Use of constructivism in the development and evaluation of an educational game environment.

Abstract

Formal learning contexts often present information to learners in an inert and highly abstract form, making it

unlikely that learners would ever use this information in their every-da y lives. Learners do, however, show a

greater propensity for retaining information that is seen as having relevance in their lives . Constructivism is an

educational paradigm that has gained popularity amongst educationists. The core tenet of this paradigm is that

learners learn through interaction with their environment and that all knowledge construction is based on

previous life experience. Information that is presented to learners in a contextualised form not only has a better

chance of being retained in long-term memory, but also has a greater likelihood of being applied in relevant life

situations. This publication deals with the research, design and delivery of important information concerning

diseases that have a major impact in Southern Africa. Firstly, learners at the University of Natal, Durban were

polled for their existing knowledge concerning four widespread diseases, namely HIV/AIDS , tuberculosis,

malaria and cancer. Aspects of these diseases where learners demonstrated a low level of awareness were

defined as the primary learning object ives for an educational 3D- immersive microworld. Areas of knowledge

concerning the transmission, symptomatic expression, biology and prevention of these diseases were generally

not well represented in the learner sample. Hence, information regarding these aspects is presented to learners in

a contextualised form within the microworld. Motivation for learners to play in this microworld is provided by a

storyline that was researched and written for the portal. In addition, the model used in the storyline design was

evaluated for its effectiveness as a tool to be used in the planning of future educational games. A model, the

Puzzle Process model, was proposed to inform the design of puzzle interfaces for these types of interactive

learning environments, and puzzle interfaces were designed for the virtual environment according to the model

guidelines. The learning environment was tested as part of the formative evaluation with a small sample of

learners . The testing process made use of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to evaluate the

effectiveness of the learning environment as a possible learning tool. Comparison of pre- and post-gameplay

questionnaires showed that learners gained a more indepth and richer understanding of the topics being dealt

with in the portal. In particular, the puzzle objects situated in the environment stimulated learners to negotiate

meanings for the puzzle interfaces and, in the process, encouraged learners to discuss the topic being dealt with.

Results from this study also show that the longer learners discussed and negotiated a certain knowledge domain,

the greater their increase in richness of information was for that knowledge domain after gameplay. These

results highlight the importance of social dialogue in the knowledge construction process and suggest that

environments like these have great potential based on their ability to encourage learners to talk to one another

and their facilitators while negotiating mutually acceptable knowledge. The original Puzzle Process model, as

well as the Game Achievement model and the Game Object model were modified to account for the need for

social dialogue and content. These more comprehensive models are instrumental for use in future virtual world

environment design.