research Archives | Page 5 of 6

The Importance of Feedback

I’ve previously quoted Sid Meier who believes one way to think about game design is “a series of interesting decisions“. Besides game designers, there are a few other professions that obsess over human behavior with a particular focus on the choices we make; namely, psychologists and economists. They study phenomenon that expose flaws in how we…

February 16, 2017 // Stephen Calender

Filament Games | Educational Game Developer

Cool Choices: Game-Based Learning Benefits Adults

Classrooms around the country use game-based learning to improve academic achievement, enhance curriculum, and foster self-guided learning. Numerous recent studies have reinforced the efficacy of game-based learning and the positive impacts it has on the today’s students. What may not be as apparent are the benefits of game-based learning for adults. Keeping in mind that…

July 16, 2015 // Kat Shanahan

How Game-Based Learning Engages Struggling Students

In our game-based learning program overview, Sun Prairie Area School District educator Mary Headington shared the story of Susan, a student in her class who typically struggled with coursework. Susan was discouraged by her struggles with her coursework and consequently had a hard time believing she was smart. Mary often wrestled with the best way to help…

May 31, 2017 // Kat Shanahan

Bloom’s Taxonomy and 21st Century Skills

We draw on quite a few paradigms of thought when we develop games, and fortunately for us there is no shortage of taxonomies and frameworks to be found in the realm of education. Recently, during a casual discussion of educational frameworks (yes, we’re nerds) we decided it might be worth highlighting a few with regards to…

June 21, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

Embodied Cognition and the Vital Importance of Play

Greetings gentle reader, I would like to kick off this blog article with a quote from one of our fearless leaders here at Filament Games, Dan Norton: “Games-based learning requires that we look at the content and figure out if there are ways to embody that content in the act of play itself.” What I…

July 13, 2017 // Ethan Cayko

Medical Applications for Virtual Reality

Last time I checked in on the Virtual Reality space I was looking at VR projects that were creating a positive impact on the world, and I found no shortage of material. One thing I was intrigued by was the sheer number of medical projects already underway, so I did some investigation. As it turns…

July 17, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

Game-Based Learning Research Roundup 2017

As game-based learning finds its way into the mainstream of teaching modalities, questions about efficacy will naturally start to surface. Fortunately, there’s a significant amount of research available to help drive this conversation in a positive direction, and more research gets generated and highlighted every year. To help you sort through it all, we’ve assembled…

September 11, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

Augmented Reality and Training

We’ve been talking a lot about VR lately, but the world of XR content and experiences is wide and inclusive of mixed reality (MR), augmented reality (AR), and more, each with its own set of strengths and applications. MR is a broad term that describes content situated “anywhere between the extrema of the virtuality continuum”[1].…

September 18, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

Making Games that Learn

There’s a lot we can learn playing games – from Newtonian physics to object-oriented coding, games can make us more capable and more informed. But here’s a thought that might sound a little ridiculous: what can games learn from us? According to today’s article from Fast Company, Unity Technologies is looking to answer that very question. Yesterday…

September 20, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

Filament Games | Educational Game Developers

Video Games and The Scientific Method

The Mario Method Form a question, create a hypothesis, predict the outcome, test your theory. Sound familiar? You probably recognize these steps as the foundational structure of the scientific method. Human beings have used this simple yet profound process to structure scientific inquiry for hundreds of years, and based on the fact that I’m typing…

October 4, 2017 // Brandon Pittser

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