Share Paper: Using Role-Playing Games for Teaching History and Literacy

  1. Richard Levy, University of Calgary (EVDS), Canada
Thursday, October 20 11:15-11:35 AM Puna

Abstract: Role-playing games set in immersive virtual environments can leverage student interest in narrative and fantasy to motivate learning in literacy and history. This paper describes an educational role-playing game designed to run on a typical PC. The game is set in a virtual medieval village, and incorporates a mystery quest that can only be solved by successfully unraveling a series of challenging written and verbal clues. Game-related workbook activities which are integral to game play are also described. The full paper presents the results from an in-class pilot test of the game with 5th grade students. Though it is difficult ...