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An Evaluation System for Games Related to Geography and Landscapes in Education

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The Social Construction of Landscapes in Games

Part of the book series: RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft ((RFSRL))

Abstract

There is a wide range of games that can be used for educational purposes, and some of them can be used for geographical and/or environmental education. Despite the wealth in papers relating to applications of games in geographical education, we still lack a set of criteria which might be used to evaluate them. In this paper, after an initial screening of 150 papers, 17 papers referring to games that are useful for geographical/landscape/environmental education were examined further. These games range from table/board games to augmented reality, cartographic, puzzles and virtual reality games. Consequently, a set of 34 criteria was formulated that can be useful to evaluate them. The criteria are articulated in four subsets: those referring to the user’s knowledge (6 criteria), skills (10 criteria), experience (9 criteria), attitudes and values (9 criteria). As it turns out, it is very difficult for some game to satisfy all criteria. For instance, while augmented reality games focus on enhancing the users’ experience, they lack problem-solving or knowledge-increasing capabilities. Subsequently, the basic advantages of each game type per set of criteria are identified.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Fivos Papadimitriou

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  1. Fivos Papadimitriou
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Dennis Edler

  2. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Olaf Kühne

  3. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Corinna Jenal

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Papadimitriou, F. (2022). An Evaluation System for Games Related to Geography and Landscapes in Education. In: Edler, D., Kühne, O., Jenal, C. (eds) The Social Construction of Landscapes in Games. RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35403-9_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35403-9_19

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