the climate mystery
DESCRIPTION
Presentation of The Climate Mystery - Norwegian adaptation and evaluation, from Media and Learning conference 2010.TRANSCRIPT
The Climate Mystery
Combining a dramatic story with environment and climate issues aimed at pupils aged 13 – 16
1. Background and concept of the learning universe
2. The Norwegian adaptation: research and evaluation
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An online learning universe running from september to december 2009• a framework for learning goals relevant to
environmental and climate issues.
• 16 episodes, different themes and learning goals for each episode.
• For pupils: video clips, mini-games, assignments, social networking and forums.
• For teachers: teachers guide and episode guides, links, lesson planning. •The possibility to use TCM for one, several or all episodes
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Episode guides for teachers
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Episode guides for teachers
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Background and concept
Produced by Danish developers Congin.
Offered free of charge to schools. International sponsors: Microsoft and Discovery Channel
All content in English, aimed at pupils aged 13-16. According to Microsoft: participants in 98 countries.
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Congin´s objectives
• “achieve learning objectives in, for example, natural sciences and social sciences”
• “learn about scientific method in natural sciences by means of computer simulations, assignments and working together within a larger community”
Tricking the pupils into learning
The Norwegian adaptation: our objectives To investigate pupils’ motivation with regard to game-based
learning and use of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom – both for specific subjects (natural sciences) and for interdisciplinary studies.
To help boost teachers’ competence in the practical use of Web 2.0 tools for teaching.
Research and evaluation
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Research and evaluation
Workshop with two secondary schools, one upper secondary school, one university college
Observations and group interviews with 20 pupils and six teachers
Total norwegian user profiles: 7000
Memorandum in English available on http://www.media-and-learning.eu/profile/j%C3%B8rund-h%C3%B8ie-skaug
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Online Learning Universe meets ARG – Alternate Reality Game:
-an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions.
Source: Wikipedia
What will happen at COP 15 16.12.09?
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Basic storyline
A web page for UN´s Climate Change Conference COP15, is hacked.
The webmaster, Axelneeds help to solve the mysteries:
• who is trying to sabotage the webpage –and the conference?
• why are four of his colleagues kidnapped?
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Main elements of TCM: Assignments – on the web and in the classroom
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Main elements of TCM: social networking
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Main elements of TCM: COP15 - Mini-games with climate simulations
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External web resources: Blog, Facebook, Twitter
The Norwegian adaptation of TCM
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A typical week with TCM in the classroom Teachers used TCM 1-3 hours per week. Mostly in Natural Sciences
Some teachers used TCM in Social Sciences, English, media.
A few problems with login procedures and implementing the Silverlight media player on school computers
But the schools we observed and interviewed had sufficient ICT-infrastructure to handle TCM, and teachers and pupils were highly motivated
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COP15 mini-games predominated in the classrooms
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Pupils and teachers about the COP 15 mini-games
Pupil: “I pretty much only used the COP15 games because it was a bit difficult to get to grips with
everything else that was going on”.
Pupil: “Every week it was just a case of sending jellyfish, malaria or ocean currents from one place to another. It was the same concept every week.
Teacher: “The games were easy to understand, so that would be the reason they were used the
most”.
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Pupils and teachers about the basic storyline and the videoclips
Pupil: “It seemed more like an action film that could draw people in without having anything to do with the climate summit”.
Teacher: “They weren’t able to see the connection between the video clips, the COP15 games and the assignment”.
Pupil: “I didn’t really understand the story. They were in a house, then suddenly they were kidnapped, but then they escaped. It was a bit confusing”.
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What could have been improved?
Pupil: “It would have been cool if you could have got something from the videos that you needed
to solve the COP15 games”.
Pupil: “Perhaps there could have been a sort of multiple-choice assignment at the end of every episode”.
Pupil: “There’s a new game every week, regardless of whether you mastered the game last week. That makes it rather unexciting”.
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Prof. Seamus Gershon: the bad boy of plate tectonics
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Teachers about positive effects of TCM
“Many pupils have become extremely aware of the environment. They are keeping up with coverage of climate issues in TV programmes and newspapers more than previously”.
“In natural sciences we don’t have much concrete material on which to base exercises or practical work, but the COP15 games in a way covered these objectives by visualising the themes. It became easy to show the consequences of climate change and energy use”.
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Concluding remarks
• Learning universes with alternate reality games have a huge potential – if they have strong stories, and strong connections between game and learning
• Teacher and pupils are very motivated when they get the chance to use web 2.0-tools for gaming.
• What can we expect, what should we demand of free games in the years to come?