Peer-mediation in a school environment, when carried out correctly, can benefit not only the parties of the conflict, but also their environment, including the school, the team, the family and the mediator. A serious same has been designed and a prototype developed for the training of minors and young adults as mediators. The core of the game is a…

Tutoring systems that are sensitive to affect show considerable promise for enhancing student learning experiences. Creating successful affective responses requires considerable effort both to detect student affect and to design appropriate responses to affect. Recent work has suggested that affect detection is more effective when both physical…

Although social inequality is critical to the study of sociology, it is particularly challenging to teach about race, class and gender inequality to students who belong to privileged social groups. Simulation games are often used successfully to address this pedagogical challenge. While debriefing is a critical component of simulation exercises…

Many past educational validity studies of business gaming simulation, and more specifically total enterprise simulation, have been inconclusive. Studies have focused on the weaknesses of business gaming simulation; which is often regarded as an educational medium that has limitations regarding learning effectiveness. However, no attempts have been…

This study is part of an ongoing attempt to develop a usable and valid scale for assessing the flow experience in educational games. The purpose of the paper is to operationalize the dimensions of flow experience in an educational game context and to test a constructed GameFlow questionnaire. Furthermore, the study strives to validate flow…

This article introduces a sociology role-playing game (RPG) used to demonstrate the broad range of social forces, institutions, and structures in a semester-long series of in-class and homework assignments. RPGs and other simulation games have been frequently suggested as a useful teaching methodology because of their unique ability to allow…

Considered the value of educational simulations in instructional areas and situations. (Author/RK)

Discusses research into the external validity of simulation games used in education, i.e., the degree to which the games correspond to the real-life situations they are designed to simulate. An exploratory study examines the validity of a business game and potential problems of validity research are examined. (JJD)

Outlines a research framework, in which emphasis is placed upon validity, reliability, and utility, for the systematic evaluation of simulation and gaming instruments and suggests how this framework can be employed in the selection and use of instructional simulations and games. Three tables accompany the text. (Author/JL)

Discusses the need to evaluate the effectiveness of games and simulations that are used for training and educational purposes. Evaluation criteria are described, including validity, reliability, and utility; methods of measuring training device effectiveness are explained; and problems encountered with evaluations are discussed. (30 references)…

Reports on a series of exploratory studies dealing with learning in total enterprise simulations among undergraduates. Examined the validity of simulations as learning tools; measured relationships between learning about the simulation and economic performance in the game; and explored whether some players learn more than others from the same…

This 10-year literature update of Greenlaw and Wyman's review of teaching effectiveness of collegiate-level business games reviews research on top-management or functionally integrated games and functional games which emphasize specific business operations areas. Conclusions are drawn on business gaming's teaching effectiveness, and observations…

This paper presents the Discrepancy Evaluation Model (DEM) as an overall strategy or framework for both the improvement and assessment of effectiveness of simulation/games. While application of the evaluation model to simulation/games rather than educational programs requires modification of the model, its critical features remain. These include:…

In previous research a pilot simulation was developed for use by Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) units in assessing leadership potential of officer candidates in turbulent-field environments. Peer and instructor rating forms were also developed for evaluation of leadership, decision style, ability to cope with stress, and interpersonal…

This article focuses on the research and scholarship dealing with the assessment of the experiential approach in both its computer-based and human-based forms. It covers two forms of assessment. First it covers explicit attempts to assess the validity of experiential learning, and second it focuses on measuring the effectiveness of the…