Beanstalk: A unity game addressing balance principles, socio-emotional learning and scientific inquiry

Abstract

Beanstalk is an educational game for children ages 6-10 teaching balance-fulcrum principles while folding in scientific inquiry and socio-emotional learning. This paper explores the incorporation of these additional dimensions using intrinsic motivation and a framing narrative. Four versions of the game are detailed, along with preliminary player data in a 2x2 pilot test with 64 children shaping the modifications of Beanstalk for much broader testing.

Lessons Learned from Testing a Children's Educational Game through Web Deployment

“…The requirements drawn from that formative work included the need to set the experience into a story, to have the story be meaningful to both boys and girls so that there is no gender bias, and to be sure the story is easily understood so that there is no cognitive overload of dealing with the educational task in the context of the story. That opening work for Beanstalk concluded with a test of tens of children for different versions of the game [1]. Issues were discovered and fixed, e.g., not forcing cooperation but allowing for it in a socio-emotional learning (SEL) treatment of the game.…”

“…Beanstalk benefited by first iterating through designs and playtests with small groups of children in the target age range [1]. The requirements drawn from that formative work included the need to set the experience into a story, to have the story be meaningful to both boys and girls so that there is no gender bias, and to be sure the story is easily understood so that there is no cognitive overload of dealing with the educational task in the context of the story.…”

“…Would the added dimensions of SEL and POHE help or hurt with progression through Seigler's mental models and success with the problems? A formative study was conducted in a set of classrooms with 64 children ages 6-9 using a 2x2 SELxPOHE experimental design [1]. That work found that children using SEL treatments had significantly more losses and fewer wins in problem sets, with an average of 13.1 problems seen per player in a 20-minute game session.…”

“…Children in POHE treatments had significantly fewer losses (but no difference on wins), perhaps due to instruction provided during predict/hypothesize/explain cycles noting the relevance of distance and weight to the balance problem. It may also be due to more time being spent in POHE cycles and less on balance problem levels [1]. Beanstalk was revised to allow but not force cooperation, i.e., chicken egg-laying was optional but not required to pass levels in SEL treatments.…”

Multimedia

“…A game may have multiple objectives, as does Beanstalk, which endeavors to teach balance and torque, scientific inquiry, and socio-emotional learning skills like asking for help and cooperation [10]. The site workingexamples.org shares lessons on Beanstalk, Invasion!…”