Herminia Wei-Hsin Din, Ph.D., University of Alaska Anchorage

NMC Online Conference on Educational Gaming

Play to LearnDesigning Educational Games in Museums

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

Introduction

• Overview Museum Online Educational Games

• Bones: An Exhibit Inside You

• Lessons & Challenges

• Conclusions

How to design an online educational game so kids can play to learn about museum objects and exhibits?

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• IMMERSION

Suspend or distract from reality, create an illusion of an alternate universe

• PLAYABILITY

The player has to be able to effectively control a major element within the game to navigate whatever challenge is presented.

• CHALLENGE & COMPETITION

There must be a goal to achieve

Fundamentally, games are meant to be fun.

Core Components to Design a Successful Game

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• Role-play• Simulation• Creative Play

• Puzzle and Mystery• Interactive Reference• Building Resources

Educational Web Adventures (Eduweb®)

Categorized Museum Online Educational Games

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• Puts you inside the story

• You can choose your own adventure such as pick a character, play a role, make decisions, and see what happens.

• Explore your path through the story

Be a Patron of the ArtsAllentown Art Museum

In Search of the Ways of Knowing TrailBrookfield Zoo & Chicago Zoological Society

ROLE PLAY

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• Gives you the power to manipulate reality

• You can “create” a model of the real world and see what happens when you change things.

• The choices you make will determine the results.

Engineering for EarthquakesNewBayBridge.org

Virtual Knee SurgeryCOSI

SIMULATION

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• Makes the world your canvas

• You can draw a picture, write a story, make a movie, etc.

• You can create something original based on the things you learn along the way.

A Brush with Wildlife: Create a Composition with Carl Rungius

National Museum of Wildlife Art

Amazing ReefJohn G. Shedd Aquarium

CREATIVE PLAY

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

The Lost Museum

American Social History Project/University of New York

The Case of Grandpa's Painting

EduWeb

• Lets you discover the solution

• You have to put on your thinking cap and solve a puzzle or mystery.

• You need to put the clues together to discover the right answer.

PUZZLE & MYSTERY

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• Opens the door to deeper knowledge

• Explore a topic on your own, through informative words and pictures.

• You choose the links that interest you to find out what you want to know.

Theban Mapping ProjectRare Books and Special Collections Library

American University

Cycles: African Life through ArtIndianapolis Museum of Art

INTERACTIVE REFERENCE

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• Allows to collect learning objects

• You can create and develop your own project by combining and reorganizing different learning objects.

• Gives the ownership back to the learner

LearnAlaskaUniversity of Alaska Museum of the North

OlogyAmerican Museum of Natural History

BUILDING RESOURCES

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• American Association of Museums – MUSE AWARDS

• Museum and the WEB – BEST OF THE WEB

Educational Web Adventures (Eduweb®)

TWO RESOURCES TO FIND GOOD MUSEUM WEB SITES

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

• To build an awareness of the fundamentals of bone biology, and to provide a knowledge on how modern technology can help us to keep our bones healthy, and how bones have found their way into the art, music and literature of people around the world.

Bones: An Exhibit Inside You

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in MuseumsBones: An

Exhibit Inside You

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

Let’s Design a Game!

Science

Exercise

Artifact

Science

Medicine

Profession

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

Let’s Play a Game!

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

What were the challenges?

• Storyboard

• Character development

• Narration and scripting

• Graphic design & color scheme

• Learning sequences

• Entertainment vs. Education

• Flash vs. HTML

• Accessibility

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

What have we learned?

• A lot of work & expensive

• Not able to update new info

• Minimum playability & no collaboration

• Lack of challenges

• No incentive for return visit

• Scatter segments

• Good games with good content but …

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

Conclusions

• Play to learn

• Learn to play

• Pedagogical Approach

• Curriculum Connection

• Personalize Learning

• Object-based Learning

• Purpose and Motivation

• Stimulation & Imagination

Play to Learn: Designing Educational Games in Museums

The more you play, the more you learn.

THANK YOU!