Learning+Patterms+Maths+Games




 * Learning Patterns for the Design and Deployment of Mathematical Games**

This was a one year project (Jan to Dec 2006) led by The London Knowledge Lab and the University of Warwick comprised of two strands; one being creating a typology of different design styles of games, the other being a description of the various types of deployment of games in educational contexts.The project partners also included:
 * Freudenthal Institute in the Netherlands
 * University of Athens
 * IT University of Göteborg,
 * Centre for Research in IT in Education at Trinity College Dublin
 * The Institute for Educational Technology, Genoa

The project consisted of a literature review for each of the strands http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org/outcomes/litrev/ which are a useful introduction both to the creation of games and their use in educational contexts. These are:
 * Mor, Y., Winters, N., Cerulli, M. and Björk, S (2006): Literature review on the use of games in mathematical learning, Part I: Design. Report of the Learning Patterns for the Design and Deployment of Mathematical Games project.
 * Alexopoulou, E., Bennerstedt, U., Childs, M., Jonker, V., Kynigos, C., Pratt, D., and Wijers, M. (2006): Literature review on the use of games in mathematical learning, Part II: Deployment. Report of the Learning Patterns for the Design and Deployment of Mathematical Games project.

Following these, a series of patterns were created using a pattern methodology http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org/outcomes/patterns/ Although these have been superceded since, this is a useful example of how patterns can be developed through such a methodology.

The typologies that were developed can be seen at http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org/outcomes/typologies/ These consist of
 * mathematical content
 * learning and instruction
 * educational context
 * games
 * interface and interaction
 * software design

the distinction made between design and deployment were that the transition between the two took place as the game moved from beta testing to the use in the classroom, i.e. deployment as part of piloting and testing was held to be part of the design process. Microworlds were brought to the project as examples of games, but were considered to be defined only as "toys" the distinction being that they needed a wrapper of content, (such as a scoring system, an element of competition, etc.) to constitute games. The majority of uses of games within the deployment that were observed were actually standard COTS games used to develop numeracy, such as monopoly and so on, or as a basic reward/distraction. The usage of specifically-designed mathematical games was very limited.

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