META-COGNITIVE SCAFFOLD

8.4.3. META-COGNITIVE SCAFFOLD

The metacognitive scaffold aims to support the notion that the choices that draw and affect the development of the personal learning trajectories are so clear that they allows the student to reflect on the relationship between proceed and depends (see Section 4.2.5). The presented activities in the game contain disturbances, obstructions and consequences of choices processed through reflection processes that naturally push the student towards new knowledge pathways. In doing so, students create their individual learning trajectories that show how they are going to proceed, depending on what they have already learned and explored through inquiry processes. It thus becomes the role of the teacher to design the educational game so that the students are supported in building bridges between theory and practice through the interaction of reflection processes combined with analytical and explorative behaviour.

The metacognitive scaffold is thus about the teacher setting a clear framework around the goals that are crucial for the student to aim for. Weitze (2014) explains the link between how the learning goal can interact with the game goal as a way of defining the limits and available opportunities through the game mechanics used in the game:

“The game mechanics support the goal since the rules, possibilities and challenges in the game are constructed in a way such that the player has to gain knowledge to experience and practise how they reach the end goal” (Weitze, 2014, p. 227). The teacher can continuously challenge a series of multimodal and academic activities through the design of subgoals, also called “achievements”. These subgoals also create obstacles or challenges that need to be overcome and thus influence, shape and develop a learning trajectory that over time reflects opportunities to achieve new knowledge and

- 5 points per picture

- Idea development

Go to the library or the web and find relevant pictures of apartment buildings.

Make an analysis of the mass for each found pictures through the use of:

Revit / sketch-up, cardboard, blue foam, lego, 3D printer, laser cutter etc.

- 50 points per 200 words

Describe the building systems for your design proposals incl. penthouse and basement with regard to material

selecti-on, span, stability, flexibility, fire, sound, buildability.

- Progress

Figure 53 ‒ Quest of Progress ‒ quick and superficial thoughts that are focused on a few topics where the goal is to get progress in the process.

Figure 54 ‒ Quest of Idea development ‒ quick thoughts that consist of inspiration, ideas and stimuli where the amount is crucial and the correctness of the content is not taken into

consideration in order to maintain a creative process.

Figure 55 ‒ Quest of Acquisition of knowledge ‒ slow and in-depth process where the subject is analysed, investigated, developed and innovated through a wide variety of thoughts.

Figure 56 ‒ Quest of Reflection ‒ focus on few topics and working in depth at a slow pace that allows reflection processes along the way.

- 50 points per 100 words

- Reflection

Describe, based on your previous analysis and group

con-versation what constructive principles (building systems) you work with in

your design and why?

- 5 points per block- search

- Acquisition of knowledge

Go online and find relevant literature to support your project - based on the

brainstorm and mindmaps

Use 5W and the BLOCK method

skills based on the dependency relationship between proceed and depends (Schatzki, 2016b; Weitze, 2014).

The first pedagogical link of learning activities in the internal and external design grammar of the metacognitive scaffold is based on the following conceptual pair:

Reflective practice (meta-strategy) – achievement

One of the unique reward systems in computer games is the opportunity to obtain achievements. An achievement can be defined as independent goals or subgoals.

Achievement is available in several variants, with some of them merely requiring specific actions, such as completing a specific quest, while others are more time-consuming. The latter can be seen as a kind of meta-result that guides the students in particular directions or initiates more extended quest series.

Figure 57 – List of achievements.

The use of a Game-Based Learning design based on quest and level instills an indirect motivation that can create a positive momentum towards reaching a final goal, but also a negative effect by creating a loop effect where the launch of the new quest can become a form of procrastination. The use of a reward system based not only on quest activities but also on achievements has an embedded intention of preventing the student from playing or cheating the system. To achieve something, the student needs to have a holistic focus on the learning process. The teacher can use specific “achievement set-ups” that set limits and requirements in the process where reflection is the key to finding

Idea maker (300 points) – create min. 100 idea suggestions for your project

What is the purpose (500 points) - create a function analysis

Masters of dungeons (1000 point) - Complete all the dungeons/missions of the game

Finding the road (100 points) - Description of 5 bearing marks I am listening (500 points) - Hold min. 2 feedback meetings with the other groups

Surf the net (400 points) - Prepare a protocol for the literature search Volume studies (1000 point) - Create volume studies

Reach level 3 (300 points) - By Friday week 5 Reach level 4 (500 point – By Monday week 6 Reach level 6 (1500 point) - By Friday week 6

a solution. In different quests and missions, achievements need to be accomplished to fulfil a course or semester period. Also, achievements often follow a form of time progression ‒ for example, the students need to achieve level x by a specific date.

In this sense, the students’ written materials play a vital role as it is through digital, graphic and written communication that the students can systematically maintain new acknowledgements. Written processing of analytical research processes means that the students will be able to work with the meaning of the consequences specific choices have led to. In doing so, the written material becomes the tool that supports meta-stra-tegic considerations and the very argumentation of content coherence and interrelati-onship – how to proceed, depending on what has been learned.

The educational game design must thus be built around learning activities that deliberately make it difficult for students to make progress unless they reflect on a metacognitive level on the significance and consequences of the given challenges.

The game, therefore, contains a scaffolding of the development of meta-strategic competences by supporting specific learning activities in the internal design grammar where the students work through writing and graphics.

The next educational link of learning activities in the internal and external design grammar of the metacognitive scaffold is based on the following conceptual pair:

Reflective practice (reflection) – game over

The work of developing meta-strategic skills makes the principle of “game over”

particularly interesting. The principle of game over supports a sequential learning, where the step-by-step approach facilitates students’ work. The sequential learning process is thus intended to be facilitated through the game mechanism’s ability to modify and decrease the time. The idea is that it will create a learning process where the students’ thoughts are continually shaped and reshaped through experience, thereby creating new knowledge and a more in-depth understanding of their professionalism.

The game over principle is therefore not only about creating learning activities where the student can “die” but also about creating the possibility that disruptions and obstructions can have a direct impact and influence on the project. Thus, Dewey’s concept of temporal conception (see sections 4.2.5 and 6.2) can be regarded as a form of “game over” when the students’ projects are disturbed, and, because of that, take some unintended turns.

The game over principle can also involve the risk of having to start again, which forces the need for analytical processing of the learning activities through reflective practice.

The possibility of “dying”, and thus being forced to start again with an activity, thus triggers a series of reflection processes. The motivation to win the game indirectly pushes the students towards working on a metacognitive level through a reflexive discussion on how to solve the task ‒ for instance, by asking: how many ways can it

be done? Also, what methods are the most appropriate for creating useful knowledge?

When crafting and farming in particular is coupled with the “game over” principle, it creates strategic planning of, for example, the idea-generating process. It could be establishing defining rules to ensure a professional approach to brainstorms, or rules about how the outcome makes sense regarding the breadth and complexity of the projects. These metacognitive discussions are essential for maintaining a professional quality of the work, and reduce the temptation to finish and hasten towards the final goal.

PHASE 3