MULTIMEDIA GAMES FOR LEARNING AND TESTING PHYSICSI Saul D. Rodriguez 2, Irene Cheng 2 3andAnup Basu2 2Dept. of Computing Science, University ofAlberta, Canada 3Dept. of Computer and Information Science, University ofPennsylvania, USA ABSTRACT Many difficult concepts can often be best explained or understood through simple games. In order to motivate the understanding of movements and trajectories of projectiles, and other Physics concepts, we propose using educational games for learning and testing physics so that the students can feel more engaged and rewarding, and thus are motivated to acquire new knowledge. Our novel approach includes automatically generating the next game episode at a different difficulty level based on how the student performs in the current episode. This adaptive approach is associated with a computer scoring system which can evaluate the student's understanding of physics concepts and computational skills, as well as strategic planning. 1. INTRODUCTION Many scholars discuss the potential learning principles that computer games provide. Computer games are learning mechanisms a player can learn complicated rules, plan strategies and perform complex manoeuvres, all without reading a manual and just in the first minutes ofplay. Prensky mentions that computer games have a critical attribute for learning: engagement [1]. This attribute is the basis for a number of positive elements that provide an optimal environment for learning. A computer game-player makes a compromise with the games, he accepts the challenge and stays with it until the end. This engagement would be ideal for a student when learning school subjects. Additionally, Prensky mentions that motivation is as critical as engagement. Today, students have a totally different attitude toward school than toward playing games. When it comes to playing a game, they present an interested, competitive, thoughtful attitude, the kind of attitude that it is desired for learning in school. Therefore, games provide a powerful learning environment that can be exploited with different subjects. Another supporter for educational games is James Paul Gee, he gives in his work a general overview of all the learning principles involved in playing a game [2]. Popular commercial non-educational games are learning tools and create a "cycle of expertise", a principle that suggests that computer games are also powerful training tools. He states that an educational game can promote outside classroom, as well as extra-curriculum learning. For example, motivational effects are caused by two popular games like Age ofEmpires and Age of Mythology that promote further research about historical or mythological topics. Computer games, even when not designed as educational, are learning environments by themselves. Thus, it is just a matter of efficiently integrating a subject with a game application to construct an efficient learning and test item. If a game provides a powerful learning environment as many supporters claim, the creation ofeducational games for complex subjects is too tempting. Since a subject, such as physics, is often considered difficult for students, a multimedia game that would help them to learn this subject is beneficial. In the following, Section 2 describes how physics concepts can be presented in games. Section 3 proposes a strategy to assign difficulty levels to game episodes, and Section 4 discusses how to evaluate the player's performance. Finally, Section 5 gives the conclusion and discusses future work. 2. EDUCATIONAL GAME FOR PHYSICS Since the beginning of educational game development, some physics educational games have been designed and implemented. Some of them cover specific topics at higher levels like equipotentials (part of electromagnetism) [3] or Newton's laws [4]. Most of them lack the flexibility and customization necessary to be successful to instructors and students in the classroom covering lower level concepts [5]. Therefore, implementing efficient educational physics games at high school levels is still a problem that has not been addressed. In the following sections, key factors for creating physics games are discussed. 2.1. Integrating educational content 1 This project is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) ofCanada Informatics Circle of Research Excellence (iCORE), Alberta and Castle Rock Research Corp., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 1-4244-1017-7/07/$25.00 C2007 IEEE 1838 ICME 2007