Mystery at the Museum: a Collaborative Game for Museum Education

Yiannoutsou, N., Avouris, N., (2012). Mobile games in Museums: from learning through game play to learning through game design, ICOM Education, vol. 23, pp 79- 86 (available in http://ceca.icom.museum/node/203), 2012

This paper investigates aspects of learning in museums through mobile games, i.e games that are played usually by groups of players, using mobile devices that allow interaction with the space and the exhibits and physical mobility of the players. It is argued that playing these games (which usually follow the pattern of scavenger hunt or role playing narratives), results in visitor engagement, motivation and knowledge about museum exhibits. Despite of these positive aspects, it has been observed that learning remains at the level of transfer of factual information about the exhibits. It is argued that in order to enrich the learning experience of game play we need to also involve the visitors in the process of designing mobile games for the museum.

Mobile technology has created new possibilities for location-based playful learning experiences. This paper describes the MuseumScrabble mobile game, aimed at children visiting a historical museum. The game requires that the players should explore the museum and link abstract concepts with physical artefacts using a mobile device. The focus of this paper is on the interaction design process and the subsequent observations made during field evaluation of the game. Design principles that guide the development of such a game are presented and concern playfulness, learning, social interaction, physical aspects of the game and flow between physical and digital space. We explore how these design principles are reflected in the study and how problem-solving strategies and collaboration and competition patterns are developed by children in this multi-player educational game.

Proceedings of the 8th …, 2009

In this paper, we describe two educational games mediated by mobile technology which were designed for use in the context of a traditional historical museum by young children. Our analysis focuses on the principles of the educational design, on the use of mobile technology and on the envisaged interaction between the exhibits and the children. The main argument of the paper is that mobile technology can support the play with the exhibits of a museum -instead of just viewing them in the more traditional way– and in this context the spectrum of children interaction with the exhibits can be broadened and enriched.

Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Games Based Learning, 2010

In contrast to developing educational games e.g. for schools, the development of games for museums has to meet even more limitations and specific requirements. These limitations concern the character of the game, its content, its location in the exhibition, its design and interface. In our paper, we present and discuss our experiences and drawbacks in developing an educational computer-based game for the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, a game dealing with the Hanseatic League and the old Hanseatic cog. This game was developed by Digital Media master students of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven in close cooperation with the responsible museum expert. Demanding a certain amount of the visitors' time and attention, a game risks competing with the exhibition rather than being part of it. Due to this context, the game design has to consider specific requirements and restrictions, concerning not only the game content that has to be (of course) true and serious but also the limited time available for playing, the flow and number of people as well as restrictions on size, sound and its location in the exhibition. Furthermore, a terminal game-in contrast to an exhibition guide-needs to be flexible enough to provide additional value for visitors at different phases of their museum visit: It needs both to engage visitors in applying knowledge acquired in the exhibition as well as to stimulate them exploring the environment more carefully after playing. Trying to master these challenges the game in this project was created in several development cycles, where game prototypes were reviewed by museum experts, tested by school children and optimized according to the evaluation results.

International Association for Development of the Information Society, 2014

The use of portable devices to explore informal learning environments has recently exposed museums to a mobile learning (m-learning) scenario. In particular, location-based mobile applications that take into account not only a specific physical venue, but also the personal and social context can be valuable resources to enhance the visitor experience. Game-based applications that leverage on fun and social interaction to facilitate the meaning-making process represent a promising approach, since they favor both learning and entertainment activities. This paper presents the design and evaluation of "Intrigue at the museum", a location-based game addressed to children visiting Palazzo Madama-Museo Civico d'Arte Antica (Turin, Italy). This piece of work offers a methodological insight into the evaluation of engagement as a precursor of learning and provides evidence that a resource of this kind can contribute to a meaningful and enjoyable exploration of the museum by chil...

Mobile technology has created new possibilities for location-based playful learning experiences. This paper describes the MuseumScrabble mobile game, aimed at children visiting a historical museum. The game requires that the players should explore the museum and link abstract concepts with physical artefacts using a mobile device. The focus of this paper is on the interaction design process and the subsequent observations made during field evaluation of the game. Design principles that guide the development of such a game are presented and concern playfulness, learning, social interaction, physical aspects of the game and flow between physical and digital space. We explore how these design principles are reflected in the study and how problem-solving strategies and collaboration and competition patterns are developed by children in this multi-player educational game.

International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, 2017

Museums promote cultural experiences through the exhibits and the stories behind them. Nevertheless, museums are not always designed to engage and interest young audiences, particularly teenagers. This Ph.D. proposal in Digital Media explores how digital technologies can facilitate Natural History and Science Museums in fostering and creating immersive museum experiences for teenagers. Especially by using digital storytelling along with location-based gaming. The overall objectives of the work are to establish guidelines, design, develop and study interactive storytelling and gamification experiences in those type of museums focusing in particular on delivering pleasurable and engaging experiences for teens of 15-17 years old.

Abstract In this paper we analyze two different trends that have informed technology for learning in cultural institutions during recent years: one more established trend, supporting the information consumption metaphor and the other one, emerging recently, that invites visitors to participate in the process of culture creation. We discuss then game design as an example of participatory activity and we identify its learning dimensions.

07th EAI International Conference: ArtsIT, Interactivity and Game Creation (ArtsIT ’18), 2018

Museums promote cultural experiences through exhibits and the stories behind them. Nevertheless, museums are not always designed to engage and interest young audiences, especially teenagers. Throughout this paper, we discuss teenagers as an important group to be considered within the Children-Computer Interaction field, and we report some techniques on designing with teens, in particular, arguing that participatory design methods can involve teenagers in the design process of technology for museums. For this purpose, we conceptualized, designed and deployed a co-design activity for teenagers (aged 15-17), where teenagers together with a researcher jointly created and designed a medium fidelity prototype. For this case study, participants were divided into groups and invited to think and create games and story plots for a selected museum. All the prototypes were made by the participants with the support and guidance of the researcher and the Aurasma software, an augmented reality tool.

Proceedings of the International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 2010

In this paper we present the project of developing a digital educational game for the German Maritime Museum Bremerhaven (GMMB). The game is related to the main exhibit " Hanseatic Cog " and the medieval exhibition about " Hanseatic Times ". The goals of the project are not only to enhance museum visitors' experiences by making them aware of certain exhibits, stimulating them to explore the environment and offering them new information, but also to gather knowledge about integrating serious games beyond the limits of the private sphere. Not only typical problems of serious games had to be solved, i.e. making the play an engaging and educational experience, but also specific demands of the museum regarding the time available for the visit, the flow and number of visitors, information displayed and duration of the game had to be taken in to consideration. In order to increase " fun " during the play, we chose an explorative game type of " learning by acting " (action learning). In the role of a sailor and trader, the player has to apply his acquired knowledge by acting in the game rather than just answering simple quiz questions. However, sometimes quizzes were necessary during certain parts of the play in order to make information explicit and faster to be grasped. In several development cycles, game prototypes were tested by school children also inside the museum and optimized according to the evaluation results. The results of the usability tests showed that an educational game for a museum context needs to be highly self-explaining, using clear instructions and clear metaphors. After testing the final prototype, we are confident that it engages visitors for the exhibition topic and improves learning effects.