Abstract
This chapter aims to contribute to the discussion of incorporating mobile games with astronomy and space themes in order to support science learning. One concern is when these games include erroneous science content. In this case, they may build or enhance misconceptions or misunderstandings, which eventually create learning barriers. The authors try to determine the learning strategies or pedagogies which can be used to incorporate such games in science education. Research on which characteristics these games should have is also presented. Game-based learning is in alignment with acquiring and developing 21st century literacy skills. One of these skills, information literacy, is related to domain knowledge learning.
TopIntroduction
Mobile-based games are a developing subset of video games that has gained popularity especially among the youngsters through the years (Barlett et al., 2009; Koutromanos, 2020). Most pupils possess portable electronic devices with touch screens, such as smartphones and tablets (Rideout & Robb, 2019), that permit the easy installation of multiple applications, most of which are games (San-Martin et al., 2020). This widespread technology advent gave the game developers the opportunity to launch sophisticated products by adopting all the latest advances in software and hardware. A huge number of mobile games is now available to every user through online repositories and portals, irrespective of the device's operating system. The developers deliver games designed exclusively for portable devices at an affordable cost for most of the users.
The recent school closure and the mandatory quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic safety measures (Pullano et al., 2020) forced pupils to widely use their mobile devices, taking advantage of their portability and convenience. Under the circumstances, their leisure activities have been limited and their mobile devices have taken a dominant role in their entertainment. King et al. (2020) claim a higher engagement in digital gaming activities because of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
These arguments are indicative of the influence that mobile-based games have in the learning procedure. Pupils interact with digital gaming virtual environments for many hours per week. Following Mayer (2002), such a game may affect a pupil's knowledge construction schemes as a stimuli source. However, there is a significant factor that one should take into consideration in this case. The game designers focus mainly on providing entertainment products and look at users as potential customers. Because of the extremely hard competition in this market (Kerim & Genc, 2020), they prioritize mainly the user satisfaction (Barnett et al., 2018) and prefer building their scenarios on science fiction instead of scientific facts. As a result, many of them are based on - or contain - repeatable scientific inaccuracies. The study of their impact on science learning is the main scope of this chapter.
Due to their popularity - particularly among pupils - these games may form or increase erroneous understanding of astronomy and space facts or phenomena and construct - or support - nonscientific beliefs. Any misunderstandings or alternative views of science facts still remain, even after the pupil’s engagement with pure science courses in formal education (Duit, 1987). The study of these beliefs is very important for educators as well as for curriculum designers. As far as the latter is concerned, these student views should be considered when trying to transform astronomy and space science subjects to school knowledge.
In this framework, games containing inaccurate science information certainly limit learning. But living in the era of mobiles and tablets, these devices and their games are part of modern culture and should be included in educational design. In fact, mobile-based games can significantly contribute to developing student skills through the learning process (Koutromanos & Avraamidou, 2014). In general, the educational dimension of video games and learning science through them have been studied lately, as is described in several review papers (e.g. Anastasiadis et al., 2018). Clark et al. (2016) emphasise the importance of serious games design on providing positive learning outcomes, while Martinez-Garza et al. (2013) mention that these games engage pupils to STEM disciplines. Arango-Lopez et al. (2018) review pervasive games, which illustrate an expansion of the real world (Benford et al., 2005) and report progress on pupils' learning outcomes.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Tangential Learning: The self-education learning procedure when a person is exposed to new knowledge in an enjoyable and familiar context.
Orbital Mechanics: The study of motion of rockets, spacecrafts, and artificial satellites by applying Newton’s laws.
Flipped Learning: The active learning procedure in which the pupils prepare the lesson by studying the material that the teacher has prepared out of the lesson’s instruction.
Serious Games: Video games that can be used for learning skills competencies, as they have an educational setting.
Engineering Design Process: The iterative process with specific steps that an engineering team follows to solve a definite problem.
Rocket Science: The field of science that encompasses the principles of science and engineering in order to design and build rockets.
Leisure Games: The games that have been designed without a specific educational setting. They differ from commercials as they can be played without any cost.