larp in early childhood education_tanja lehto (laurea uas 2013)
DESCRIPTION
How can live action role-playing games be designed for children ages 5 to 6? How take the developmental level and the educational environment into account when planning teaching materials for early childhood education environments? These are some of the questions I had to ponder on my bachelor's thesis and here is a quick overlook on how I attempted to answer them.TRANSCRIPT
DESIGNING AN
EDUCATIONAL ROLE-
PLAYING GAME FOR FIVE
TO SIX YEAR-OLDSThesis presentation 21.11.2013
Tanja Lehto
Thesis overview (1)
Type: Functional thesis
Topic: Designing a role-playing game to be
used in kindergartens
Objective: To test whether role-playing games
can be used in the education of five to six
year-old children and how should they be
planned to fulfill this objective
Purpose: Developing early childhood
education and increasing the variety of
working methods available
Thesis overview (2)
Output: The role-playing game ‘Star Travellers and the Mission in Outer Space’ An educational game to improve social skills
The final product was a complete set containing all the materials required to run the game
Reference material: early childhood education, social competence, educational games and game design
Implementation consisted of planning and testing the role-playing game ‘Star Travellers and the Mission in Outer Space’
I learned that role-playing games can be designed to be used as educational games with this age group
Learning in the early years
The learning process includes the child, the group, the subject matter, the methods, the organisation and the educator (Helenius 2008, 53-55)
The learning process needs to be viewed holistically (Bruce 2011, 16)
"playing, movement, exploration and self-expression through different forms of art are ways of acting and thinking peculiar to children” (The National Curriculum Guidelines on the Early Childhood Education and Care in Finland 2003, 19)
Social constructivist learning
theory
Reality is constructed by people in social
interaction (Kauppila 2007, 89)
Learning is an active process wherein the
learner is actively forming his or her knowledge
of the subject matter (Kauppila 2007, 50)
Social interaction reinforces the learning
(Kauppila 2007, 114)
Reciprocal communication with the teacher and
other students has an important role in learning
(Kauppila 2007, 114)
Five to six year old children are
able to ...
Give a coherent, chronologically correct
account of events (Nurmi, Ahonen, Lyytinen,
Lyytinen, Pulkkinen & Ruoppila 2006, 46)
Retrieve four to five units of information from
their short term memory (Nurmi et al. 2006,
50)
Engage in building games and role play. They
are also starting to show interest in rule play
(Nurmi et al. 2006, 61) which makes them a
suitable target group for this project
Social skills and development
In VARSU assessment, social development is divided into three main categories: 1. Interaction in peer relationships
2. Acting in the environment and
3. Awareness of the self and others (Bricker & Pretti-Frontczak 2004, 119)
Socially skilled behaviour receives a positive reaction from other which operates as social reinforcement of said behaviour (Salmivalli 2008, 79)
Moral cognitions (e.g. values and norms) effect the social information processing of an individual (Salmivalli 2008, 97-98)
Social competence (Salmivalli
2008)
Social skills
• Learned skills
• Enable context appropriate behaviour
• Result in a positive outcome
Social congnition
• Includes making observations, assessments and conclusions about social situations
• Formulations of strategy
Emotional regulation
• Ability to affect the duration and intensity of one's emotional states
Motivation
• Setting social goals is related to an individual’s conception of oneself and of others
• Socially skilled individuals may still select goals that result in antisocialbehaviour (e.gaggression orbullying as these mayresult in a desiredoutcome)
Context
• The environment and circumstances
• E.g. the groupdynamics of a kindergarten group
• Social status affects the social attributions of others
• Socialisation into the group’s culture and norms
Defining play (1)
"the way in which children within a context, a
culture, a family and a community, set about
doing any or all of the following: trying to solve
a problem they have set themselves;
exploring and experiencing something that
interests or concerns or scares or excites
them; expressing and communicating their
feelings related to their experiences. Play is
thus always purposeful for the child." (Smidt
2011, 2)
Defining play (2)
"play is a voluntary activity or occupation
executed within certain fixed limits of time
and place, according to rules freely
accepted but absolutely binding, having its
aim in itself and accompanied by a feeling of
tension, joy and the consciousness that it is
"different" from "ordinary life"."
(Huizinga 1949, 28)
Components of a game (Costikyan
2002, 10-12, 15-16, 18-19, 22, 24)
Player
Interaction
The players interact with the game and each other.
Decision making
Goals
Clear victory conditions or ones that depend on the motivations of the player
Struggle
Opponents, puzzle solving… etc.
Structure
Rules and mechanics
Endogenous meaning
Objects of the game have a meaning in the game world, that exists solely in that imaginary reality
Games in education (1)
Games are increasingly taken seriously in
education and research (Taylor, Backlund
&Niklasson 2012, 649)
Various names are used for educational games,
e.g.: learning games, serious games, pedagogical
games, edu-LARPs, simulations
Games are suitable for teaching problem solving
skills and furthering understanding of complex
systems (Schell 2008, 446)
Games can be used to create insights and
promote curiosity (Schell 2008, 447)
Games in education (2)
Role-playing game is an excellent platform for practicing storytelling as all the participants have an opportunity to move the story forward
National Curriculum Guidelines on the Early Childhood Education and Care in Finland states that children should be given opportunities to actively participate in varied artistic activities. (Stakes 2005, 23-24) Including role-playing games as an available early childhood education method would increase the number of different experiences available for use in early childhood education.
Role-playing games
Came to Finland in the 1970's (Leppälahti, M.
2009, 5)
In role-playing games, participants assume a
make-believe character in an imaginary setting
(Stenros & Harviainen 2011, 63).
Have much in common with the imaginary play
and role play of children as well as dramatic
play and improvisation theatre.
Types of role-playing games
Tabletop role-playing games (RPG)
Usually the game master describes the setting and actions of non-player characters and the players describe the actions of their characters
Usually involves a set of world descriptions and rules called a system
The systems are often commercial products, e.g. Dungeons & Dragons (Westerling 2013, 19)
Live-action-role-playing games (LARP)
Involve a physical aspect
Players have a lot of freedom
Number of players is not limited (Westerling 2013, 18; Leppälahti 2002, 20)
Freeform/Jeepform role-playing games
“Freedom to adapt the form to the story, for every story“ (Wrigstad 2008, 127)
Combine features of RPG and LARP
Game master controls the situation more than in larp
Implementation phases (1)
Pre-production
Concept development
Game type: freeform role-playing game
Genre: classic science fiction
Target audience: groups of five to six year-old children
Name: Star Travellers and the Mission in Outer Space
Research and resourcing
Gathering information on game design, social development, early childhood education...
Evaluationg the cost and availability of resources
Printing, laminating, facilities for the test sessions etc.
Most of the resources were made available by the worklife partner
Implementation phases (2)
Production
Content design Game design and development was done in October
and November
Testing
A total of four playtests of the material were arranged One alpha test with two adult playtesters (18.10.)
Three beta-tests in the group five to six year-old children of Vilske kindergarten (30.10., 4.11. and 12.11.)
The evaluation went on during the entire playtesting-process
Evaluation was based on the feedback received from the playtesters and the observations made during the sessions
Implementation phases (3)
Post Production
Post-production took place in November after the
final playtest
Creating the material-folder for the game
English translation of the game manual
Making the material available to the staff of the
kindergarten
Game design overview (1)
Target group
Five to six year old children
Learning objectives
Reacting to the needs and emotions of others
Joining, participating and adhering in joint activities
Following of rules and asking for permission
Sharing equipment
Making choices and expressing preferences
Recognising emotions
Respecting others: rules and morality
Game design overview (2)
Setting and theme
Setting: Space travel
Themes: Cooperation, trust, managing in a group
in a confined space
Materials and equipments
Economic and ecological concerns were
considered
Materials and equipment consist mainly of prints,
laminated prints, recycled materials and objects
commonly found in kindergartens
Game design overview (3)
Characters, story and scenes
Simple characters are created by the participants in a pre-game-workshop
The events are set on a space voyage, on which the characters embark after receiving a message from outer space.
The structure of the session consists of exercises selected or created to promote at least one of the learning goals
Session structure of the playtests
Warm-up
Enactment
Debrief
Feedback
Observations and feedback
There are many things that had an effect on how the playtest sessions went
The warm-up of the game master
Mood, preparedness, emotions regarding the upcoming experience
Lighting and soundscape
How the instructions are given
Clarity, purposefulness
Having the materials quickly available
Interest, use of imagination, attitude and disposition of the participating children
What I leaned about using role-
playing games in education
Role-playing game
...is a flexible medium
...allows various learning contents to be
incorporated
...allows reusing materials
Playtesting is essential in creating repeatable
games
...a finished game requires a lot of time to plan
thoroughly
How to connect the exercises with the learning goals?
Requires knowledge of the medium, child developmnet
and the subject matter
Ethical considerations
Anonymity and confidentiality
The thesis is published in Theseus, which must be taken into consideration when describing the setting and participants
Informed consent
Parents and children
Avoiding coercion
Role of the kindergartenteacher
Multicultural issues
Wordings in the game material do not presuppose a certain nationality of the participants
References
Bricker, D. & Pretti-Frontczak, K. 2004. VARSU: Varhaisen oppimaan ohjaamisen suunnitelma arviointimenetelmä 3-6-vuotiaille. Jyväskylä: PS-kustannus.
Bruce, T. 2011. Early Childhood Education. London: Hodder Education.
Costikyan, G. 2002. I Have No Words & I Must Design: Toward a Critical Vocabulary for Games. In: Mäyrä F. (ed.) CGDC Conference Proceedings. Tampere: Tampere University Press, 9–33.
http://www.digra.org/dl/db/05164.51146.pdf
Huizinga, J. 1949. Homo Ludens: a Study of the Play Element in Culture. Translated by No Name. London: Routledge.
Kauppila, R. A. 2007. Ihmisen tapa oppia: Johdatus sosiokonstruktivistiseen oppimiskäsityk-seen. Jyväskylä: PS-kustannus.
Leppälahti, M. 2002. Etnografiaa roolipelaamisesta. Lic.Phil. Turku University. Accessed 11 September 2013
http://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/37272/lisensiaatintyo2002Leppalahti.pdf?sequence=1
Nurmi, J-E., Ahonen, T., Lyytinen, H., Lyytinen, P., Pulkkinen, L. & Ruoppila, I. 2006. Ihmisen psykologinen kehitys. Helsinki: WSOY Oppimateriaalit Oy.
Salmivalli, C. 2008. Kaverien kanssa Vertaissuhteet ja sosiaalinen kehitys. 2nd Edition. Juva: WSOY.
Schell, J. 2008. The Art of Game Design A Book of Lenses. USA: Elsevier.
Stenros, J. & Harviainen, J. T. 2011. Katsaus pohjoismaiseen roolipelitutkimukseen. In: Suominen, J., Koskimaa, R., Mäyrä, F., Sotamaa, O. & Turtiainen, R. (ed.) Pelitutkimuksen vu-osikirja 2011, 62-72.
http://www.pelitutkimus.fi/vuosikirja2011/ptvk2011-kaikki.pdf
Taylor, A-S., Backlund, P. & Niklasson, L. 2012. The Coaching Cycle: A Coaching-by-Gaming Approach in Serious Games. Simulation & Gaming, 43 (5), 648-672. Accessed 12 October 2013.
http://sag.sagepub.com/content/43/5/648
Vygotsky, L. S. 1978. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge Massachussets: Harward University Press.