Serious Games Summit DC 2006
“Research takes extra time and effort on the part of researchers who often are producing a game for a single set of learning objectives with major time and budgetary constraints who might not be interested in answering the larger questions that plague this field,” Sanchez said. “The bottom line is that without understanding what makes serious games a viable and effective learning tool as a whole, we can’t begin to understand what characteristics of games enhance learning.” She believes the research needs to begin before games go into production, possibly even independently of them. “In order to effectively organize a systematic inquiry into the effectiveness of games, research has to begin at the conceptual phases of game development. Serious games need to be designed with testing criteria in mind in order to be able to ensure that the research is even possible. For example, you can’t test the theories surrounding the effects of rewards or score on learning if those features can’t be turned on and off.” I asked Sanchez also about her own involvement with games, having noticed that much of the research she cited in her talk strayed pretty far from the normal reaches of people interested in games as tools. “As a researcher,” she said, “my involvement in games has always been in the successful implementation of pedagogy and evaluation of games from the science of learning perspective. When and how to use pedagogy within games is a science in its infancy, and I’m excited about being involved during this critical phase.” Sanchez recently took a new position at the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center at Old Dominion University, where she says she hopes to “bring research to more serious games projects.” As for her current game-related projects, she mentioned two in particular: “one involves Algebra for Hampton Roads schoolchildren and the other game involves Physics and is being developed by the University of Central Florida [where Sanchez is finishing her PhD]. I’m also hoping to help bring games development into K-12 education in Virginia Beach in the hopes of stimulating interest in STEM careers.” Her view of games for the classroom is realistic, which may be a result of her ability to see from many perspectives at once—those of recent student, educator, game creator, and scientist. “I think that on some level we all love games, and we can all relate to having to sit in a classroom and listen to endless lectures and do pages of homework with no trace of fun. So when we think about using games to teach or train, we all get very excited about the potential. Unfortunately, I think that sometimes we get so excited about how much games could help that we can’t imagine them not working,” she said, “so we don’t do research because we don’t think it’s necessary—and even worse, we believe that games are so promising that we don’t pay attention to what we’ve learned about teaching and using technology in the classroom. “I think that the best games will come from interdisciplinary teams involving educators and researchers. But if a game is going to be successful, it still has to be a good game. All the potential will be wasted if nobody wants to play the games we build or if the games don’t teach.”
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