Playing for Public Interest: Epistemic Games as Civic Engagement Activities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Learning in Educational Games

Abstract

There is a growing body of research examining how educational computer games can promote civic engagement [4]. Epistemic games [5] are computer games that simulate professional training experiences. This study examines one epistemic game, Urban Science, in which youth role-play as urban planners [5, 6]. In the game, as in the actual profession, urban planning work is guided by the value of serving the public interest [5, 6]. This study examines whether players of Urban Science learned about the value of serving the public interest. While the presented results are preliminary, they suggest that epistemic games like Urban Science might be useful activities for promoting youth civic engagement.

Authors

• Padraig Nash, University of California - Berkeley

• Elizabeth Bagley, University of Illinois

• David W. Shaffer, University of Wisconsin