Interaction of avatar identity and opportunities to practice historical reasoning in a history videogame

Article title

"Interaction of avatar identity and opportunities to practice historical reasoning in a history video game: A quantitative ethnography"

Summary

The authors leverage a novel methodological approach to study the made-for-school video game, Mission US, to find stark differences in how students are invited to think like historians based on avatar identity.

Abstract

The authors build on prior research suggesting the made-for-school, history-oriented video game Mission US offers entry-level opportunities for students to practice “thinking like historians”—a phrase the game uses to indicate key historical reasoning and thinking skills. Methods We leverage quantitative ethnography (QE) and epistemic network analysis (ENA) to examine how these opportunities co-occur. Findings We find significant differences between two groups of game missions focusing on different historical time periods with different player characters. One group appears to focus more heavily on historical thinking and reasoning, while a second appears to constrain historical thinking and reasoning to a function of protagonists’ marginalized identities. Further exploration of these differences revealed the game’s developers appear to have designed an ideological game world that positions White avatars to more freely engage in historical thinking and reasoning practices, while Black, Brown, and Indigenous avatars are substantively constrained in doing so. Contribution This study illustrates the power of QE and ENA to uncover hard-to-see aspects of the ideological worlds baked into teaching and learning environments, especially those potentially harmful to young people’s capacity to see themselves within disciplinary Discourses.

Main research questions 

1. To what extent do opportunities to engage in historical reasoning connect with one another across the gameplay experience within missions? 

2. Do differences exist between missions for opportunities to engage in connected historical reasoning practices? 

3. What design elements of the missions support connected opportunities to engage in historical reasoning practices throughout game play?

What the research builds on

Well-designed video games are excellent learning environments, offering learners the opportunity to try on new identities and use new skills and perspectives. While most games developed explicitly for learning purposes focus on STEM topics, at least one made-for-school video game, Mission US, has had some success in history and social studies classrooms. The history-oriented videogame Mission US offers entry-level opportunities for students to practice “thinking like historians”—a phrase the game uses to indicate key historical reasoning and thinking skills.

What the research add to the discussion

Video games are design artifacts, as much a product of the time in which they are made as they are about the topics on which they focus. This complex interaction between intention and hidden biases can result in games telling untold, sometimes difficult to uncover stories about history and the world. In this case, we uncovered a hidden story about who can think historically and who does not, with the game biasing historical thinking skills for White player characters and backgrounding them for player characters of color.

Novel methodology 

The authors drew on components of Quantitative Ethnography to conduct an Epistemic Network Analysis of the choices players make in the game. This approach allowed us to look at over 3,000 data points in context, a feat at best very difficult to achieve with traditional qualitative methods.

Implications for society 

Being more aware of how the design choices people make around the design of learning experiences better positions teachers and learners to think critically about the ways of knowing and the knowledge we reproduce.

How the research may affect future research

The innovative use of Quantitative Ethnography and Epistemic Network Analysis offers a new way of looking at video games, specifically their design.