Dakota State University Students Use Pokemon Go to Teach STEM to Fourth Graders -- THE Journal.pdf (original) (raw)
College Students' Attraction to the Mobile Augmented Reality Game Pokémon Go
International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations
Recent headlines show instances of the popular augmented reality game Pokémon Go. Higher educators are watching students engage with schools in their community as they search for elusive Pokémon characters on mobile devices. But, technology is not without risk (i.e. privacy, physical harm) that must be considered. This article reports results of a mixed-methods study, in which 452 college students revealed their motivations for using the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon Go. The authors examined student survey data to find whether race, gender, or age influenced who played the game. In addition, the authors' findings included student perceptions as to Pokémon Go's risks and benefits, learning, and student recommendations for improving the game. Furthermore, based on their findings, the authors discuss how augmented reality games can be useful for learning, building community and social capital.
Learning by Walking - Pokémon Go and Mobile Technology in Formal Education
ICERI2017 Proceedings, 2017
Peripatetic group learning has a long history that dates back to the walking sessions that Plato and Aristotle led in the Lyceum of Athens. Other teachers in ancient Greece also frequently used play and physical training didactically. Pokémon Go has a relatively short history (starting in the summer of 2016), but this location-based game had a faster global spread than anyone could have imagined. In the first week after its release, the game became the most downloaded app in history. In Pokémon Go, the players use real-world maps on which buildings, roads and water are correctly indicated. The game is played on mobile devices; the Pokémon figures pop up on maps and can be captured with virtual balls. To catch the Pokémon figures, players must physically move to the place where the figure is located; thus, unlike most other digital games, Pokémon Go involves outdoor activities such as long walks. With its high degree of physical activity, Pokémon Go has attracted researchers' attention for use as an exergame. Several researchers are also looking at Pokémon Go's use as an augmented-reality game. In this study, the focus is on Pokémon Go's use as a mobile-learning game and on the potential for outdoor activities in formal education. In this study, two primary school classes used the game for learning sessions in mathematics and social science. The aim of this study is to discuss students' expressions regarding how a location-based game such as Pokémon Go could be used as a tool for outdoor activities in formal education. Each primary school class was divided into groups of three to four students each for planned lessons that included walks. Each group had one or two smartphones to stimulate collaboration between students. The walks included PokéStops where teachers conducted planned sessions; later, the teachers followed up on the outdoor lessons within a traditional classroom setting. Data were gathered from group interviews with the students who participated in the outdoor sessions involving Pokémon Go. The collected data were then analysed and categorised via a thematic analysis. The findings show that Pokémon Go can be seen as a learning-stimulating game that could augment traditional teaching sessions in formal education. Students reported that they enjoyed catching the Pokémon figures the most, but some students also mentioned that they appreciated the math assignments and liked learning about the statues that they passed during the walkings. The most positive findings were that there were concrete learning outcomes and that this mobile, game-based educational setting seemed to encourage students to engage in collaborative learning. However, Pokémon Go is not an all-encompassing solution for the ongoing digitalisation of primary school. The conclusion is rather that location-based games have the potential to vitalise formal education, provided that they are carefully integrated into the curriculum.
Understanding the Pokemon Go Phenomenon Through Augmented Reality Research (Oct. 1, 2016)
Pokemon Go is a game app that successfully introduced augmented reality (AR) to mass consumers due to its user friendly game design, as the AR game app offers ease of use, the free-to-play (F2P) marketing model, and the childhood nostalgia factor by referencing the well-established Pokemon manga, toys, and media franchise that has become globally popular since 1995. However, academics and game designers have been researching and creating augmented environments with augmented reality technology for decades, focusing on the use of AR technology to enhance the social experience of working in private and public sectors beyond entertainment, such as journalism, surgery and medicine, archeological exploration, and other uses (for example, see Geogia Teehs Augmented Environments Research Lab bibliography for a list of scholarly research on AR design and use cases). Due to the popularity of Pokemon Go, more AR apps will proliferate in the mobile market, and become regular staple installs on mass consumer devices. Several implications and forecasts can be made for the future of education given the popularity of Pokemon Go. Since the majority of students are mobile device consumers, this means that in the very near future, students will be using augmented reality (AR) apps, and later on virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) apps (as they become more affordable), as an inextricable part of daily life. Given that the use of mobile devices in education is becoming a trend, as more digitally connected educators are encouraging students to use mobile devices to conduct research and complete assignments, educators will need to begin considering the educational implications of AR, and how to utilize AR apps for educational purposes, such as the inclusion of AR apps usage as part of the requirements for achieving digital citizenship literacy.
Beyond Pokemon Go: Mobile Ar & VR in Education
2016
The new wave of mobile VR and AR are anticipated to become a multi-billion dollar industries in the near future (F. Cook, 2016) – how will this impact higher education? This Symposium will gather the collective experience and expertise of members of the newly established Ascilite Mobile Learning Special Interest Group (Ascilitemlsig) to explore and discuss the potential and issues surrounding the rapidly developing fields of mobile Augmented Reality and mobile Virtual Reality. The SIG seeks to draw develop an international community of mobile learning researchers in the context of mobile VR and AR. Building upon the global popularity of the Pokémon Go app, Google Cardboard, and the Samsung Gear VR, there is now widespread interest in these technologies, but still little expertise in integrating these within authentic educational experiences beyond another form of interactive content delivery. Members of the Ascilitemlsig will discuss the potential of mobile AR and VR for user genera...
Beyond Pokémon: Augmented Reality Is a Universal Design for Learning Tool
SAGE Open
The success of Pokémon Go is demonstrating that augmented reality (AR) is reaching the masses quickly and can be a robust tool to enhance student engagement and learning. Leveraging AR for instructional purposes has the potential to become a powerful medium for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by providing new tools for multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement. One of the advantages of using AR applications and AR platforms is the ability to display context relevant digital information to support students’ needs in real time and in specific contexts. Although many educational AR applications are in their developmental stages, the rapid growth of AR is likely to continue. The examples presented in this article focus on how educators can use mobile devices and AR to apply the principles of UDL. Combining AR with the principles of UDL can help educators create lessons that are accessible, engaging, and powerful for a diverse range of learners.
STEM Inquiry Through INPLACE Mobile Games
Optimizing STEM Education With Advanced ICTs and Simulations, 2017
To make STEM learning meaningful, students need to feel the relevance and authenticity of the learning activity. Games—particularly mobile games—offer a unique opportunity for students to be immersed in collaborative STEM inquiry. INPLACE mobile games combine the best practices of what the games and learning field knows about using the affordances of mobile devices to engage students, to support collaboration, and to promote authentic practice in a discipline. INPLACE is an acronym that stands for Interdependent, Networked, Participatory Learning, Augmented, Collaborative Experience. School Scene Investigators is a game series designed according to the INPLACE framework; students playing it demonstrated higher engagement and scientific inquiry than students in a control activity. Ultimately, INPLACE provides a design framework that teachers and researchers can use for building mobile games that heightens engagement and increases inquiry-based learning.
Media Education, 2021
AR technology creates the possibility of overlapping two realities. It is a space used, among others, in education. AR increases the visual attractiveness of the game and the involvement of its users. However, some applications were not created with the intention of using them for this purpose, although they have the potential not only to entertain but also to teach. One of such games is "Pokemon Go!". which The following research methods were used in the study: 1) in-depth interview to learn about the specifics of the game "Pokemon Go!" and its potential educational opportunities; 2) observation allowing to write down the behavior of players while using the game; 3) a survey to find out the motivations and thoughts of the players. It was attempted to determine whether there will be any interaction between the players and the physical locations used in the game, using the format of the game chosen for the study, which was the passage along the proposed route. It turned out that thanks to the players' suggestions, a potentially optimal way of using the game was determined, which could be used in further research on the phenomenon of the educational dimension of the "Pokemon Go!" game.
Families, resources, and learning around Pokemon Go
E-learning and Digital Media, 2018
n this study, I detail three families who play the popular mobile augmented reality game Poke ́mon Go together. I discuss the parents’ perceptions of the game’s educational merits and potential drawbacks and detail how learning occurs around the game. Using the framework of Distributed Teaching and Learning Systems, I argue that Poke ́mon Go and other games and digital media experiences that families engage with at home can be powerful resources, which connect and integrate with other sites and resources, both in-school and out-of-school. In the case of these families, parents engage in explicit teaching around the game and share information that they have learned online. The findings presented here have implications for researchers, educators, and designers.
Mobile Game-Based Learning in STEM Subjects
Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition, 2018
The acronym STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics has entered the agenda of educational policies. The development of mobile game-based learning has been seen as a new line of research and technological development in the field of educational technology, STEM education and game design. These fields are rather new and intrinsically multidisciplinary, making it even more exciting. There is a growing interest in Mobile Game related research, whether strictly technological or applied in social contexts. In this chapter, we thought a nice way to connect this data and depict the current scenario would be to break the subject into pieces: Game Design; Affection and Play; Mobile Learning; Games for Learning; Science and Mathematics Education; and lastly, summarizing it in the Games for STEM Education section. Our conclusions point to the fact that we are taking the first steps in a digital game development process for teaching mathematics in the school environment and the ...
Pokémon Go: Encouraging Recreation through Augmented Reality Gaming
International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 2016
Mobile gaming has become immensely popular with the growing ease of access and the variety of inexpensive options now being offered. Pokémon Go, a cellular phone game that combines augmented reality (AR) and global positioning system (GPS) location to catch digital characters in the real world, is a free download that has broken participation records with its popularity. This article briefly reviews the evolution of mobile gaming and AR and then highlights the recent popularity and potential physical activity and recreational benefits of Pokémon Go. Moreover, this article also details how a Pokémon Go event was successfully hosted at Winthrop University by the Office of Recreational Services. In order to encourage more movement and social interaction, activity stations were integrated into the event that participants were able to complete for incentive prizes. A survey was completed after the event by the participants who returned to the starting point after visiting all four available stations. Survey results captured participants' perceived positives and negatives to playing Pokémon Go, their motivation for attending and overall opinion of the event, and their distance traveled during the event. Pokémon Go is an AR game that can be used to encourage recreation and movement. AR can provide many benefits and incentives when utilized in various technologies and curriculums. This article may assist recreation and physical activity leaders in creating events which integrate physical activity through mobile technology in a fun, unique way.
#GOTTACATCHEMALL: EXPLORING POKEMON GO IN SEARCH OF LEARNING ENHANCEMENT OBJECTS
The Augmented Reality Game, Pokemon Go, took the world by storm in the summer of 2016. City landscapes were decorated with funny, colourful objects called Pokemons, and the holiday activities were enhanced by catching these wonderful creatures. In the light of this, it is inevitable for mobile language learning researchers to reflect on the impact of this game on learning and how it may be leveraged to enhance the design of mobile and ubiquitous technologies for mobile and situated language learning. This paper analyses the game Pokemon Go and the players' experiences according to a framework developed for evaluating mobile language learning and discuss how Pokemon Go can help to meet some of the challenges faced by earlier research activities. KEYWORDS Pokemon Go, MALL, Learning, Augmented Reality, Gamification, Situated learning
Distributed Teaching and Learning in Pokémon Go
2018
This dissertation shares the results of a study of the community of the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon Go. It also serves to build on and expand the framework of Distributed Teaching and Learning (DTALS), which here is used as a framework through which to explore the game's community (Gee & Gee, 2016; Holmes, Tran, & Gee, 2017). DTALS serves to expand on other models which examine learning in out-of-school contexts, and in particular on the connections between classroom and out-of-school learning, which numerous scholars argue is of critical importance (Sefton-Green, 2004; Vadeboncoeur, Kady-Rachid, & Moghtader, 2014). This framework serves to build bridges as well as fill gaps in some key literature on learning in out-of-school contexts, including connected learning (Ito et al., 2009), participatory culture (Jenkins, Purushotma, Weigel, Clinton, & Robison, 2009), learning ecologies (Barron, 2006), and affinity spaces (Gee, 2004; Gee & Hayes, 2012). The model also focuses on teaching in addition to learning in and across informal contexts. While DTALS can be used to examine any number of phenomena, this dissertation focuses on the community around Pokémon Go. The game, with its emphasis on geography and community, presents unique opportunities for research. This research draws on existing video game research which focuses on not only games but their communities, and in particular the learning and literacy activities which occur in these communities (Gee & Hayes, 2012; Hayes & Duncan, 2012; Squire, 2006; Steinkuehler, 2006). The results here are presented as three separate manuscripts. Chapter Two takes a broad view of a local community of players, and discusses different player types and how v
Pokémon GO – A Pervasive Game and Learning Community
2017
The present article argues that the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon GO demonstrates what we have chosen to coin a pervasive learning community. Normally, communities are centred on a specific game, associated real-world events, and online communities, but Pokémon is different since the digital game world runs parallel with game activities in physical reality. This mobile and pervasive structure changes communities from previous binary modes of being either in or out of community to a heterogeneous possibility space of being engaged in all kinds of places all the time while interacting with friends, acquaintances, and strangers thereby reshaping and expanding learning formations of communities. This study is built upon field observations, interviews, and online questionnaires of Pokémon GO players. We wanted to find out who played Pokémon GO, when they played, where they played, and with whom they played, for how long how learning took place, and how the Pokémon Go communities ...
Augmented Education: Location-Based Games for Real-World Teaching and Learning Sessions
Springer eBooks, 2019
GPS-equipped smartphones have enabled the construction of location-based games. In augmented reality (AR), fantasy worlds are mapped to real-world settings. Two location-based AR games that use historical markers as points of interest are Ingress and Pokémon GO. This chapter describes and discusses how PokéStop statues in Pokémon GO can be used in primary school outdoor sessions. A case study was conducted on how fifth-grade students learned about local history, social sciences and humanities during game sessions. Findings suggest that AR could be an inspiring extension in educational settings, if activities are aligned to the surroundings and learning objectives and outdoor gaming activities are followed up in more traditional classroom sessions.
An augmented reality application to engage students in STEM education
2020
This paper proposes a Mobile Augmented Reality application to engage students in STEM education. With a design research methodology, the SolarSystemGO game, initially designed to promote learning about our Solar System, is being developed by undergraduate higher education students supervised by higher education teachers from a Portuguese polytechnic. After several cycles of implementation of the game (design research cycles), which took place over two academic years, we argue that the SolarSystemGO game can be a resource to develop mathematical contents in formal and informal learning environments. Based on our research and experience in the field, we sustain the importance of developing Mobile Augmented Reality games that engage students and motivate them to learn interdisciplinary subject matters adequate to primary school syllabus.
Harnessing the power of games in education
Insight, 2003
Welcome to the 2003 issue of InSight. In this issue, you'll meet college students who design dynamic toys to enhance science and technology learning for K-16 students. You'll also meet Guy Simplant, the accident-prone hero of a highquality, interactive Web site who introduces middle school students to biomaterial science. In addition to these and other intriguing topics, you'll learn what education and industry leaders and policymakers think about the potential of wireless technology to advance and enhance K-12 learning. Now in its third year, InSight has proven to be a unique forum for ideas that are promising, yet, in some cases, unproven in the context of K-12 education. As always, articles presenting visionary technological concepts are linked to companion pieces that describe current, related applications of the technologies. We hope InSight 2003 will help shape your thoughts about how technology can support and enhance teaching, learning, and management in your school.
2020
The rapid development of digital technologies has the potential to revitalise contemporary education. Location-based games built on satellite-based navigation system technologies in smartphones is a new technology that truly opens up new forms to orchestrate didactic ideas that can unlock the classroom constraint in traditional education. This study aims to describe and discuss the orchestration of concepts from the history of didactics in location-based games settings. Building on Aristotle, Comenius, Dewey and Plato, it combines the ancient idea of learning by walking with the ideas of flipped classrooms, gamebased learning, and learning by interplay with the surrounding society.