Serious games in engineering
Resources
Engineering is the creative application of science and mathematics to design and build machines and structures. Its humble origins in human history pre-date the wheel, lead all the way up to the launch of the James Webb telescope, and will be responsible for the space buses which will one day fly our descendants to new planets before Earth becomes uninhabitable.
To be an engineer is to look at challenges presented to humanity and use applied science and maths to overcome them. Throughout history, these challenges have evolved, from building bridges, to designing roads that will allow vehicles to travel over inhospitable mountain passes, to putting man on the moon and beyond. The challenges to engineers only get more and more complex, and it’s important to have robust, effective educational tools available to train the next generation of engineering students.
This is where serious or applied games come into play. Serious games are games that have a serious purpose at the core of their design. They can be incredibly effective for corporate training, various areas of HR, and educational settings catering to almost any subject. The creative and potentially high risk nature of what is asked of engineers makes engineering an especially appropriate discipline when it comes to serious games for education.
STEM subjects and their suitability for gamification and serious games
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Precision is almost a non-negotiable aspect in any related discipline because mistakes can cost lives. Even something as innocuous-seeming as a traffic light that’s slightly out of sync could cause a huge accident. Because in so many cases, the best and most qualified minds will be working on new solutions, or updating solutions to tread new ground, there’s an inherent risk in every project. The stakes may not be as high as a manned rocket launch, but every product reveal or field test is a nerve-rattling event. Regardless of any corporeal risk to anyone, there’s a significant dollar-value invested into any technological project.
An online serious game can create a simulation in which engineering students can apply their knowledge, but there are no real consequences to human life or investments. This is a great opportunity for their development as engineers, applying the content of their studies through simulated experiences. With this understanding, it’s worth drawing a distinction here between serious games and gamification. Gamification is adding game elements to real world contexts. It’s using things like points and badges to incentivise productivity, but this might run the danger, in this case at least, of incentivising risk where risk has no business being.
Additionally, engineering now requires far more digital competencies than it used it to, further lending itself to training in a digital serious games format. If your working life will be spent using advanced software and digital tools, spending the majority of your education learning with a pen and paper will only take you so far. Incorporating digital learning methods that encourage interactivity will be far more beneficial in the long run.
Building your own serious game for engineering students
So how do you go about designing serious games for engineering students? The first task is to identify what your learning outcomes are. Do you want them to master and understand a particular piece of theory, to practise applying their maths skills to realistic scenarios, or some combination of both as part of a massive open online course (MOOC)? You also need to consider the level of engineering student you’re catering to. What stage of education are they at? Are they an undergraduate student? A master’s student? Is this a game to cater to younger students who maybe haven’t opted to study engineering yet, but are thinking about it?
You can focus on one or two key learning objectives, otherwise known as your serious purpose, and build your game around them. Or, if you were using the Dynamic Path™ on Drimify to build a MOOC, utilise different game engines for different learning modules, and build each module around a specific purpose. Because engineering is such a challenging and broad subject, longer form educational courses of playable learning, such as those you can build through the Dynamic Path™, tend to be far more effective. The longer they engage with a particular idea, the more time you have to build an effective simulation for them to engage with through text, video, and interactivity.
For example, you could use customised variations of the Quiz format, with the occasional mini-game for variety, to focus on a specific scenario. You could posit a particular challenge, such as to build an automated grain feeder, and each level could tackle the challenge in greater detail. One level could focus on the theory or the maths of one aspect of the project, one could look at similar solutions that have been used on related projects, and the level of difficulty or the level of detail relating to the completion of the project could increase as the game goes on.
Want to know more?
