1. What Research Tells us About Creating
Game-Based Learning
By Karl M. Kapp
Bloomsburg University
Twitter:@kkapp

2. Google “Kapp Notes”
www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes
2012 New Book:
“The Gamification of Learning and Instruction”
September 2011 Training Quarterly Article
Improving Training: Thinking Like a Game Developer

3. Agenda
1 2
How do you apply game-based strategies
What does research say about to the presentation of learning content?
games and game elements for
learning?
3 4
What are 4 motivational aspects
What are 3 principles for adding of games that improve learning
serious games to learning curriculums? recall and application?

4. What Research Says
about
Games for Learning

5. Percentages of Impact
Type of % Higher
Knowledge/
Retention
Declarative 11%
Procedural 14%
Retention 9%
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .Review of 65 studies

6. Percentages of Impact
Type of % Higher
Knowledge/It wasn’t the game, it was level
of activity in the game.
Retention
Declarative 11%
In other words, the engagement
Procedural
of the learner in the game leads 14%
to learning.
Retention 9%
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .Review of 65 studies

7. Poll Question One

8. Simulation
Game.
20% higher.
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .

9. Do simulation/games have to be entertaining to be
educational?
(poll question two)

10. NO
Sitzmann, T. (2011) A meta-analytic examination of the instructional effectiveness
of computer-based simulation games. Personnel Psychology .

11. Simulation
Educational
Simulation
Game Pedagogy
Aldrich, C. Learning by Doing. Pfeiffer, page 80

12. Instructional games should be embedded
in instructional programs that include
debriefing and feedback.
Simulation
Instructional support to help learners
understand how to use the game increases
instructional effectiveness of the gaming
Educational
experience.
Simulation
Game Pedagogy
Hays, R. T. (2005). The effectiveness of instructional games: A literature review and
discussion. Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (No 2005-004).
Aldrich, C. Learning by Doing. Pfeiffer, page 80

13. Recommendations
1) The context of the learning environment is important.
2) Simulation/games don’t need to be “entertaining” to be instructional.
3) Carefully craft the simulation/game to provide opportunities to increase
learning (engagement and interactivity).

14. 4 Motivational
Elements of
Games that Aid
Learning
1. Avatars
2. Stories & Challenges
3. Levels
4. Feedback

15. We’ve Always Wanted
Characters
Avatars

16. Why be a Character at
All?
Research indicates that human
social models influence behavior,
beliefs and attitudes.
Bandura, A. 1986 Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA: Prentice-Hall.

17. Avatar as Teacher
Research indicates that learners perceive, interact
socially with and are influenced by anthropomorphic
agents (avatars) even when their functionality and
adaptability are limited.
Baylor, A. 2009 Promoting motivation with virtual agents and avatars: R ole of visual presence and appearance. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal B Society. 364, 3559–3565

18. Poll Question Three

19. An experience as an avatar
can change a person's real
life perceptions. In a study
conducted by Yee and
Bailenson (2006), it was
found that negative
stereotyping of the elderly
was significantly reduced
when participants were
placed in avatars of old
people compared with those
participants placed in avatars
of young people.
Yee, N. & Bailenson, J.N. (2006). Walk A Mile in Digital Shoes: The Impact of Embodied Perspective-Taking on The
Reduction of Negative Stereotyping in Immersive Virtual Environments.. Proceedings of PRESENCE 2006: The 9th Annual
International Workshop on Presence. August 24 – 26, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

20. Poll Question Four

21. Within 24 hours of watching an avatar like
themselves run, learners were more likely to
run than watching an avatar not like them or
watching an avatar like them loitering .
Fox, J., Arena, D., & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). Virtual Reality: A survival guide for the social scientist. Journal of Media Psychology, 21 (3), 95-113.

22. If learners watch an avatar that looks
like them exercising & losing
weight, they will subsequently exercise
more in the real world as compared to
a control group.
Fox, J., Arena, D., & Bailenson, J.N. (2009). Virtual Reality: A survival guide for the social scientist. Journal of Media Psychology, 21 (3), 95-113.

23. Are two avatars better than
one?
Motivator
Mentor
Expert

24. Motivator
Yes, two avatars are better
than one.
Mentor
Baylor, A. L. & Kim, Y. (2005). Simulating instructional roles through pedagogical
agents. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 15(1), 95-115.
Expert

25. http://www.codebaby.com/showcase/elearning-showcase/

26. First Person View

27. Third Person View

28. Recommendations
1) Avatars can effectively model behavior for both learners and instructors.
2) Avatars that look like learners are more influential on the learners.
3) Two avatars are better than one provided they are stratified in their usage
(one as knowledge, one as coaching)
4) Third-person perspective is more powerful for learning than first person.

29. Stories & Challenges

30. Provide a challenge

31. Re-design the Instruction to
Start with a Challenge

32. Researchers have found that the Yep, People tend to remember facts
human brain has a natural affinity for more accurately if they encounter
narrative construction. them in a story rather than in a list.
And they rate legal arguments as more
convincing when built into narrative
tales rather than on legal precedent.

33. Story Elements
1.Characters
2. Plot (something has to happen).
3. Tension
4. Resolution
5. Conclusion

34. Challenge and Consolidation– Good games offer players a set
of challenging problems and then let them solve these problems
until they have virtually routinized or automated their solutions.
Games then throw a new class of problem at the players requiring
them to rethink their now, taken-for-granted mastery, learn
something new, and integrate this new learning into their old
mastery.
James Paul Gee,
University of Wisconsin-Madison

35. Recommendations
1) Use stories and provide challenges in the beginning of
the learning process.
2) Use stories that are related to the context of the
desired learning outcome.

36. Levels

37. Scaffolding: Process of controlling the task
elements that initially are beyond the learner’s
capacity.
Guided Practice. Step-by-step instructions and
then fading of instruction

38. Once that task is accomplished, the learner is
then led to accomplish another goal which
builds upon the previous.

39. Level One: Talking with the receptionist.

40. Level Two: Talking with the nurse gatekeeper.

41. Level Three: Talking with the physician.

42. Level One:
Demonstration

43. Level Two:
Guided Practice

44. Level Three:
Performance
Assessment

45. Recommendations
1) Provide different entry points into the instruction.
2) Provide different learner experiences within the same
e-learning module.
3) Consider “leveling up” learner challenges.

46. Feedback

48. Games like The Sims provide feedback on
many dimensions which provide
opportunities to consider tradeoffs and
higher level cognitive thinking.

51. Leaderboards provide
opportunities for players to
receive feedback about their
performance as compared to
others.

55. Putting It All
Together

56. Fostering Pro-Social
Behavior

57. 28% helped to
pick up pencils

58. 33% helped to
pick up pencils

59. 67% helped to
pick up pencils

61. 22% intervened

62. 56% intervened

63. Learned Procedure

65. Inventory Observation

70. Learners journey through a
series of activities designed
to synthesize conceptual
learning.

71. Learning changes from being Disembodied and
Transactional to Embodied, Relational and Experiential.

72. Summary
1 2
Apply stories, avatars, feedback and
Games/Simulations are effective levels as effective game elements to
for learning? e-learning.
3 4
Four motivational aspects of games
Provide support materials around games that improve learning recall
Include as part of curriculum, and application are: interactivity,
“fun” doesn’t need to be the goal. context, challenge, and story.

73. Questions/More Information
• http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/
– Recommended books
– Samples and Examples
• Learning in 3D
– www.learningin3d.info
• Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning
– www.gadgetsgamesandgizmos.com
• Email: kkapp@bloomu.edu
• Email: karlkapp@gmail.com
“The Gamification of Learning
and Instruction” in Spring 2011
published by Pfeiffer.