Learning as Becoming

In Ferdig, R. E. (Ed.), Discoveries in gaming and computer-mediated simulations: New interdisciplinary applications (pp. 128–146). Hershey, PA: IGI Global., 2011

In this chapter, we share a model of game-based learning for use in the context of classroom learning in school. The model is based on the dialectic interaction between game play and dialogic engagement with peers and teacher on one hand and a developmental trajectory of competence-through-performance on the other. It is instantiated in the context of a learning program related to citizenship education using the computer game Space Station Leonis. We argue for the importance of values in all learning, based upon a theory of becoming citizens that is founded on process philosophy. We relate values to dispositions as articulated manifestations of values and describe how the Leonis learning program helps to achieve dispositional shifts befitting citizenship education in a globalized and multi-cultural world.

International Journal of Gaming and Computer Mediated Simulations, 1 (2), 32–51., 2009

In this paper, we share a model of game-based learning for use in the context of classroom learning in school. The model is based on the dialectic interaction between game play and dialogic engagement with peers and teacher on one hand and a developmental trajectory of competence-through-performance on the other. It is instantiated in the context of a learning program related to citizenship education using the computer game Space Station Leonis. We argue for the importance of values in all learning, based upon a theory of becoming citizens that is founded on process philosophy. We relate values to dispositions, as articulated manifestations of values, and describe how the Leonis learning program helps to achieve dispositional shifts befitting citizenship education in a globalized and multi-cultural world.

International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations, 2000

In this paper, we share a model of game-based learning for use in the context of classroom learning in school. The model is based on the dialectic interaction between game play and dialogic engagement with peers and teacher on one hand and a developmental trajectory of competence-through-performance on the other. It is instantiated in the context of a learning program related to citizenship education using the computer game Space Station Leonis. We argue for the importance of values in all learning, based upon a theory of becoming citizens that is founded on process philosophy. We relate values to dispositions, as articulated manifestations of values, and describe how the Leonis learning program helps to achieve dispositional shifts befitting citizenship education in a globalized and multi-cultural world.

2013

Abstract: Educational systems worldwide are being challenged to respond effectively to the digital revolution and its implications for learning in the 21st century. In the present new media age, educational reforms are desperately needed to support more open and flexible structures of on-demand learning that equip students with competencies required in a globalized and multicultural world. Game-based learning represents one pathway to educational reform through its emphasis on performance. In this paper we describe the Statecraft X game-based learning program that blends performative game-based learning with dialogic pedagogy in the context of citizenship education. The Statecraft X curriculum was designed with the understanding that a digital game on its own does not necessarily lead to meaningful student learning. Rather, it is the students together with their peers and aided by their teacher who must work together to make meaning of their in-game experiences and connect these exp...

Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, 2009

This chapter considers the use of computer games to help students construct their personal identity and develop dispositions that become active and responsible citizenship. It argues that the construction of identity requires both performative and narrative components and that these elements can be realized in a learning environment that affords students the opportunity to engage in a dialectic interplay between role playing in a game world and dialogic interaction outside of the game world. Research findings from an initial data set showing how students project their identities onto in-game characters are shared. The findings suggest that role playing in computer games can be effective in fostering attitudes, values, and beliefs desired of citizenship education.

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2012

This paper reports data obtained from the use of a bespoke video game – The Rise of Li’Ttledot – in promoting a sense of participatory citizenship among young learners. The game was developed through funding awarded by the Ministry of Education in Singapore, and was piloted in a primary school. Citizenship education illustrates well the truism that the learning of values is better caught than taught. The game was situated within a wider curricular program which included the use of question cardsin a post-gameplay dialogic session between teacher and students. The structure and scaffolds thusly afforded helped the pupils in the primary school to abstract from their experiences within the game, to relevant school-based examples.

Supporting learning flow through integrative technologies, 2007

This paper presents an initial analysis of data obtained from an implementation of citizenship education using the videogame Space Station Leonis in two Singapore classrooms. The paper highlights the importance of citizenship education today and describes how game environments can be used to foster identity construction as part of the broader agenda of citizenship education in Singapore. The data presented comprises a series of t-tests which were run between pre- and post-test questionnaires on attitudes related to civic consciousness and citizehsnhip administered to seventy-seven students who participated in the design intervention. Analysis of the results suggests that such participation can result in significant and positive changes in attitudes of relevance to various aspects of citizenship.

Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 11(1), 16–28., 2013

Educational systems worldwide are being challenged to respond effectively to the digital revolution and its implications for learning in the 21st century. In the present new media age, educational reforms are desperately needed to support more open and flexible structures of on-demand learning that equip students with competencies required in a globalized and multicultural world. Game-based learning represents one pathway to educational reform through its emphasis on performance. In this paper we describe the Statecraft X game-based learning program that blends performative game-based learning with dialogic pedagogy in the context of citizenship education. The Statecraft X curriculum was designed with the understanding that a digital game on its own does not necessarily lead to meaningful student learning. Rather, it is the students together with their peers and aided by their teacher who must work together to make meaning of their in-game experiences and connect these experiences to real-world events and issues through thoughtful reflection. With a view to addressing widespread shortcomings of citizenship education that reduce the curriculum to learning about citizenship, the Statecraft X game, played on Apple iPhones, provides students with a first person experience of governance by allowing them to take on the role of governors and thus to enact governance. Central to the SCX program is its dialogic pedagogy where teachers facilitate meaningful conversations among students and advance their understanding of citizenship and governance. In this paper, we report an implementation of the Statecraft X curriculum in a Social Studies class attended by 42 15-year-olds attending a secondary school in Singapore. Students’ understanding of governance and citizenship was assessed by means of an essay that students attempted at the end of the program. Students’ performance in the essay was compared with a comparable control group taught the same topic by traditional method. The results indicate that students of the intervention class outperformed the control class students. Our findings suggest that the Statecraft X curriculum has efficacy in achieving the desired curricular learning outcomes. These findings have implications for school leaders, teachers, and students with respect to introducing and integrating game-based learning in regular classrooms.

Web application development presents significant differences from conventional application development. The spectrum varies from technical to organizational differences. Technical means the specific architectures and technologies employed and the impacts involved. Organizational is related to the strategic use of these applications aiming at improving the business. Among other issues, uncertainty, volatility and high competitiveness are innate characteristics which must be carefully addressed. Therefore, the nature of web engineering suggests the need of specialized software processes that cover, in a systematic way, the complete life cycle of hypermedia web applications, in contrast to adopting ad-hoc approaches to comply with the constraints imposed by this application domain. This essay presents an abridge discussion concerned with the impact of these differences on development process for web applications, analyzing some proposals, indentifying the requirements and challenges. This work intends to be an initial step towards the definition of a process suitable to web development, in dimensions such as requirements gathering, user interface, testing and navigation design.

SUMÁRIO Prólogo • 7 CAPÍTULO UM As definições • 16 CAPÍTULO DOIS O velho paradigma • 39 CAPÍTULO TRÊS O modelo • 57 CAPÍTULO QUATRO O verbo • 72 CAPÍTULO CINCO O ambiente • 97 CAPÍTULO SEIS A escolha • 111 CAPÍTULO SETE A recompensa • 126 Epílogo • 137 PRÓLOGO As idéias que defendo não são minhas. Eu as tomei emprestadas de Sócrates, roubei-as de Chesterfield, fartei-as de Jesus. E se você não gostar das idéias deles, quais seriam as idéias que você usaria? -DALE CARNEGIE A ESCOLHA FOI MINHA. Ninguém mais é responsável por minha partida. Olhando para trás, acho quase impossível acreditar que eu -um superocupado gerentegeral de uma grande indústria -tenha deixado a fábrica para passar uma semana inteira num mosteiro ao norte de Michigan. Sim, foi isso mesmo. Um mosteiro autêntico, cercado por um belíssimo Jardim, com frades, cinco serviços religiosos por dia, cânticos, liturgias, comunhão, alojamentos comunitários. Por favor, compreenda, não foi fácil. Eu resisti o quanto pude, esperneando de todas as maneiras. Mas, afinal, escolhi ir. "SIMEÃO" era um nome que me perseguia desde que nasci. Quando criança, fui balizado na igreja luterana local. A certidão de batismo mostrava que o versículo da Bíblia escolhido para a cerimônia pertencia ao segundo capítulo de Lucas, a respeito de um homem chamado Simeão. De acordo com Lucas, Simeão foi "um homem muito correto e devoto, possuído pelo Espírito Santo". Aparentemente ele teve uma inspiração sobre a vinda do Messias ou qualquer coisa do gênero que nunca entendi. Este foi meu primeiro encontro com Simeão. Ao final da oitava série fui crismado na igreja luterana. O pastor escolheu um verso da Bíblia para cada candidato à confirmação, e quando chegou minha vez leu em voz alta o mesmo trecho de Lucas sobre Simeão. "Coincidência bem estranha", lembro-me de ter pensado na época. Logo depois -e durante os vinte e cinco anos seguintes -tive um sonho recorrente que acabou me atemorizando. No sonho, é tarde da noite e eu estou completamente perdido, correndo num cemitério. Embora não possa ver o que está me perseguindo, sei que é o mal, alguma coisa querendo me causar grande dano. De repente, um homem vestido com um manto negro aparece na minha frente, vindo de trás de um grande crucifixo de concreto. Quando esbarro nele, o homem muito velho me agarra pêlos ombros, olha-me nos olhos e grita: "Ache Simeão -ache Simeão e ouça-o!" Eu sempre acordava nessa hora, suando frio. Para completar, no dia do meu casamento o pastor se referiu a essa figura bíblica durante sua breve homilia. Fiquei tão atordoado que cheguei a confundir-me na hora de pronunciar os votos, o que foi bastante constrangedor. Na realidade, eu nunca soube ao certo se havia algum significado para todas essas "coincidências" envolvendo o nome de Simeão. Minha mulher, Raquel, sempre esteve convencida de que havia.