G4LI Kurt Squire – Games and Assesment

No one assesment does everything
Observation, cognition, and interpretation
Claims, evidence, tasks

Theory
Cognition is situated
Video games are designed experiences
Learning comes through immersion in idealogical worlds
Participation in social worlds

In games, players move from newbie with little understanding, to basic knowledge to systemic expertise to desire to mod to scenerio design, to community creation and leadership
User–>Designer

Using Citizen Science game, Squire wanted people to … crap, do some stuff, learn and take action I think, about a lake, Lake Medota
Lake Mendota has an algae problem, could die
In the game you’re meant to save it, but you can transgress and destroy it worse
Game involves thinking about the whole watershed, not just the lake, building complex argumantes
Looking at expert/novice studeis…what can be infered from in game behavior?–lake experts playing games and kids palying
Found:
Finishing the game did not mean you were an expert
Novices learned from the system, experts did not–novices learned from observation/action/feedback, while experts did not move through those three stages
Did see significant thinking change with kids, the independently wrote letters to the editor and crafted a resolution for city legislatiure

Experts may claim game doesn’t asses well if experts don’t succeed at it–but that’s not how most assesments work
Theoretical problem solving isn’t the same as real problem solving

As students, we have no right to make a counter claim, if we’re assesed as unsatisfactory then that’s the law

Assessment Bill of Rights
My goals are reflected in assessment
I have the right to challenge any of your claims with counter-evidence
I have the right to argue what constitutes valid evidence for learning
I have the right to make claims and present my own evidence to bolster them

Not willing to compromise the successful “gaminess” of the game to cram in more scientifically valid info–playability/fun are fundamental to this experiment, and it is an experiment (may not teach well! but them’s the breaks)