Abstract
Crowdscience games may hold unique potentials as learning opportunities
compared to games made for fun or education. They are part of an actual science
problem solving process: By playing, players help scientists, and thereby
interact with real continuous research processes. This mixes the two worlds of
play and science in new ways. During usability testing we discovered that users
of the crowdscience game Quantum Dreams tended to answer questions in game
terms, even when directed explicitly to give science explanations.We then
examined these competing frames of understanding through a mixed correlational
and grounded theory analysis. This essay presents the core ideas of
crowdscience games as learning opportunities, and reports how a group of
players used "game", "science" and "conceptual" frames to interpret their
experience. Our results suggest that oscillating between the frames instead of
sticking to just one led to the largest number of correct science
interpretations, as players could participate legitimately and autonomously at
multiple levels of understanding.
Users
Please
log in to take part in the discussion (add own reviews or comments).