Learning through Association

Provide a more engaging and memorable learning experience for players by incorporating associations and diverse forms of expression.

WHY USE THIS?

Learning becomes more effective when we can connect new information with familiar concepts. Creating associations between different elements in your game helps players remember and understand the content more easily. While traditional learning relies heavily on text-to-text translations, video games offer diverse avenues for association and engagement.

GETTING STARTED:

Step 1: Define your theme or topic. What do you want players to engage with? This can range from simple instructions to complex societal issues.

Step 2: Explore how you can express this theme using various formats, including text, symbols, visuals, audio, and movement.

Step 3: Imagine ways to combine these formats to create meaningful associations in your game. Think about how text, symbols, visuals, sounds, and player actions can work together to reinforce the theme and enhance the learning experience.

EXAMPLE:

Step 1: Define the theme

• Theme: Environmental Conservation
• Goal: Teach players about the importance of reducing waste and conserving resources.

Step 2: Express the theme in different formats

• Text: Include informative text and descriptions throughout the game, explaining the impact of waste and resource consumption.
• Symbols: Design eco-friendly symbols like recycling logos to indicate sustainable choices within the game.
• Visuals: Create in-game environments that change based on player choices. For instance, as players make sustainable decisions, the virtual world becomes cleaner and greener.
• Audio: Incorporate sounds like birds chirping and clean water flowing when players make eco-conscious choices, contrasting with negative sounds like pollution or trash when unsustainable choices are made.
• Movement: Integrate interactive mechanics where players physically drag and drop items into recycling bins, reinforcing the concept of waste separation.

Step 3: Combine Formats for Association

This example demonstrates how a game can use various formats, such as text, symbols, visuals, audio, and movement, to create associations that reinforce the theme of environmental conservation. Players learn and remember the importance of sustainable choices by actively engaging with these associations within the game world.

• Example scenario: In a game level, players encounter a polluted beach setting (visuals). They see trash littered across the shore, and the audio includes unpleasant sounds like seagulls squawking and waves crashing against garbage. Text prompts educate players about the harmful effects of pollution on marine life and ecosystems (text). To clean up the beach, players must physically drag and drop trash into recycling and garbage bins (movement), earning eco-friendly symbols as rewards (symbols).
• As players engage with this scenario, they associate the polluted beach visuals, negative audio cues, and text information with the concept of environmental harm. When they successfully clean the beach and witness it transform into a pristine environment with pleasant sounds, they associate these changes with positive environmental actions.