Designing Digital Objects to Elicit Conceptual Change

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: Machines and Digital Agents

Abstract

This paper explores design principles for digital objects in learning games and the extent to which they elicit desirable conceptual change. Using pre-post assessment, classroom observation video, and student and teacher interviews, this study proposes four design principles for digital objects in learning games: designers should 1) pay attention to the ways in which learning environments explore the nature of core concepts represented by digital objects, 2) explicitly model the meaning of the representations in the learning environment, 3) provide opportunities for teachers and students to interact with the full range of the properties of the representational object, and 4) design learning environments that privilege using representations in the environment to their full extent.

Authors

• Grant Van Eaton, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Douglas Clark, Vanderbilt University

• David Beutel, Vanderbilt University