Creating Educational Game by Authoring Simulations
Jeetinder Singh, Jayanthi Sivaswamy · 2009
Abstract: The high level of engagement students have with games has motivated many researches to study various aspect of games-based learning. The approach taken in most of the studies is bringing instruction element implicitly in games. Adapting instructional content for creating games is a viable alternative approach to create interactive virtual learning environment development. Pedagogical support in the form of simulation exercises have been shown to be more effective in learning context. In this paper we argue the simulation exercises can be combined to produce games using an authoring tool. We illustrate our idea with an exemplar in the form of a 3D virtual physics game authoring tool. The results of evaluation of our exemplar indicate that use of subject-related terminology can help participants relate virtual game context with theoretical and real world phenomenon; however, games by themselves may not serve to be an effective way to learn new concepts.