Making Learning Fun

Barab, S., Thomas, M., Dodge, T., Carteaux, R., Tuzun, H. (2005). Making learning fun: a game without guns. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53(1). 86-107. 


Quest Atlantis, a game like the commercial games, a game without violence like them. Instead, it is a learning environment.
It uses entertainment, education and social commitment
QA project uses five themes of Vygotsky:
- human development,
- social constructivism,
- social context for thought and activity,
- the zone of proximal development
- children’s pla


QA is a game
- without guns that provides excitement without violence,
- a girl-friendly environment and still attractive to boys
- includes inquiry-based and experiential activities
- in alignment with standards
-can be assessed for learning gains
- is committed to making the world a better place


experiential learning: learning with real world participation, learning based on experience
inquiry-based learning: learning is better when it involves inquiry instead of memorization
portfolio assessment: evaluating authentic student work

a socially responsive design: the goal of designing sociotechnical structures that support users and those communities in which they are nested in their own transformation.
QA is a metagame: macro-level structure that contains multiple microlevel activities
Core themes:
-Creating a vision
-participatory design process
-developing a metacontext: in role-playing games, the user assumes a role within the game context.
-supporting project implementation