What is Boss Encounter

A central goal of education involves helping students develop deep understandings of complex models at the heart of core learning goals. Interestingly, an analogous goal of commercial recreational digital games involves helping players develop deep understandings of the models at the heart of those games. Given that games can motivate players to engage voluntarily over extended periods of time in developing understandings of complex game models, one may ask whether and how one might foster similar engagement with educational concepts and models. Much fanfare has accompanied claims about games' potential for engagement and motivation, but many of those claims have focused on a shallow idea of “fun”. This chapter takes a deeper view of motivation and learning by employing Pintrich's synthesis of research on motivation to learn as a lens for examining (a) how popular game design conventions currently scaffold motivation to learn and (b) how game design conventions might be augmented to more effectively scaffold motivation to learn in the future.