Towards a Framework for Metacognition in Game-Based Learning

\u3cp\u3eGame-based learning can motivate learners and help them to acquire new knowledge in an active way. However, it is not always clear for learners how to learn effectively and efficiently within game-based learning environments. As metacognition comprises the knowledge and skills that learners employ to plan, monitor, regulate, and evaluate their learning, it plays a key role in improving their learning in general. Thus, if we want learners to become better at learning through game-based learning, we need to investigate how metacognition can be integrated into the design of game-based learning environments. In this paper we introduce a framework that aids designers and researchers to formally specify the design of game-based learning environments encouraging metacognition. With a more formal specification of the metacognitive objectives and the way the training design and game design aims to achieve these goals, we can learn more through analysing and comparing different approaches. The framework consists of design dimensions regarding metacognitive outcomes, metacognitive training, and metacognitive game design. Each design dimension represents two opposing directions for the design of a game-based learning environment that are likely to affect the encouragement of metacognitive awareness within learners. As such, we introduce a formalised method to design, evaluate and compare games addressing metacognition, thus enabling both researchers and designers to create more effective games for learning in the future.\u3c/p\u3

Towards a framework for metacognition in game-based learning

Game-based learning can motivate learners and help them to acquire new knowledge in an active way. However, it is not always clear for learners how to learn effectively and efficiently within game-based learning environments. As metacognition comprises the knowledge and skills that learners employ to plan, monitor, regulate, and evaluate their learning, it plays a key role in improving their learning in general. Thus, if we want learners to become better at learning through game-based learning, we need to investigate how metacognition can be integrated into the design of game-based learning environments. In this paper we introduce a framework that aids designers and researchers to formally specify the design of game-based learning environments encouraging metacognition. With a more formal specification of the metacognitive objectives and the way the training design and game design aims to achieve these goals, we can learn more through analysing and comparing different approaches. The framework consists of design dimensions regarding metacognitive outcomes, metacognitive training, and metacognitive game design. Each design dimension represents two opposing directions for the design of a game-based learning environment that are likely to affect the encouragement of metacognitive awareness within learners. As such, we introduce a formalised method to design, evaluate and compare games addressing metacognition, thus enabling both researchers and designers to create more effective games for learning in the future.</p

MeCo: a digital card game to enhance metacognitive awareness

\u3cp\u3eA key concept within 21st-century skills is knowing how to acquire new knowledge and skills. Metacognition is the knowledge a person has of their own learning combined with the skills to apply that knowledge to enable more efficient and effective learning. Game-based learning can stimulate motivation as well as learning, but while various reviews have pointed out the opportunity for digital games to promote metacognition, little is known about how games can be designed to accomplish this. If we want learners to become better at learning with games, we need to investigate how metacognition can be supported and trained through game-based learning. Previous research has identified generic principles for designing metacognitive training, while only a few principles specific to game-based learning have been suggested. We designed the mobile game MeCo based on these design principles. MeCo was inspired by the mobile game Reigns and replicates its mechanic of exploring a dynamically branching story through choice-making by swiping cards left or right. However, in MeCo the objective is to learn as much as possible about different planets and their inhabitants, by planning, performing, and evaluating space exploration missions. Two metacognitive interventions were added to promote the transfer of metacognition to real-world learning situations: metacognitive question prompts and metacognitive feedback. A preliminary evaluation of the game was conducted using questionnaires and focus groups. Players found the game motivating enough to engage with the story and to be willing to play the game in their free time. Furthermore, they found that their in-game choices mattered, although more linear parts were preferred over more dynamically branching parts of the game. However, the humour in the narrative interfered with the more serious nature of metacognitive questions, resulting in players not taking the questions seriously enough to have an impact on metacognitive awareness. The implications for designing motivating digital games to enhance metacognition are discussed.\u3c/p\u3

On the importance of social touch for senior individuals and ways to ameliorate social isolation:Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

The need for touch exists below the horizon of consciousness. Interpersonal touch, or gentle physical contact between individuals, is an important aspect of human social interaction and has been shown to have numerous benefits for senior individuals. One of the main ways that interpersonal touch can benefit senior individuals is by reducing feelings of loneliness and social isolation. The outbreak of COVID-19 necessitated social distancing measures to mitigate the negative health consequences of the pandemic, which were particularly pronounced amongst vulnerable populations, especially those who live with dementia. At the same time, seniors’ psychosocial wellbeing was compromised as opportunities for interpersonal touch became severely restricted.In this paper, we share what we have learned during the pandemic both on the critical importance of social touch for senior individuals, as well as on innovative ways to ameliorate the forced absence of social touch. Through a targeted literature review and an online survey study, our findings highlights the fact that social relationships and physical contact are key to personal wellbeing and underline the importance of social touch at an advanced age

Pressure at play:measuring player approach and avoidance behaviour through the keyboard

With the increased adoption of real-time objective measurements of player experience, advances have been made in characterising the dynamically changing aspects of the player experience during gameplay itself. A direct coupling to player action, however, is not without challenges. Many physiological responses, for instance, have an inherent delay, and often take some time to return to a baseline, providing challenges of interpretation when analysing rapidly changing gameplay on a micro level of interaction. The development of event-related, or phasic, measurements directly coupled to player actions provides additional insights, for instance through player modelling, but also through the use of behavioural characteristics of the human computer interaction itself. In this study, we focused on the latter, and measured keyboard pressure in a number of different, fast-paced action games. In this particular case, we related specific functional game actions (keyboard presses) to experiential player behaviour. We found keyboard pressure to be higher for avoidance as compared to approach-oriented actions. Additionally, the difference between avoidance and approach keyboard pressure related to levels of arousal. The findings illustrate the application potential of qualifying players’ functional actions at play (navigating in a game) and interpret player experience related to these actions through players’ real world behavioural characteristics like interface pressure

How Might Robots Change Us? Mechanisms Underlying Health Persuasion in Human-Robot Interaction from A Relationship Perspective:A Position Paper

The application of social robots in persuading people to change health behaviors is an increasing research topic. However, little is known in what ways, and under what conditions, effective health persuasion can be achieved in human-robot interaction (HRI). This position paper presents a conceptual model that integrates interpersonal relationship theories to postulate a mechanism through which social robots can change people’s health behaviors. In this paper, we first briefly describe the two interpersonal relationship theories we selectively focus on, namely social control and interdependence theory, and we discuss the possibility of people forming relationships with social robots. Then, we propose the conceptual model depicting the potential positive and negative influence of social robots’ health persuasion on people’s psychological and behavioral reactions and the modulating role of human-robot relationships. Finally, we discuss the implications of this model for future research.</p