Publications & Resources

Aligning Instruction and Assessment with Game and Simulation Design

Jan 2011

Richard Wainess, Alan Koenig, and Deirdre Kerr

Effective design of training-related games requires alignment between content and game play. In this study, researchers created (1) a game play model comprising the key components of a game and (2) a player interaction framework defining how players interact with information in a game. They analyzed 34 games (24 popular commercial video games and 10 commercial video games used by the military). Results of the analyses indicate that while the two game types were similar in the amount of instruction devoted to introducing the various components of the game play model, the delivery mechanisms (the player interaction framework) differed in some key areas. In particular, the military games did not provide enough direct instruction and relied too much on the player to actively seek out information.

Wainess, R., Koenig, A., & Kerr, D. (2011). Aligning instruction and assessment with game and simulation design (CRESST Report 780). Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).