Home As An Educator?
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
I just created a new account the other day for Japan; I had heard all of the wonderful news about events, such as the one found in HearItWow’s article on the Macross concert, and also about the great new content that is showing up there.
I have to admit though, we have a lot of cool spaces and things to do here in North America Home, much more by volume than Japan has; yet they have some very intriguing spaces there, too. I loved the new Granzella public spaces, the village with a bath, and also the beach area. I sincerely hope that they come here as soon as possible.
But the one I found to be the most incredible was the Sony Aquarium VR. Here is Sony’s video of this place as it looks in Okinawa that they have duplicated in Japan Home’s virtual reality. (Editor’s note: The video is narrated in Japanese, with English subtitles.)
This place is incredible in every sense of the word – aesthetically beautiful, filled with mini-games that include one where you can go inside with the fish and take pictures. These games earn you points that serve as money in the vending machines to get you fish ornaments for your apartment.
There was a great deal of information for users as well. Though I don’t read Japanese, I could tell that this place was meant to be educational just from the way it was presented and laid out. It made me wish I could speak or read the language so that I could immerse myself in the environment even more.
- Minigame player in tank
This got me thinking about the fact that they are using Home there as a tool to educate people about the oceans and the environmental issues along with it. This is a new path for Home, one that has never been used on a scale this large. Yes, there have been events here in NA Home for breast cancer awareness and gay pride among others, but there has never been a dedicated space like this one in any region.
Where could this new path take us, I wonder? Bringing this great aquarium to NA Home would be a great start of something new and exciting here as well, and I hope that they intend to do just that.
So what other ways could Home be used to educate, as well as entertain?
I believe that as long as the teaching part of the game or space is blended with a lot of fun ways to achieve rewards, it could be a big win for the developers or Sony – whomever takes the initiative to do this.
Now that said, what form could these spaces and games take to accomplish this?
I posed this question to a few of my friends and got a very mixed reaction. Some of them have seen the aquarium and some have not, so it was a good group to pick the brains of on this concept of Home as an educator. A few of them think this is a great idea – for Japan – but didn’t think it will fly here, because the kids – and many of the adults, unfortunately – don’t read much and are lazy when it comes to having to work for anything; especially in what they would consider their down time.
I agree that this may be true in some cases, but I think that a gaming environment has an advantage over a real world one. If you can hide the educational part couched in a game that is both visually stunning and fun to play, I think that the average adult and teenager who frequents Home will surprise you by jumping right into it, not caring if it is meant to teach them or not.
I brainstormed with another friend of mine for quite a while on this and we came up with a few ideas that might work.
I was thinking about all of the subjects taught in school as a basis for this, and science was one that spurred my imagination. How about a public space that looked like a mad scientists laboratory, with a few mad scientist NPC hanging around and charts and models of the various atoms that make up our universe scattered about. They could even have a few of those weird electric gadgets, like Tesla coils around throwing sparks everywhere, so you feel like you’ve been transported to Dr. Frankenstein’s lab.
There they could have a cabinet style game available, similar to Trigger-Happy-in-a-Box or Scribble Shooter, and that game would be your educator. The game itself might be similar to Tetris, an immensely popular game from the past, where you have to use different molecules such as hydrogen and oxygen to create different things, like H2O – water. The harder the combinations the more you would score; each molecule would be color coded for easy recognition and use. There could be rewards attached to getting past levels as well, to make people happy, perhaps pieces to a mad scientist costume, or anything else that the developers could come up with.
If we can grow this-
There could be games and public areas based on any number of areas for educating.
The idea of conservation – like the aquarium offers – could cover many different things, like endangered species of animals or plants.
How about a zoo, where you could adopt an animal and do some kind of tasks to get food for it – tasks that could involve you learning something about the animal you choose? They could even sell representations of the animals as companions and stuffed ornaments to make it more lucrative, if needed.
Why not this?
You must admit that ever since pets have been introduced into Home, the sales figures have proven that animals are overwhelmingly popular subjects, and who wouldn’t love a baby tiger following them around – or a full grown one for that matter?
Or perhaps a greenhouse with endangered plants, where you can grow things that would develop properly or not, depending on the types of fertilizers or watering methods you use; similar to what happens with the Dolphys that already anyone can grow in Home.
Or this?
Jeremy N. Bailenson and Jim Blascovich published an article recently; they are both studying virtual reality and its effects on human beings. In it, they spoke about some of the research they had done, and some of that research centered around teaching through virtual reality. This is a direct quote from that article:
“We have run hundreds of experimental participants through what we call “non-zero-sum gaze” virtual-classroom studies to test this premise. So far, not one student realized that the gaze of the teacher’s avatar was not genuine—they all thought the teacher was looking at them individually while ignoring the other students. Moreover, students’ attention and learning improved. As a group, they focused on the teacher’s avatar with the simulated direct gaze more than on avatars not set to use the technology. The students also retained more information. So a relatively simple chunk of code (about 20 lines) allowed us to augment the behavior of a virtual teacher in socially influential ways, improving students’ behaviors, attitudes, and learning. For example, in one study, students paid attention almost 20 percent longer when receiving an augmented gaze than when receiving a natural gaze.”
Basically what they are saying is that a virtual teacher can get more attention from a student, because the student feels as though the teacher is looking them in the eye more than in a traditional classroom.
So virtual reality is already being shown as an exciting new tool that can add to anyone’s experience in the field of education. How much more so when the tool is a game that is both educational and fun? This has been tested already many times by the game type learning tools already available on the market for our children. So why not take it to the next level and make Home a place where people of all ages can have fun learning about the world we live in and earn a few Home rewards in the bargain.
I want to ask all of you this question. Could Home be used to educate and enlighten as well as just have fun? What do you think?
September 2nd, 2011 by Burbie52 | 17 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
I think Home could be used to educate but I’m not too sure which areas of educating would be best for Sony to attach their names with as some areas of education are an evolving field.If Sony put out info. that was proven false soon after they released it they would have a problem on their hands.Let’s use a relatively recent example:say Sony had a space that told the story of how Chistopher Columbus discovered America and had sunk alot of cash into making that space.It would be embarrassingly obsolete as we now know the vikings were here way before Chris. ever left port.Another words,in order to prevent possible situations like that they would need to stay updated on the current knowledge levels of any topic they released content on which requires someone to continually monitor for any new info. or some kind of “suggestion box” from users in order to stay aware of anything that might be found to be false or to have changed.There are also a few topics which we really aren’t sure about currently,like the creation of the universe,that probably should be avoided altogether as then Sony would be treading close to religion’s territory.Overall I could see this working as long as the material being presented was as correct as possible and updated when appropiate.
Well if the information is the kind that I suggested, endangered species, science and elements (occasionally they discover new ones but that is rare)they should be alright as these types of things rarely change and the info given could be more generic than specific. By that I mean they could tell about the animal or plant involved, where they are located, why they are endangered and such things. This will still make people aware of the issue, without there being much reason to update. And as for science, I somehow doubt the elemental table is going to change anytime soon, nor the atoms that create things.
History is a more complex subject. In the case of that I would say they should stick to things like major events, like WWII, the battle of Waterloo, and such. Those kinds of things aren’t going to change much either.
Yes history is much more complex and new things are being discovered all the time,as with other fields of study,which is why there would need to be updates on those kinds of things.I agree that if they stuck to the things that are more certain and not likely to change it would cut down on needful updating.The museum approach would be great for ppl like myself but I doubt the kids would enjoy it much without a mini-game or 2.This certainly could be done and if done right could be a good money-maker.Something like a museum would work quite well I believe if the artifacts on display were available to buy for your apartment,Like the tomb of King Tut on display at the museum?buy it for your egyptian apartment for $1.99,or something to that effect the possibilities are almost endless.In effect they could combine the museum and a commerce point and you could in effect buy anything displayed,although size might be different.Lot’s of potential here.
I don’t trust atoms. They’re shifty.
Heisenberg certainly thought so.
I like your line of thought, Burbie. I, for one, would love to see more educational experiences in Home – as the Home JP’s event illustrates, there are a great many people (even coming from other regions) showing up to check it out. Games already have a great deal of educational content (although it’s usually hidden as back-story, wild gizmos, or scenery), so why can’t Home have some of the same?
Come to think of it, we already do have some content with educational value. Thanks to Loot we have a public and private space where we get to view NASA goodies. I love the clips which are available, and thought the idea of the live streams of the shuttle launches was brilliant. It was definitely a step in the direction which you mused about in your article.
But, like you, I’d enjoy seeing more. I think if, as an example, the Smithsonian came to Sony with the intent to build a museum type space for educational purposes there would be very little resistance to the idea. The only issue might be monetary as many museums simply don’t have the funds to get such a space developed and Sony rarely devotes its resources to something which won’t return a profit (yes, yes, there’s Ooblag’s casino…but in truth that’s a very small side project) – BUT if Sony and the Smith worked together on a project pro bono then both entities would be able to utilize the existence of such a space as part of their advertising. But the rub is how do we get such business and educational entities to sit down and consider such a partnership? Perhaps some letter writing is in order…
Interesting thoughts, Burbie; definitely a direction I’d like to see some movement in.
I agree the EOD that Loot has is a step in the right direction, but it is still like watching a television. I believe an interactive game setting would draw a lot of people in and teach them in such a fun way that they won’t even realize they are learning anything. And when it comes to teenagers who have just come home from a day in school,and don’t want to be taught again, that would be a win I think.
Logically, the notion of using virtual reality as a source of education makes perfect sense. It should be noted that in Second Life, there are foreign embassies, religious gathering places, and sources of education (granted, these are not necessarily without incident).
Will the North American and European Home audiences gravitate to overt education in Home? Doubtful. However, *covert* education wrapped in entertainment does have quite a bit of commercial potential.
(I mean, heck, I learned more about geography from Carmen Sandiego than I ever learned in grammar school.)
Fascinating article, Burbie.
What he said.
We pressed ‘Post’ almost simultaneously.
Btw, brilliant response.
I know kids learn from educational games all of the time and as you said education hidden within fun could be a winning combo. Look at Sesame Street, it taught many preschoolers their counting and ABC’s and they loved it because it was done in a fun way. There have been countless toy based educational tools created for many years for kids, this is merely the next tool on the horizon.
There are many reasons why we like things, but here are some simple ones: they makes us laugh, they make us think, they teach us something. These are the core things I try to put into everything I do. The point is that if Conspiracy had a secret agent museum and Novus Prime had a space exploration museum, people would like them better. This does not have to be a museum, aquarium or planetarium effort. We can mix the commercial efforts with non-commercial efforts. The problem is all these issues come down to budget and very few people have money that just want to teach the masses.
I can see a platform like Home will house the museum of the future. People from far off places can tour the great collections of the world without leaving their home. The question is, “How far ahead of our time are we seeing?”
Great food for thought.
Well, first of all, welcome to the “dark side” Burbie! The Japan Home has always set a very high standard for the other Homes, and spaces like the Aquarium are part of the reason why.
This is a great article, and I’m not just saying that because I love the Japan Home. I’ve been too busy to spend as much time at the Aquarium as most of my friends, but I too was very impressed with the serious, educational nature of the space. And, like some of your other friends, I have my doubts if such a space would work in the NA Home.
We now live in an instant gratification, multitasking mandatory, what’s in it for me world. I wouldn’t expect a space like the Aquarium to be brought to NA anytime soon.
You’ve made some excellent suggestions for creating similar spaces in the NA Home. Would anyone ever follow up on them? I think I’ll defer to Norse on this one. They’d have to teach covertly, and there would need to be a huge fun factor.
Perhaps I sound too jaded right now, but then again, think about the direction our Home is heading in. All games, all the time. I just don’t see a place for a space like the Aquarium in the NA Home right now.
Well the aquarium has games in it, and I agree, there would definitely have to be games involved or they would lose peoples interest quickly here. But a place with lots of interactivity and well thought out could be a big success.
Nice look at the possibility Burbie!
My problem with education going virtual is the lack of Q and A. People learn to just absorb information and not to think critically. I think it can be a powerful LESSON tool as supplementary material but we’re just not there yet to have full on education delivered virtually. Some day though.
The idea of maybe having a real teacher be represented by a virtual avatar is interesting. Would people pay more attention then? Also, when education becomes “edutainment” I doubt people learn as much in the same amount of time as they would with traditional study.
Things like the aquarium are great though. Get people interested so they might go learn more.
I’ve been getting my feet wet on secondLife recently into learning how to build and ‘script’ items. Building, construction and creativity is big business out there and there are free classes to which you can attend. A friend had forgotten to tell me that this was an advanced class in which the teacher assumed we all know how to ‘script’ items (A simple program inserted into an item which influences a motion or animation in an object, one example, a Toy train, moving)I didn’t really know anything, and i was in the wrong class :p
Even though it was fairly easy class to follow (parts of it anyways) I did also think on how you could learn something in a much more fun and different way, as i was from a completely different timezone and i’m hearing the drone of an ‘Australian’ dialect through his Mic chat, I feel like I’m back at school as a teenager and nodding off, ll of my friends were streets ahead of me as they script and build to make their own jewelry and furniture, so to them it was a refresher course.Would Love to see an education area thats fun to explore and learn. (A point and click adventure game, suh as those seen in the back to the future games? kids love to see consequences of what happens when you push a button on something to see how it works, it incites instant curiousity) Although i sometimes go to these calsses, i have been to other educational areas on second life in which you learn about marine life, the huiman body. I have suggested to burbie why not have a game inspired by the Steven Speilberg ‘Innerspace’ movie way back in 1986? Be inside a miniaturized craft that travels through somebodies bloodstream with voice narration explaining the many different areas of the body that you travel into and cures cancers and illnesses (also explained in layman terms) by zapping them. That would make for an interesting educational game.
Great article Burbie, and YES I want to play that ‘Science Tetris’ game
Great article Burbie. I too was very impressed by the aquarium space in PS Home Japan. When it first came out, I was gathering with friends there to collect fish. I actually love aquariums in real life and they are one of my favorite places to visit. I especially have a huge fascination with sharks, being both scared and in awe of these amazing creatures. And the Sony Virtual aquarium certainly doesn’t disappoint with its share of sharks in the tank. Since this aquarium is actually a replica of a real one in Japan, it appears to be as education as I would imagine the real one to be. With spaces like this, I absolutely agree that PS Home can be an educational tool. My daughter is often with me when I play on my PS3 and PS Home and I always think about what will happen when she gets old enough to truly understand what it is about. She is only 3 1/2 but constantly amazes me with how smart she is and my it was a priceless moment that one time when she pointed to the screen at my avatar and said mama. But yes, just as I see virtual communities being a more integral part of our adult lives, I can also seeing them playing a key role in educating our youth as well.
The brilliant thing about a virtual world is that you can build anything. We could experience Paris in the 1920s or the Galapagos islands, places lost to time or places that average people simply aren’t allowed to visit.
I think the key to making it work is to do exactly what the VR Aquarium has done, and that’s to spark curiosity. Museums and aquariums are never meant to be self-contained experiences, they’re simply a jumping off point that stimulates our desire to learn. Home could be a very powerful tool for this sort of stimulation, and it would be nice to see the NA team take on a few causes…preservation of the Redwood forests or Alaskan wildlife, and build some spaces that use games and content to transport users into those worlds, giving just enough information to make them want to learn more.