HIFIVES: Highly Interactive, Fun Internet Virtual
Environments in Science

What happens when you combine the fun of video games with the serious business of learning?

BACKGROUND
With the current emphasis on testing, and mechanical instruction methods, educators are increasingly concerned that children aren’t learning to think as much as they are mastering memorization of isolated facts. Yet children are proving incredibly adept at developing skills that allow them to connect and manipulate information – in the virtual world of video games.

GOAL
Instead of trying to fight what children obviously enjoy, researchers are exploring whether the enticement of video games can be used to enhance K-12 education.
The idea is for teachers to supplement their curricula by developing video games, using tools that don’t require advanced computer-programming skills. They hope to harness the untapped potential of inexpensive, online, multi-user games to improve science achievement and the information technology skills of North Carolina’s students.

PROGRESS
When compared with conventional teaching, such as lectures or assigned reading, the immersive, graphically rich games present fun, fresh, interactive learning environments. For example, one game challenges students to combine analytical skills with biological concepts to solve the murder of an Egyptian pharaoh. The players search for the pharaoh’s tomb and analyze the shroud of the mummified corpse. When they discover ancient blood samples, they can analyze the DNA and test the results against possible suspects to find the pharaoh’s murderer.

FUTURE
Work has already started to research and validate the effectiveness of learning through video games, including measuring students’ science knowledge before and after they participate in a game – and whether their interest in learning science is enhanced.

“This takes problem-based learning
and brings it to life.”