GeoQuest a Computer Class Role Playing Game Sabina Maraffi1 - Eleonora Paris1
Francesco Sacerdoti2 - Alessandra Scamardella3 1School
of Science and Technology, University of Camerino, Italy 2e-voluzione 3L.S.
s.r.l.
Galilei, Napoli, Italy
GeoQuest GeoQuest is a Computer Class Role Playing Game that enhances the interdisciplinarity and the role of Earth Sciences.
This RPG uses a Role Playing Engine which involves all
students to the game through their personal mobiles or tablets, obtaining a full interaction of the whole class.
The actual literature highlights some important aspects of the role playing game in educational field:
Motivation: playing -> unexpected resources grow. Cooperation: virtual collaboration with characters, real
collaboration with players
Identification: different points of views -> understanding
others.
Narration: story with unprovided narrative outcomes. Exploration: possibility of "exploring" environments and
situations that other educational activities hardly allows. Planning: situation analysis, environment analysis,
interaction analysis.
STEAM education Adventure plots has been designed for a deeper learning of Science,
Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, combined with Arts (STEAM) and
Social Sciences & Humanities (SSH).
STEAM is an educational approach to learning that uses
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics as
access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. The end results are students who take thoughtful
risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through the creative process.
Our game • Participants live a graphic adventure
in which they face several choices of different paths with different opportunities.
• Students during the game must
answer questions or solve quests to go on.
• Everything is revealed as players
proceed: different choices create a new original game experience.
Questions Players individually respond with their
smartphones or tablets
and game proceeds
according to majority
Interface example
Even the most complicated questions are made simply through the iconographic language
Photos taken in the most important mineralogical museums in the world:
Natural History Museum of New York, USA
the Smithsonian's National
Museum of Natural History of Washington, USA
Naturhistorisches Museum of Wien, Austria
Museum of Natural History of Gèneve, Switzerland
Students appreciate perfect shape, crystal habit, color of minerals.
Next to the photo images of crystals are shown the relative lattices, for a more precise classification.
Identification of the minerals allows players to recognize the mineralogical association and classify the rock under investigation
The path is enriched with structural and textural features,
to find the correspondence between rock and geodynamic environment.
Answering questions players find the deep
interconnections between mineralogy, petrology, volcanology and geology.
Players meet some mythological, historical figures and writers along the way.
They tell their story introducing the player in an atmosphere of mystery and drama.
Several recent OECD surveys show actual difficulties on texts understanding, both literary and scientific
Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) integration links literary aspects with science using appropriate text comprehension.
Game Teaching Aids Students have freely access to materials that they found along the way, including original texts created on purpose…
Game Teaching Aids
…as notes about mineralogy, petrography and volcanology.
While the path is revealed players proceed and find some clues to reveal a final event.
Experimental results
RPG exceed 50% of the satisfaction
RPG appreciation
Prerequisites
Outcome
7,5
is in agreement with the experiments outcome
6,1
We considered the engage and improvement of science, history, foreign language knowledges and skills.
Conclusions
GeoQuest Project:
asks students to recover their previous knowledge encourages the use of complex cognitive processes stimulates students’ interest improves foreign language skills promotes interdisciplinary learning
“Thank you”. www.evoquest.eu
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