PME-NA

Situated and enactive perspectives on the formative potential of agentive games in identity re/formation.

• In Event: Perceptions of Activity Structures and Practices

Description

Drawing on both situated and enactive perspectives, this proposal reports on complementary analyses that are exploring the interplay of identity, agency, and authority between students and teachers in game-based learning environments. Our preliminary findings reveal that while teachers carry a presumption of authority in classroom environments, within the circumscribed environments of games, fluid and distributed symmetries of power can emerge. This makes games an ideal setting for students to embody, experience, explore, and experiment with novel forms of agency and authority. Taking a figured worlds perspective, we can therefore appreciate that these enactments of agency and authority are the very processes that transform students’ identities. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings have implications for the theory of identity development and for the design of learning experiences that can enable it.

Authors

• Emily Olson, Montclair State University

• Steven Greenstein, Montclair State University

• Ariel Bonneau, Montclair State University

• Bridget Looney, Montclair State University

• Michael Frimpong, Montclair State University