Learning in Real and Virtual Worlds: Commercial Video Games as Educational Tools

303 Pages·2013·2.784 MB·English

by  Pilar Lacasa (auth.)

Learning in Real and Virtual Worlds
Palgrave Macmillan’s Digital Education and Learning
Much has been written during the first decade of the new millennium about the
potential of digital technologies to produce a transformation of education. Digital
technologies are portrayed as tools that will enhance learner collaboration and moti-
vation and develop new multimodal literacy skills. Accompanying this has been
the move from understanding literacy on the cognitive level to an appreciation of
the sociocultural forces shaping learner development. Responding to these claims,
the D igital Education and Learning Series explores the pedagogical potential and
realities of digital technologies in a wide range of disciplinary contexts across the
educational spectrum both in and outside of class. Focusing on local and global
perspectives, the series responds to the shifting landscape of education, the way
digital technologies are being used in different educational and cultural contexts,
and examines the differences that lie behind the generalizations of the digital age.
Incorporating cutting edge volumes with theoretical perspectives and case studies
(single authored and edited collections), the series provides an accessible and valuable
resource for academic researchers, teacher trainers, administrators and students inter-
ested in interdisciplinary studies of education and new and emerging technologies.
Series Editors:
Michael Thomas is a senior lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire
and editor-in-chief of the I nternational Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning
Environments (IJVPLE).
James Paul Gee is a Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor at Arizona State
University. His most recent book is Policy Brief: Getting Over the Slump: Innovation
Strategies to Promote Children’s Learning (2008).
John Palfre yis the head of school at Phillips Academy, Andover, and a senior research
fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard. He is co-author of
Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives (2008).
Digital Education
Edited by Michael Thomas
Digital Media and Learner Identity: The New Curatorship
By John Potter
Rhetoric/Composition/Play through Video Games: Reshaping Theory and Practice of
Writing
Edited by Richard Colby, Matthew S. S. Johnson, and Rebekah Shultz Colby
Computer Games and Language Learning
By Mark Peterson
The Politics of Education and Technology: Conflicts, Controversies, and Connections
Edited by Neil Selwyn and Keri Facer
Learning in Real and Virtual Worlds: Commercial Video Games as Educational Tools
By Pilar Lacasa
Learning in Real and
Virtual Worlds
Commercial Video Games
as Educational Tools
Pilar Lacasa
LEARNING IN REAL AND VIRTUAL WORLDS
Copyright © Pilar Lacasa, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-31204-4
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-45712-0 ISBN 978-1-137-31205-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137312051
(C) Ediciones Morata S.L., 2011. Previously published by Ediciones
Morata S. L. Los videojuegos: aprender en mundos reales y virtuales.
Permission to reprint images of Spore, Boom Blox, The Sims 3, and
SimCity Creator is courtesy of Electronic Arts.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: September 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For
Irene, Daniela, Alicia, Pa ú l, R í o, Susana,
Hugo, Otto, and Carol
Who think passionately when playing with Mario Bros
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Contents

List of Illustrations i x
Series Foreword xi
Foreword: Play, Play, Play
Henry Jenkins x v
Acknowledgments xxvii
Introduction xxix
Chapter 1 Learning and Video Games 1
Chapter 2 Entertainment and Education Platforms 31
Chapter 3 Intelligent Objects 53
Chapter 4 Interpreting Their Messages 71
Chapter 5 Arguments in Virtual and Real Worlds 97
Chapter 6 Learning to Create 115
Chapter 7 Art and Video Games 135
Chapter 8 Story Telling 159
Chapter 9 Virtual Spaces and Avatars 189
Chapter 10 New Heroes and Heroines 219
Notes 239
Bibliography 245
Index 257
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Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Play is a complex process 4
1.2 Elements in the definition of play 5
1.3 Digital games 5
2.1 The video game workshop 39
3.1 The intelligent space of P ortal 55
4.1 Children, consoles, and popular culture 74
4.2 Susana and R í o: Representations after palying M ario Bros 74
4.3 Super Mario Worlds . Alicia 9 years old 78
4.4 Alicia’s drawing 86
4.5 Alicia solves problems in a S uper Mario Bros universe 88
5.1 The creature evolves from an aquatic medium to an
earth medium 100
6.1 Multimedia productions in the classrooms 126
6.2 Playing with the Wii was good 128
6.3 Learning with Boom Blox 130
7.1 Final Fantasy XII : Revenant wings 143
8.1 The Harry Potter workshop sessions in primary education 164
8.2 Workshop scenes: H arry Potter in primary education 165
8.3 Carol and Pablo write and draw from the film and
the video game 167
9.1 The Sims universe 191
9.2 Video games workshop in secondary school 199
10.1 Approaching the world of Disney from the computer 220
10.2 The Hannah Montana universe 222
10.3 Daniela: Ideas about Disney princess 231
1 0.4 S usana: Ideas about Wreck-It Ralph 2 31