Abstract:

How a video game player negotiates the alien environment of a new game requires the activation of cognition to direct action. As the player constructs game play in the foreign environment mediating cognitive skills are used to facilitate progression through the game. The activation of skills used to negotiate understanding of the alien environment is reflective of a player’s general experience and familiarity with gaming technology, indicating the role of experience in how cognition is engaged. This presentation will discuss the results of a study that identifies a continuum of cognitive skills used to engage a new game, or alien environment, based on the player’s experiential level. The recognition of video game play as a domain of expertise signifies the development of sophisticated knowledge structures related to game play, allowing those with higher levels of experience to interact with a new game and activate a greater number of cognitive skills that supports learning from the new environment (Pillay, 2003, VanDeventer & White, 2002). Considering the interest in the application of video games to educational settings, the contrast of expert and novice processes while navigating the alien environment provides a method for identifying the baseline of skills activated by game play and their successive development resulting from experience (Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981; Elio & Scharf, 1990; Snyder, 2000; Zeitz, 1994). The role of cognition in navigating the alien environment of a new game has implications for the use of gaming technology by educators to support learning outcomes and their optimal design to support learning.

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