Speaker: Dr. Ari Epstein | Terrascope | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Coauthor: Abraham D. Stein | Game Lab | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Presentation Slides
“Rivers and Dams” is a multiplayer game designed to help students learn essential elements of collaboration and team-based communication. Originally developed for the University of Georgia’s Integrative Conservation Ph.D. program, the game is structured in such a way that it can be used by a wide range of learners in many kinds of settings, including introductory engineering and design classes.
The game is designed to look to players like one kind of game–a game about negotiation, working with multiple stakeholders in large-scale design projects, environmental trade-offs, and related topics–while in fact being a targeted excercise in which players carry out an initial collaboration, reflect on their process and collaboration/communication skills, and then have the immediate opportunity to deepen and cement their learning via another, related collaboration.
Here we present details of the game and its development, along with results from playtesting and initial implementation. The developers would welcome colleagues interested in exploring use of the game in their own classrooms and with their own students.