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.