How Geogames Can Support Geographical Education?

Year 2021, Volume: 11 Issue: 1, 215 - 235, 30.03.2021

Rukiye Adanalı

https://doi.org/10.33403/rigeo.855550

Abstract

Knowledge of geography is one of the main elements in solving problems such as urbanization, socio-economic inequalities, disease, migration, natural disasters. It is also seen that importance is given to the acquisition of geographical skills in educational programs. The spatial thinking skill that provides geospatial information is a geographic skill needed in the analysis and interpretation of place. Geographical inquiry skill focuses on solving a problem in line with certain research processes. Geographic information systems are the basic spatial technology used in the development of spatial thinking and geographic inquiry skills. These three elements are effective tools for solving real-life problems and have become even more important today with the development of location-based mobile applications. It is believed that Geogames from digital games can be an effective new teaching technology in learning these elements within the framework of motivational sources and learning needs in the learning environments of generation Z, which was born into digital technology. Geogames are mobile, location-based, and location- aware games for devices such as smartphones and tablets. In the literature, some types of geogame can also be classified as serious game or pervasive game. Geogame is separated from these games by its focus on solving a spatial problem with its stakeholders, mainly using GIS technology, and is closely related to the science of geography. This review is intended to question how Geogames can support geographical education. For this purpose, Youplaceit! Geocaching on the Moon, Neocartographer, Ingress, OriGami, SimCity, Project Lily Pad, Minecraft-Urban Planning, and FindeVielfalt Simulation geogame applications have been studied in terms of current learning outcomes and features. According to the results, these games can be used in the teaching of physical and human geography topics such as environmental education, urban planning, space geography, tourism geography; can be effective in teaching map skills, spatial thinking, and geographic inquiry skills; can increase collaborative work and motivation. It has been determined that there is a need for research that will provide concrete data in this new academic discipline, and some research questions have been put forward for geography educators and researchers.

Keywords

Geogame, Geographical Inquiry Skill, Spatial Thinking Skill, Map Skills, Location Based Mobile Games

References

• Ahlqvist, O. & Schlieder, C. (2018). Geogames and Geoplay. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing
• Andrade, B. D., Poplin, A., & Sena, Í. S. D. (2020). Minecraft as a Tool for Engaging Children in Urban Planning: A Case Study in Tirol Town, Brazil. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 9(3), 170. doi:10.3390/ijgi9030170
• Artvinli, E. (2020). Coğrafi Sorgulama Becerisi. Ç. Öztürk Demirbaş (Ed.), Coğrafi beceriler içinde (1. baskı. ss. 81-140). Ankara: Nobel.
• Artvinli, E. & Kaya, N. (2010). 1992 International charter on geographical education and its reflections in Turkey. Marmara Coğrafya Dergisi, 22, 93-127. Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/marucog/issue/469/3792
• Avouris, N. M., & Yiannoutsou, N. (2012). A review of mobile location-based games for learning across physical and virtual spaces. Journal of Universal Computer Science (J. UCS), 18(15), 2120-2142. Retrieved from http://www.jucs.org/jucs_18_15/ a_review_of_mobile/jucs_18_15_2120_2142_avouris.pdf
• Baker, T. R., Battersby, S., Bednarz, S. W., Bodzin, A. M., Kolvoord, B., Moore, S., ... & Uttal, D. (2015). A research agenda for geospatial technologies and learning. Journal of Geography, 114(3), 118-130. doi: 10.1080/00221341.2014.950684
• Barab, S., Thomas, M., Dodge, T., Carteaux, R., & Tüzün, H. (2005). Making learning fun: Quest Atlantis, a game without guns. Educational technology research and development, 53(1), 86-107. doi:10.1007/BF02504859
• Barbosa, A. F., Pereira, P. N., Dias, J. A., & Silva, F. G. (2014). A new methodology of design and development of serious games. International Journal of Computer Games Technology, 2014, 1-9. doi:10.1155/2014/817167 Bartoschek, T., Schwering, A., Li, R., Münzer, S., & Carlos, V. (2018). OriGami: A Mobile Geogame for Spatial Literacy. In O. Ahlqvist & C. Schlieder (Eds.), Geogames and Geoplay: Game-Based Approaches to the Analysis of Geo-Information (1st ed., pp. 37-63). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
• Bilgiç, H. G., Duman, D., & Seferoğlu, S. S. (2011, Şubat). The characteristics of digital natives’ and their effects of on the design of online environments. Akademik Bilişim, 2(4), 1-7. Malatya.
• Carbonell Carrera, C., Saorín, J. L., & Hess Medler, S. (2018). Pokémon GO and improvement in spatial orientation skills. Journal of Geography, 117(6), 245-253. doi:10.1080/00221341.2018.1470663
• Cömert, A. (2020). Student opinions for problem solving activities designed and applied with digital game based learning method (Master's thesis). Retrieved from The Higher Education Council National Thesis Center. (Thesis No.620265)
• Feulner, B. & Kremer, D. (2014). Using geogames to foster spatial thinking. In R. Vogler, A. Car, J. Strobl & G. Griesebner (Eds.), GI_Forum 2014. Geospatial Innovation for Society (pp. 344-347). Berlin. doi:10.1553/giscience2014s344
• Frasca, G. (2001). Rethinking agency and immersion: video games as a means of consciousness-raising. Digital Creativity, 12(3), 167-174. doi:10.1076/digc.12.3.167. 3225
• Freese, P. (2016). Pokémon go: Ist der Hype beendet? [Pokémon go: Is the hype finished?] Mein MMO- Das Magazin für Online Spiele. Retrieved from http://mein-mmo.de/pokemon-go-ist-der-hype-beendet/
• Kim, M. & Shin, J. (2016). The Pedagogical Benefits of SimCity in Urban Geography Education, Journal of Geography, 115 (2), 39-50, doi: 10.1080/00221341.2015. 1061585
• Mathews, J. & Holden, C. (2018). The Design and Play of Geogames as Place-Based Education. In O. Ahlqvist & C. Schlieder (Eds.), Geogames and Geoplay: Game-Based Approaches to the Analysis of Geo-Information (1st ed., pp. 161-177). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
• Ministry of National Education (MoNE) (2018). High School Geography Curriculum. Ankara. Retrieved from https://mufredat.meb.gov.tr/ProgramDetay.aspx?PID=336
• Mossoux, S., Delcamp, A., Poppe, S., Michellier, C., Canters, F., Kervyn, M. (2016). Hazagora: Will you survive the next disaster?-A serious game to raise awareness about geohazards and disaster risk reduction. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 16, 135–147. doi: 10.5194/nhess-16-135-2016,
• National Research Council (NRC), (2006). Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press
• Nguyen, T. (2016). Serious games. Significance. 13(6), 14-19. doi:10.1111/j.1740-9713.2016.00978.x
• Nicklas, D., Pfisterer, C., & Mitschang, B. (2001). Towards location-based games. In Proceedings of the international conference on applications and development of computer games in the 21st century: ADCOG (Vol. 21, pp. 61-67).
• Polat, E. & Varol, A. (2012). Educational computer games effect of academic success: Example of social sciences course. Akademik Bilişim. Retrieved from https://ab.org.tr/ab12/bildiri/166.pdf
• Poplin, A., Kerkhove, T., Reasoner, M., Roy, A., & N. Brown (2018). Serious GeoGames for civic engagement in urban planning: discussion based on four game prototypes. In: Yamu, C., Poplin, A., Devisch, O. and G. de Roo (eds) The Virtual And The Real: Perspectives, Practices and Applications For The Built Environment, p. 189 – 213, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York.
• Poplin, A. & Vemuri, K. (2018). Spatial Game for Negotiations and Consensus Building in Urban Planning: YouPlaceIt! In O. Ahlqvist & C. Schlieder (Eds.), Geogames and Geoplay: Game-Based Approaches to the Analysis of Geo-Information (1st ed., pp. 63-91). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
• Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the horizon, 9(5), 1-6. doi:10.1108/10748120110424816
• Ratan, R. A. & Ritterfeld, U. (2009). Classifying serious games. In U. Ritterfeld, M. Cody, & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Serious Games: Mechanisms and Effects (pp. 32-46). Routledge. 1022
• Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003) Rules of Play. MIT Press
• Schaal, S., Otto, S., Schaal, S., & Lude, A. (2018) Game-related enjoyment or personal pre-requisites – which is the crucial factor when using geogames to encourage adolescents to value local biodiversity, International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 8(3), 213-226, doi: 10.1080/21548455.2018.1441571
• Schlieder, C., Kiefer, P., & Matyas, S. (2006). Geogames: Designing location-based games from classic board games. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 21(5), 40-46. doi: 10.1109/MIS.2006.93
• Schneider, J., Schaal, S., & Schlieder, C. (2017, September). Geogames in education for sustainable development: Transferring a simulation game in outdoor settings. In 2017 9th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and Games for Serious Applications (VS-Games), 79-86, Athens, Greece. doi: 10.1109/VS-GAMES.2017.8056574.
• Seidel, S., Bettinger, P., & Budke, A. (2020). Representations and concepts of borders in digital strategy games and their potential for political education in geography teaching. Education Sciences, 10(1), 10. doi: 10.3390/educsci10010010
• Solinska-Nowak, A., Magnuszewski, P., Curl, M., French, A., Keating, A., Mochizuki, J., ... & Jarzabek, L. (2018). An overview of serious games for disaster risk management–Prospects and limitations for informing actions to arrest increasing risk. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 31, 1013-1029. doi.10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.09.001
• Spallazzo, D. & Mariani, I. (2018). Location-based mobile games: Design perspectives. Springer International Publishing Stenros, J., Montola, M., & Mäyrä, F. (2007, November). Pervasive games in ludic society. In Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Future Play (pp. 30-37).doi: 10.1145/1328202.1328209
• Tokgöz, C. (2017). Location-based mobile games and sense of place: An ethnographic study on Ingress. Ankara Üniversitesi İlef Dergisi, 4 (2), 7-36. doi: 10.24955/ilef.357094 Retrieved from https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ilef/issue/32569/357094
• Tomaszewski, B., Walker, A., Gawlik, E., Lane, C., Williams, S., Orieta, D., ... & Schwartz, D. (2020). Supporting Disaster Resilience Spatial Thinking with Serious GeoGames: Project Lily Pad. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 9(6), 405. doi:10.3390/ijgi9060405
• Tüzün, H., Yılmaz-Soylu, M., Karakuş, T., Inal, Y., & Kızılkaya, G. (2009). The effects of computer games on primary school students’ achievement and motivation in geography learning. Computers & education, 52(1), 68-77. doi.10.1016/j.compedu. 2008.06.008
• Ünlü, M. & Yıldırım, S. (2017). A geographical skill suggestion to geography teaching curriculum: Spatial thinking skill. Marmara Coğrafya Dergisi, 35, 13-20. doi: 10.14781/mcd.291018
• Wikipedia (2021, 20 January). Pervasive game. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervasive _game
• Van der Spek, E. D., Wouters, P., & van Oostendorp, H. (2011). Code red: triage or cognition‐based design rules enhancing decisionmaking training in a game environment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(3), 441-455 doi.10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009. 01021.x
• Virvou, M., Katsionis, G., & Manos, K. (2005). Combining software games with education: Evaluation of its educational effectiveness. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 8(2), 54-65.
• Yamu, C., Poplin, A., Devisch, O., & De Roo, G. (2017).The Virtual and the Real in Planning and Urban. Design: Perspectives, Practices and Applications; Routledge: Abingdon, UK, 2017.
• Zhang, C. (2018). Geocaching on the Moon. In O. Ahlqvist & C. Schlieder (Eds.), Geogames and Geoplay: Game-Based Approaches to the Analysis of Geo-Information (1st ed., pp. 209-233). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.