Maintaining an ethical balance in the curriculum design of games-based degrees.

In February 2011, games-based degrees were subjected to the scrutiny of the Livingstone- Hope report into the future of education in the fields of video games and visual effects. The report delivers a damning appraisal of the education system’s ability to fulfil skills shortages in these creative industries, and makes a range of proposals for changing education in both schools and universities to meet the needs of these sectors. This paper discusses the findings of this report from the perspective of higher education, with particular emphasis on the complex ethical considerations of designing a curriculum for games-based degrees. The argument for taking a broader perspective on this issue is illustrated through discussion of Games Software Development degrees at Sheffield Hallam University

Intrinsic fantasy: motivation and affect in educational games made by children

The concept of intrinsic fantasy has been considered central to the aim of usefully applying the positive affect of computer games to learning. Games with intrinsic fantasy are defined as having “an integral and continuing relationship with the instructional content being presented”, and are claimed as “more interesting and more educational” than extrinsic fantasy games [1]. Studies of children making educational games have shown they usually create extrinsic games for curriculum learning content. In this study, children were encouraged to create non-curriculum games, more easily distanced from the extrinsic preconceptions of formal schooling. Forty, 7-11 year olds took part in this study (17 boys and 23 girls), designing and making their own games at an after-school club. Despite non-curriculum learning content, no more intrinsic games were created than in previous studies. The children failed to create their own pedagogical models for non-curriculum content and did not see the educational value of intrinsic fantasy games. The implications for transfer and learning in intrinsic games are discussed whilst the definition of intrinsic fantasy itself is questioned. It is argued that the integral relationship of fantasy is unlikely to be the most critical means of improving the educational effectiveness of digital games

Zombie Division : a methodological case study for the evaluation of game-based learning

This paper discusses the methodological designs and technologies used to evaluate an educational videogame in order to support researchers in the design of their own evaluative research in the field of game-based learning. The Zombie Division videogame has been used to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of a more intrinsically integrated approach to creating educational games. It was specifically designed to deliver interventions as part of research studies examining differences in learning outcomes and motivation predicted by theoretical contrasts in educational design. The game was used in a series of evaluative studies, which employed experimental methodologies based around one or more treatment groups and a control. Multiple choice questions were used to measure knowledge and understanding before and after interventions (pre, post and delayed) and time-on-task was used as a measure of motivation and preference during interventions. Qualitative interview data was also collected and analysed as part of many of the studies in order to help support and explain the findings in more detail. The experimental methodologies applied in these studies were augmented by a range of bespoke technology systems. This included an automated testing system which could randomly assign participants to treatment groups so that pre-test statistics were closely matched between groups. Large quantities of process data were recorded about players’ interactions with the game in the form of time-stamped log files, and a stream of compressed controller data was saved allowing an entire playing session to be replayed in a video-like form. This rich set of process data was mined as part of a post-hoc analysis in order to identify evidence to help to enrich the understanding of users’ interactions with the game. This paper details the methodological design of both published and unpublished studies, as well as reflecting upon some of the potential pitfalls of classroom-based evaluations in order to illustrate successful and unsuccessful approaches for evaluating game-based learning

Substitutional and orientational disorder in organic crystals: a symmetry-adapted ensemble model

Modelling of disorder in organic crystals is highly desirable since it would allow thermodynamic stabilities and other disorder-sensitive properties to be estimated for such systems. Two disordered organic molecular systems are modeled using a symmetry-adapted ensemble approach, in which the disordered system is treated as an ensemble of the configurations of a supercell with respect to substitution of one disorder component for another. Computation time is kept manageable by performing calculations only on the symmetrically inequivalent configurations. Calculations are presented on a substitutionally disordered system, the dichloro/dibromobenzene solid solution, and on an orientationally disordered system, eniluracil, and the resultant free energies, disorder patterns, and system properties are discussed. The results are found to be in agreement with experiment following manual removal of physically implausible configurations from ensemble averages, highlighting the dangers of a completely automated approach to organic crystal thermodynamics which ignores the barriers to equilibration once the crystal has been formed

The Amorphous Form of Salicylsalicylic Acid: Experimental Characterization and Computational Predictability

Amorphous solids challenge our understanding of phase behavior. For small organic molecules, particularly pharmaceuticals, they offer improved solubility and bioavailability. A computational approach to understanding of amorphous stability and ease of formation would be valuable. An apparently ideal test case is salicylsalicylic acid (salsalate), which has been reported to form an amorphous phase that is long-term stable below and above its glass temperature. In this study we report the application of computational crystal structure prediction (CSP) techniques to salsalate, supported by an experimental investigation of the amorphous phase by solid form screening and X-ray derived pair distribution functions (PDFs). CSP reveals a pair of hydrogen bonding motifs that appear to be severely detrimental to the molecule’s ability to pack efficiently and stably, indicating an explanation for salsalate’s formation of a stable amorphous phase. However, experimental data caution against overstating this stability. The amorphous phase is found to crystallize under a wider variety of conditions than has previously been reported. Furthermore the molecule is prone to thermal degradation, giving rise to impurities that may play a role in frustrating crystallization

Outnumb3r3d : intrinsically motivating mathematics for the PlayStation 4

This paper and accompanying poster describes the design of an intrinsically integrated educational game to improve children’s competencies in mental mathematics. A number of researchers have suggested that educational games are more effective when they are closely integrated with their learning content. Specifically work by the lead author has showed that a closer integration between an educational game's core-mechanics and its learning content can be both more appealing (in terms of time spent on-task) and more educationally effective (in terms of learning outcomes) than a less integrated "edutainment" approach. However, cursory approaches to integrating learning content remain common in contemporary educational software, and the literature lacks an exemplar of what can be achieved using an integrated approach. The Outnumb3r3d game was conceived to provide a commercial and theoretical exemplar of intrinsic integration for the Nintendo Wii, but was never completed. This project is now porting the original Wii prototype onto the PlayStation 4 in order to revive Outnumb3r3d as a research project. This paper details the design of Outnumb3r3d with reference to the key theoretical constructs that underlie its pedagogical design. In doing so it provides an example of a game design created to integrate mathematical learning content seamlessly into the game's core mechanics, ensuring that the mathematics is what makes the game intrinsically motivating to play rather than trying to hide or "sugar coat" its learning content. At the time of writing the game’s implementation is still a “work in progress”, but is expected to be the subject of future empirical evaluations into its effectiveness as a teaching tool

Extraction of an Entanglement by Repetition of the Resonant Transmission of an Ancilla Qubit

A scheme for the extraction of entanglement in two noninteracting qubits (spins) is proposed. The idea is to make use of resonant transmission of ancilla qubit through the two fixed qubits, controlled by the entanglement in the scatterers. Repetition of the resonant transmission extracts the singlet state in the target qubits from their arbitrary given state. Neither the preparation nor the post-selection of the ancilla spin is required, in contrast to the previously proposed schemes.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

The biological significance of brain barrier mechanisms:help or hindrance in drug delivery to the central nervous system?

Barrier mechanisms in the brain are important for its normal functioning and development. Stability of the brain’s internal environment, particularly with respect to its ionic composition, is a prerequisite for the fundamental basis of its function, namely transmission of nerve impulses. In addition, the appropriate and controlled supply of a wide range of nutrients such as glucose, amino acids, monocarboxylates, and vitamins is also essential for normal development and function. These are all cellular functions across the interfaces that separate the brain from the rest of the internal environment of the body. An essential morphological component of all but one of the barriers is the presence of specialized intercellular tight junctions between the cells comprising the interface: endothelial cells in the blood-brain barrier itself, cells of the arachnoid membrane, choroid plexus epithelial cells, and tanycytes (specialized glial cells) in the circumventricular organs. In the ependyma lining the cerebral ventricles in the adult brain, the cells are joined by gap junctions, which are not restrictive for intercellular movement of molecules. But in the developing brain, the forerunners of these cells form the neuroepithelium, which restricts exchange of all but the smallest molecules between cerebrospinal fluid and brain interstitial fluid because of the presence of strap junctions between the cells. The intercellular junctions in all these interfaces are the physical basis for their barrier properties. In the blood-brain barrier proper, this is combined with a paucity of vesicular transport that is a characteristic of other vascular beds. Without such a diffusional restrain, the cellular transport mechanisms in the barrier interfaces would be ineffective. Superimposed on these physical structures are physiological mechanisms as the cells of the interfaces contain various metabolic transporters and efflux pumps, often ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, that provide an important component of the barrier functions by either preventing entry of or expelling numerous molecules including toxins, drugs, and other xenobiotics. In this review, we summarize these influx and efflux mechanisms in normal developing and adult brain, as well as indicating their likely involvement in a wide range of neuropathologies. There have been extensive attempts to overcome the barrier mechanisms that prevent the entry of many drugs of therapeutic potential into the brain. We outline those that have been tried and discuss why they may so far have been largely unsuccessful. Currently, a promising approach appears to be focal, reversible disruption of the blood-brain barrier using focused ultrasound, but more work is required to evaluate the method before it can be tried in patients. Overall, our view is that much more fundamental knowledge of barrier mechanisms and development of new experimental methods will be required before drug targeting to the brain is likely to be a successful endeavor. In addition, such studies, if applied to brain pathologies such as stroke, trauma, or multiple sclerosis, will aid in defining the contribution of brain barrier pathology to these conditions, either causative or secondary