Summit on Educational Games - Federation of American Scientists

“We need rigorous research
programs that allow us to
investigate the features of
games and simulations that lead
to effectiveness, and I say this
because if we take a haphazard
approach, we’ll waste money.”
Jan Cannon Bowers, University of
Central Florida
“What we really need is knowledge
convergence, where the two skill
sets are put together. In games,
it is the challenge and reward
delivery system. Education, from
what I hear, is the tell-and-test
system. Game designers
understand keeping an audience
engaged and how to deliver critical
information for mission objectives.
Educators are losing the audience
to entertainment media, but they
understand the principles of
learning that game designers
don’t. Both are necessary to
create compelling educational
software that is engaging as well
as informative.”
Lorne Lanning, OddWorld
than broad national education and workforce development goals — are driving
the development of educational game and simulation technology.
At the Educational Games <strong>Summit</strong>, the National Science Foundation (NSF)
reported that it is funding several games for learning projects, including:
massively multiplayer games for science education, building biologically-based
immune system simulations for education and training, and game-based
learning in chemistry. It also supports several “Science of Learning Centers”, but
none focus specifically on applying the features of games and simulations to
learning. However, <strong>Summit</strong> participants said that the small grants NSF provides
to universities are too small for the experiments and developments needed to
foster significant advancements in games and simulations for learning.
PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT IN EDUCATIONAL GAMES RESEARCH
Video game companies are focused on developing new products for the
entertainment market. Publishers of educational materials have not identified a
market opportunity large enough to make investments in educational games
research worthwhile. In addition to poor markets, the exploratory nature of
research on educational games, and uncertain returns to individual firms who
develop generic tools further discourage the private sector from making these
R&D investments.
MODELS OF R&D PERFORMANCE
24 SUMMIT ON EDUCATIONAL GAMES
The research challenges outlined in the learning games roadmap (R&D Challenges
in Designing Games and Simulations for Learning) and highlighted in the
following pages, span multiple research disciplines — education, psychology,
cognitive science, communication, game design, human-computer interaction,
software engineering and design, and information science — just to name a few.
Unfortunately there is no established community of researchers, industrial
participants, educators, and educational institutions from which to mobilize the
teams needed to undertake the research identified in this roadmap.
In addition, the development of educational games and simulations spans
different parts of the innovation process, from basic and applied research, to
technology and prototype development. Since the needed research must combine
basic and applied research, technology development, and evaluations, no existing
federal agency appears to have an appropriate mandate to conduct this work.
Different R&D models are appropriate for different R&D tasks. These include:
➣ Publicly-funded, investigator-driven basic research at universities and
government-funded research centers (such as the National Science
Foundation Science of Learning Centers);
➣ Private R&D consortia for pre-competitive, generic technology
development;
➣ Focused research center(s) on educational games;
➣ Demonstration pilots funded by federal or state governments;