positive experience has been deeply studied in the literature, but game design for improving code reading skills have much room for improvement. Being good at the reading code is important to a professional developer. To address this issue, we defined a new educationally-oriented mobile game application, aimed at promoting the development of code reading skills in a new and fun way. The strategy of this game is to find errors in pieces of codes. At each level, students should find all syntactic and semantic errors in the code in a certain time in order to advance to the next level. Of the numerous programming languages, we chose Java because it is one of the most popular programming languages. In many colleges, Java plays a major role in introductory courses. Our vision is to allow instructors to employ the game in their introduction to programming in Java course. In addition, we hope it could be adapted for use in introductory courses using different programming languages. Data collected during the project helps us evaluate the impact of game-based learning on code reading in programming languages. We asked undergraduate students at the department of computer science at Virginia Tech to play with the game during Spring 2017 semester. The collected data analyzed, and students believe that Code Reading Dojo improves their code reading skills in Java and overall programming ability, in additions to help them find errors in their own program. / Master of Science / In recent years, much attention has been directed to the use of educational games for learning computer science concepts. The motivation of game-based learning with positive experience has been deeply studied in the literature, but game design for improving code reading skills have much room for improvement. Being good at the reading code is important to a professional developer. To address this issue, we defined a new educationally-oriented mobile game application, aimed at promoting the development of code reading skills in a new and fun way. The strategy of this game is to find errors in pieces of codes. At each level, students should find all syntactic and semantic errors in the code in a certain time in order to advance to the next level. Of the numerous programming languages, we chose Java because it is one of the most popular programming languages. In many colleges, Java plays a major role in introductory courses. Our vision is to allow instructors to employ the game in their introduction to programming in Java course. In addition, we hope it could be adapted for use in introductory courses using different programming languages. Data collected during the project helps us evaluate the impact of game-based learning on code reading in programming languages. We asked undergraduate students at the department of computer science at Virginia Tech to play with the game during Spring 2017 semester. The collected data analyzed, and students believe that Code Reading Dojo improves their code reading skills in Java and overall programming ability, in additions to help them find errors in their own program.

Interviews with the Farm Game Cooperators in Game Conservation Districts II, V and VI disclosed that individual landowners were interested in improving habitats for farm game species. In order of preference of wildlife planting materials cooperators chose annual seeds, <u>L. bicolor</u> seeds, <u>L. bicolor</u> plants and <u>L. sericea</u>. (Pp.25-35) The data on cultural practices indicate that the Farm Game Program cooperators need to follow instructions of the Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries for planting, fertilizing and cultivating wildlife materials in order to receive maximum benefits from the objectives of the Farm Game Program. (pp. 38-52) Cooperators considered the wildlife plantings of intrinsic value in that they were using the plantings for erosion control, food and cover for wildlife, field-woods borders and turn rows for farm machinery. (Pp. 55-56) It was observed that farm game species were utilizing wildlife food plantings established in 1950-51. The perennial plantings were immature yet in many instances they attracted quail, rabbits, turkey and deer. The data on food availability as determined by ground quadrant samples taken from wildlife food plantings on the three specific areas indicate that adequate food is be:ing produced on one-eighth acre plots, which have been maintained according to recommended cultural practices. A hundred percent increase was noted in quail populations on the Hawfield Game Demonstration Area during 1950. (Pp. 70-75) / Master of Science

The skunk is an unprotected wildlife species in Virginia and few are hunted for sport and trapped for fur. / Master of Science

Yes / This study aims to examine how inclusivity measures are understood and applied in game-based learning (GBL). It considers the perspectives of various stakeholders, such as educators, game designers, and students. The focus is on creating accessible and engaging games that meet the diverse needs and characteristics of players. The methodology adopted a combination of primary and secondary data sources to pursue these aims. The primary data collection involved focus groups with educators, game designers, and students. The study employed a participatory design approach, involving multiple stakeholders in the exploration of inclusivity measures. The data collected from the focus groups, along with findings from the literature review, helped in formulating a set of inclusivity metrics for educators to create educational games that cater to diverse student needs. The obtained results emphasize the limited state of analogue GBL accessibility in scholarly and professional literature, while emphasizing the existing frameworks to be adopted by educators, designers, and publishers. Stakeholder discussions revealed themes related to inclusivity measures, including motor, sensory, and cognitive needs of players. Game designers can enhance accessibility by considering these requirements and incorporating alternative communication channels, accessible cues, adaptable gameplay options, and diversified knowledge-based requirements. In addition to inclusivity, addressing instances of exclusion, managing teams effectively, promoting inclusive communication, and incorporating gameplay limitations, educational components, diverse perspectives, and real-world applicability are discussed as important in education game design, to this extent.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

In this thesis I will describe the methods used and problems I have faced and attempted to solve during my time developing a math game for younger kids, a game that makes an attempt to teach kids something called number sense. Teaching pre school kids about number sense is something relatively new and the group I have been working with are of the understanding that it’s something that is very likely to be important to prevent children from falling behind in math during the earlier years of school. Number sense basically means the ability to connect symbolic numbers to their meaning interms of sets, amounts and dimensions such as larger-smaller, higher-shorter, more-less, etc. If this proves to be useful then the quality of education will improve as a result of more children being able to keep up with their math from an early stage.

People in all known cultures play games and today digital gaming is an important leisure activity for hundreds of millions of people. At the same time game design has developed into a profession of its own. There are several practical game design guidelines and text books but they rarely manage to connect their findings into relevant areas of research such as psychology and design research. Understanding game design, both as an activity and as an end result of that activity, in a more profound way could alleviate this problem. The main goals of this thesis are to understand in a more profound way how to design games and based on that understanding develop frameworks and methods for aiding game design. By extending knowledge about game design can not only improve the quality of the end-products but also expand the potential design space even in unpredictable ways. Game design contains many sub-areas. Character, story, and environment design are integral parts of the current game development projects. The aim of this thesis, however, is to have a critical and exploratory look at structures of gameplay as design material. Gameplay is the interaction between the game rules, challenges, elements, and players.In one sense gameplay defines the game. The focus of the thesis is mainly analytical, although parts of the results are based on practical research through design activities. The thesis contributes to game research in three interralated ways: (1) An analytical contribution to understanding gameplay was done in the gameplay design patterns work. The patterns are described as an approach to both analyse existing games and aid in designing new games. The patterns describe recurrent gameplay and also analyse these structures from the design material point of view. (2) A theoretical study of basis for gameplay experiences was conducted through review of relevant models and theories in neuroaesthetics, cognitive and social psychology and game research. The framework offered in the thesis explains why certain gameplay structures are more recurrent based on defining gameplay as caricatures of intentional behaviour. (3) The game design patterns approach and research through design projects have contributed to the analysis of game design as an activity and practical guidelines for concrete design work in more specific areas of game design. The goals of this thesis are ambitious and many questions are left unanswered. Using the patterns approach in conjunction with game design and ideation methods is still in its infancy. The concept of gameplay as caricatures of intentional behaviour should be explored further, especially in conjunction with other theories and frameworks relevant for understanding gameplay experience such as user engagement, immersion, and presence. Empirical experiments validating or falsifying this view on gameplay would be valuable as further contributions to game research.

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This dissertation presents a new approach to one of the classic problems in economics: firms' training and development (T&D hereafter) behavior under externality. Its objective is threefold. The first objective is to identify the conditions under which T&D externalities are present in the labor market; the second is to examine firms' strategic T&D behavior under T&D externality; the third is to provide a possible institutional remedy for the less than socially optimal level of firms' T&D investments that T&D externalities generate. The most important findings of this research are that the labor market in general cannot fully internalize T&D externalities in a world of imperfect information. In the presence of T&D externalities, firms' training investments are socially sub-optimal. In a dynamic game environment, one firm's T&D decision depends on the magnitude of T&D externalities, as well as on the level of training provided by the other firms. Under certain conditions, a firm may invest zero in T&D, pirating skilled workers from the other firm. One firm's T&D investment is inversely related to its own discount rate, but positively related to its competitors' discount rates. In addition, a T&D externality reduces firms' T&D incentive not only at the firm that generates the T&D externality, but also at the firm that receives the T&D externality. More importantly, it is shown that market structure per se affects firms' T&D investment behavior. The level of firms' T&D investments is inversely related to the competitiveness of the output market. In terms of social optimality of T&D, monopoly market organization is superior to perfect competition. The results are hence consistent with Schumpeter's (1943) dynamic efficiency arguments. Finally, it is shown that joint T&D programs can serve as a possible remedy to correct T&D externalities, and joint T&D programs, as impure public goods, can be provided efficiently on a voluntary basis under certain conditions. A game theoretic model of the public goods provision with positive Nash equilibria is presented and experimental evidence which supports the hypothesis is provided.

No description available.