Learning as-you-do-it is more efficient and effective than classrooms or textbook reading.
Could academic subjects remodel themselves on meditation apps, asks?
notes.andymatuschak.org/Guided_meditat
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This is probably easier for heavily procedural subjects, like math and meditation. Note that math instruction is already a lot like this, and doing exercises feels like "sitting down to do math".
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Brainstorming a bit: maybe this is why a constructionist framing has potential - to learn *concepts* in a domain, maybe structure the activity s.t. salient intrinsic motivation is to learn the concept. e.g., learn concepts of evolutionary biology bc you *NEED* to for.. a game?
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I think this doesn't work in the general case because games ultimately serve aesthetic ends (i.e. "find the fun"). Maybe you can "find the fun" in which evobio is essential, but perhaps better to focus on an authentic context. (rough outline here: notes.andymatuschak.org/z244xx3kMf1v8U)
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I think "find the fun" is a valid concern, but maybe more of an issue with children who you are trying to "trick into learning" than with people interested in the topic for its own sake, and who may even find more meaningful a design that sacrifices some fun for deeper learning.
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Definitely agreed—and at that point, the purpose to serve is, say, genuine mathematical inquiry, which is no longer about being a game.
Depends on how we are defining a game - part of the reason why I got interested in edugames involved a time when I would have preferred to spend time learning about something useful, but was depressed and had a deficit on feelings of competence (among other things).
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That created a game compulsion for that quick feedback loop, all the while I wished that I could spend the same time and energy learning about (say) higher maths. Wouldn't have required that much to create the same kinds of reasonably compelling loops in an educational context.
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