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1. Get That Basket! Deciphering Student Strategies in the Linear Algebra Game Vector Unknown

   Mauntel, M.; Levine, B.; Plaxco, D.; Zandieh, M. (January 2020, Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   Karunakaran, S.; Reed, Z.; Higgins, A. (Ed.)

   We present results of a grounded analysis of individual interviews in which students play Vector Unknown - a video game designed to support students who are taking their first semester of linear algebra. We categorized strategies students employed while playing the game. These strategies range from less-anticipatory button-pushing to more sophisticated strategies based on approximating solutions and choosing vectors based on their direction. We also found that students focus on numeric and geometric aspects of the game interface, which provides additional insight into their strategies. These results have informed revisions to the game and also inform our team's plan for incorporating the game into classroom instruction. 

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2. “Let’s See” – Students Play Vector Unknown, An Inquiry-Oriented Linear Algebra Digital Game

   Mauntel, M.; Sipes, J.; Zandieh, M.; Plaxco, D.; & Levine, B. (January 2019, Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education)

   The results we report are a product of the first iteration of a design-based study that uses a game, Vector Unknown, to support students in learning about vector equations in both algebraic and geometric contexts. While playing the game, students employed various numeric and geometric strategies that reflect differing levels of mathematical sophistication. Additionally, results indicate that students developed connections between the algebraic and geometric contexts during gameplay. The game’s design was a collaborative effort between mathematics educators and computer scientists and was based on a framework that integrates inquiry-oriented instruction and inquiry-based learning (IO/IBL), game-based learning (GBL), realistic mathematics education (RME). 

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3. A User Experience Study of MeetingMayhem: a Web-Based Game to Teach Adversarial Thinking

   Huang, S; Lee, J; Zhao, C; Herman, G L; Olano, M; Oliva, L; Sherman, Alan T (January 2024, Proceedings of the ACM conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE),)

   The game is intended for students who do not necessarily have any prior background in computer science. Assuming the role of agents, two players exchange messages over a network to try to agree on a meeting time and location, while an adversary interferes with their plan. Following the Dolev-Yao model, the adversary has full control of the network: they can see all messages and modify, block, or forward them. We designed the game as a web application, where groups of three students play the game, taking turns being the adversary. The adversary is a legitimate communicant on the network, and the agents do not know who is the other agent and who is the adversary. Through gameplay, we expect students to be able to (1) identify the dangers of communicating through a computer network, (2) describe the capabilities of a Dolev-Yao adversary, and (3) apply three cryptographic primitives: symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption, and digital signatures. We conducted surveys, focus groups, and interviews to evaluate the effectiveness of the game in achieving the learning objectives. The game helped students achieve the first two learning objectives, as well as using symmetric encryption. We found that students enjoyed playing MeetingMayhem. We are revising MeetingMayhem to improve its user interface and to better support students to learn about asymmetric encryption and digital signatures. 

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4. Deriving quests from open world mechanics

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3102071.3102098  

   Alexander, Ryan; Martens, Chris (August 2017, FDG '17: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games)

   null (Ed.)

   Open world games present players with more freedom than games with linear progression structures. However, without clearly-defined objectives, they often leave players without a sense of purpose. Most of the time, quests and objectives are hand-authored and overlaid atop an open world's mechanics. But what if they could be generated organically from the gameplay itself? The goal of our project was to develop a model of the mechanics in Minecraft that could be used to determine the ideal placement of objectives in an open world setting. We formalized the game logic of Minecraft in terms of logical rules that can be manipulated in two ways: they may be executed to generate graphs representative of the player experience when playing an open world game with little developer direction; and they may be statically analyzed to determine dependency orderings, feedback loops, and bottlenecks. These analyses may then be used to place achievements on gameplay actions algorithmically. 

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5. Investigating the effects of mindfulness meditation on a digital learning game for mathematics

   Nguyen, Huy A.; Takacs, Zsofia K.; Bereczki, Eniko O.; Richey, J. Elizabeth; Mogessie, Michael; McLaren, Bruce M. (July 2022, In: Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED 2022))

   Mindfulness has been shown in prior studies to be an effective device to help students develop self-regulatory skills, including executive functions. However, these effects have been rarely tested at scale in technology-assisted learning systems such as digital learning games. In this work, we investigate the effects of mindfulness in the context of playing and learning with Decimal Point, a digital learning game for mathematics. We conducted a study with 5th and 6th grade students in which three conditions were compared - the game with short mindfulness meditations integrated, the game with similar-length, age-appropriate stories integrated, and the game in its original form. From the study results, we found no differences in time spent on the game, error rates while playing, or learning outcomes across the three conditions. Embedding mindfulness prompts within the game did not enhance learning or change students’ gameplay behaviors, which suggests that we may not have successfully induced a state of mindfulness or that mindfulness is not beneficial for learning within digital learning games. We discuss the challenges of incorporating individual mindfulness meditations in elementary and middle school classrooms. 

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