Zombie Division: Evaluating Principles of Intrinsic Integration

Speakers: Jacob Habgood

Track: SGS: Game Design

Format: Lecture

Experience Level: All

Description: As serious games designers, we strive to harness the motivational power of games for our educational goals. Yet effectively integrating learning content and fun gameplay presents a host of unexplored theoretical and practical challenges. Zombie Division was created in an attempt to unravel some of these challenges by combining the sober academic approaches of cognitive psychology with years of hard-won game development experience. This case study describes a number of recent empirical studies that demonstrate clear contrasts in the learning and motivational outcomes of different design approaches.

Idea Takeaway: This case study will provide attendees with:
1. A theoretical approach to integrating learning content and gameplay
2. A practical example of applying this approach to a mathematics computer game
3. The results of a range of empirical studies carried out with the game
4. Our interpretation and conclusions based on these results

Intended Audience: This session is aimed at developers, publishers, researchers, and educators who want to combine learning content and gameplay without losing the motivational power of their games. It will also appeal to anyone intrigued by the prospect of children learning mathematics by fighting skeletons. There are no prerequisites.