What is a "Museum Education Game"? What is the current state of the research?

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Introduction

This article defines "museum educational games" as a game activity with educational goals led by museums. Through literature screening, 42 thematic literatures were selected, and the research stage and its characteristics were summarized from the longitudinal dimension, and the research content and its viewpoints were summarized from the horizontal dimension, and the research process of three stages and the research understanding of four aspects were obtained respectively. Based on the combing of literature, it is summarized that there are problems such as the significant homogenization of empiricism, the lack of professional analysis of museology disciplines, and the one-sided research stance in the current research on museum education games. Enlightenment future research should grasp the main body in general, deeply reveal the essence of museum education games, and from the professional perspective of museology, in-depth exploration of educational media, educational audiences, educational effects and other aspects.

Since the 20th century, many European and American museums have tried to use games to "provide soil for audiences to resonate with museums", and continuously improve the learning experience between audiences and museum exhibits through educational games. Educational games were introduced to museums, and museum educational games came into being.

The mainland's attention to museum education games began in the early 21st century, initially piloted in historical and natural science and technology museums, and in recent years, the number of applications of various types of museums at all levels in China has increased.

At present, domestic museum education game activities are becoming more popular and favored by the audience, but in the process of practice, the game form is greater than the game content, and the learning is not strong compared with other educational activities, etc., the reason behind which is that the museum education game practice lacks the guidance of theoretical research, which is not unrelated to the lag in the construction of museology disciplines. In order to establish a research system framework for museum educational games, it is necessary to base on the overall research review and analysis of the results of this topic. This paper attempts to define the concept of museum educational games, summarize the domestic research results based on literature combing combs, sort out the research process and research understanding of museum educational games in mainland China, summarize the research status and existing problems, and draw relevant enlightenment for future research directions.

First, the definition of research concepts

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The conceptual origin of educational games

Friedrich Schiller, a representative figure of German classical aesthetics, put forward man's "game impulse" in the book "Aesthetic Education Book", discussed that game is a civilized force that helps human beings overcome "emotional impulses" and "rational impulses", and pointed out: "Human beings are completely human when they play. "The historical origins of the game's use as a means of education date back to the Middle Ages, where aristocrats learned war strategies through chess games. In the early 19th century, the kindergarten founded by the German educator Friedrich Fr bel used puzzle toys such as building blocks, clay and woven materials, which is regarded as the predecessor of educational games.

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Conceptual definition of educational games

The term "Educational Game" is derived from pedagogy, a fusion of education and games, also known as "Serious Game" or "Game-Based Learning" (GBL), and the term "Gamification of Learning" was proposed at the 2011 Global Game Developers Conference. In its original sense, the above concepts are not the same as "educational games" and are closely related, enriching or emphasizing the aspects of the definition of the concept of "educational games".

In a narrow sense, educational games are different from general games and belong to the category of educational means; in a broad sense, educational games point to a learning mode mediated by games, which is an educational model. The commonality of the two meanings lies in the educational value of the game, so the concept of educational game is mostly discussed around education, and it is determined that it highlights education on the basis of general games. In addition, educational games are often grounded in constructivist theory, viewing learning as a knowledge and meaning construction in the course of play. In view of the above pluralistic educational values, this article defines "educational games" as games with educational goals.

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Conceptual definition of museum educational games

The introduction of educational games from pedagogy to museology, that is, the concept of museum educational games is generated. In 2015, the "Horizon Report of the New Media Alliance (2015 Museum Edition)" released by the American New Media Alliance mentioned that educational games in museums refer to the application of game elements, game mechanics and game frameworks to the environment or scenes of museums to achieve the purpose of promoting museum education. Regardless of the narrow and broad sense of educational games, the "museum education games" studied in this paper refer to the game activities with educational goals led by museums, and are one of the forms or modes of learning for museums.

2. Research methods

This paper sorts out the relevant research results of domestic museum educational games, and the summarized research literature is derived from the China Knowledge Resource Library Platform (CNKI). Since the current museological research has different definitions of the concept of museum educational games and their names are also different, the author uses the subject word screening, mainly using the theme of "museum games" containing "education" for advanced search, and selects a total of 42 literature on related topics as of May 2021, including 36 journal papers, 3 conference papers, and 3 dissertations. The following is a review of the relevant domestic research literature, the longitudinal dimension summarizes the research stage and its characteristics, and the horizontal dimension summarizes the research content and its views.

In the longitudinal dimension, the earliest research related to museum education games in China began in 2007, when Liu Zhujiang published the article "Computer Games - A New Carrier for Museum Culture Communication". From the perspective of the time and number of publications, there were only 5 related articles from 2007 to 2014, 6 new articles were added in the two years from 2015 to 2016, and the number of literature has increased year by year since 2017, and 31 new articles have been added so far.

In terms of horizontal dimension, at present, the research on educational games in domestic museums is mostly case studies. From the perspective of the types of literature, 30 case-based empirical discussions were discussed, and there were 12 theoretical studies, including 2 review literatures, 7 theoretical conceptual deduction studies, and 3 empirical literature containing qualitative or quantitative research.

Third, the longitudinal research process

Research to get started: Advocating for the introduction of educational games into museums

Looking back at the research articles on museum educational games before 2015, the earliest batch of literature related to this emerging in China is to promote the introduction of educational games into museums as the main content, analyze the rationality of introducing educational games into museums, and briefly describe the background of the origin of the development of domestic museum games.

In order to promote the development of museum educational games, the earliest research "computer games - a new carrier for the dissemination of museum culture" pointed out: In 2006, the Ministry of Culture announced the list of online game products suitable for minors, and the characteristics of some puzzle games were recognized. Liu Zhujiang took this opportunity to believe that this kind of game can become a new carrier used for the dissemination of museum culture, and its introduction to museums is in line with the development trend of museum undertakings. The article "Game Strategies for Museum Culture Education That Cannot Be Ignored" starts from the background of the free opening of museums and memorials in the country in 2008, and believes that the use of games to publicize museum culture can attract people to enter museums and understand museum information. Zhang Wenjuan believes that in the context of the era of widespread application of intelligent terminals, museums use games to disseminate science, which can enhance the effect of popular science and expand social influence. Zhao Yuyang and Zheng Xia call this introduction "a cross-border combination of museums and games", recognizing that the concept of integration needs to be explored. Such research, which aims to promote the introduction of educational games in museums, provides impetus and foundation for the emergence of the concept of "museum educational games", so it can be regarded as the starting point for the research of domestic museum educational games.

The initial stage of research: summarizing the phenomena and methods of museum educational games in practice

At the starting point of the research that museum educational games have attracted attention, museum educators have begun to try to carry out educational games in educational activities, and summarize the phenomena of museum educational games according to the practice of individual cases, so as to provide method guidance for the design and application of museum educational games. In this research phase, practical cases involved the Gansu Provincial Museum, the Palace Museum, the Guangdong Provincial Museum, the Datong City Museum and the Grand Canal Museum of China.

In addition, the practical experience of foreign countries also provides reference for the practice and development of educational games in mainland museums. Huang Mingle translated the research article of Jack Ludden, chairman of the Media and Technology Committee of the American Association of Museums (AAM), and used swot analysis to discuss the research and development of museum games from four aspects: advantages, disadvantages, opportunities and challenges, and made a macro outlook on the application and development of games and museums. The paper emphasizes that the strategic vision of museum education must keep up with technological innovations, and the application of museum games can change the way museums interact with audiences, and proposes to evaluate game development and find key factors that have a positive impact on the development of museum education.

Mid-term study: Exploring the theoretical basis of educational games in museums

Taking 2017 as the time node, while the number of research literature has increased steadily, museology scholars have realized the conceptual ambiguity and lack of theoretical basis in the early practical research process, and have begun to theoretically study the museum education game and theoretically analyze the empirical survey results. Xie Jing used game theories such as Play Theory and Flow Theory to analyze the motivation of museum audiences to participate in games, combined with context cognition theory, recent zone of proximal development, multiple intelligences theory and other educational theories to analyze that games can promote knowledge acquisition. Scholars such as Liu Liyun believe that the theoretical basis of knowledge games also includes inquiry-based learning and constructivist theory. Based on the gamified learning DMC level system, Jiang Sujuan analyzes the design objectives, design principles, basic architecture, game situation, game characters, game tasks, game flow, and game elements. Since then, the concept of "gamified learning" has continued to appear in the theoretical study of museum educational games. Wu Di and Xie Ying associated children's education in the museum with gamified learning, and through the investigation of the current situation of children's gamification learning in provincial museums, summarized the development characteristics of gamified learning in its infancy, the exploration and use of various technologies, the diversification of game types, and the diversified composition of R&D personnel, and proposed the application strategies of strengthening the research of the target audience and attaching importance to the evaluation of application effects. In addition, some scholars have carried out theoretical analysis from the perspective of informal learning, zhang Fengying and others believe that museum learning has the characteristics of informality and free choice, and educational games also have the connotation of spontaneous initiative, and the combination of the two can work together on the informal learning of museums. Based on the discussion on the expression, development reasons and practical significance of museum games, Xing Lixia put forward the theoretical research prospect of deeply integrating the concepts of museum education and game.

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brief summary

A longitudinal review of the research process of museum educational games, from the initial stage of "advocating the introduction of educational games into museums", to the initial stage of "inducting the phenomenon and practice methods of museum educational games", and then to the current mid-stage "exploring the theoretical basis of museum educational games", the overall problems of vague concepts, practice first, and theoretical lag are studied. In particular, the theoretical research on museum education games is mostly based on the concept of combining the two using the relevant theories of museum education and games, and key issues such as the connotation and value of museum education games still need to be studied.

Fourth, horizontal research and understanding induction

Conceptual awareness

There is no standardized definition of museum educational games in China, and there are similarities and differences in conceptual understanding in the relevant research literature, including museum functional games, museum educational games, learning games for museum education, and museum gamification learning activities. The common understanding lies in affirming the educational motivation of introducing games into museums, which is the research premise for the educational and playful understanding of museum educational games. This motivational consensus also provides a reference for the conceptual definition of museum educational games.

The conceptual understanding of differences lies mainly in the relationship between museums and educational games. "Functionality" aims to highlight the applicability and professionalism of this type of game, applied to museum scenes and combined with museum expertise. Therefore, "museum functional games" emphasize the cross-border integration of games and museums, and functional games are "imported products" for museums. "Museum educational games" refers to the integration of games or game elements into the educational activities of the museum, emphasizing the learning mode of games as the medium, and can develop a game-type museum education model. Gamified learning is becoming an important aspect of museum learning, as is learning games for museum education. As a result, the positioning of museum education games as a means of museum education has been clarified.

Educational awareness

Educational understanding focuses on the educational role played by educational games in museums, and analyzes their role and influence as a means of museum education, so as to lay a foundation for exploring the value and connotation of museum educational games. Therefore, educational cognition is the core issue and content of museum educational game theory research. The practice and investigation of educational games in museums with different themes show that educational games can become a carrier for museums to disseminate history, science, nature and culture, and a tool for independent learning.

The existing theoretical research of museum educational games basically starts from the perspective of communication and pedagogy, and is discussed based on the positions of both museums and audiences. From the perspective of communication science, combined with the communication theory of the game, the physical interaction experience and unique spatial narrative of the museum game are analyzed, so that the audience can be physically and mentally happy and meet the needs in participating in the interaction, and form a perceptual memory and emotional connection with the high-quality culture. From the perspective of the museum, the use of educational games to highlight the core of educational content can provide an immersive context for the information interpretation of the museum, and also provide a novel channel for the presentation and dissemination of knowledge. From an pedagogical perspective, museum education games offer a different museum learning experience than ever before. With an eye on the audience's standpoint, museum educational games can stimulate the audience's interest in learning and promote audience participation. In line with the "user-centric" concept of audience engagement in the context of museums, educational games guide audiences to become active learners rather than passive educators.

In addition, the museum learning guided by educational games varies from person to person, which to a certain extent satisfies the learning motivations and needs of different audiences and promotes the realization of the public education function of museums. Most of the related studies have regarded the child audience as the target audience of the game, and explored the development of museum educational games for children based on the development stage and learning characteristics of the child audience.

Gameplay awareness

The understanding of gameplay focuses on the gameplay characterization of museum education games, and studies the game characteristics based on museum education to explore reasonable design and application. Design research can be reduced to two categories, one of which advocates the use of game mechanics to reflect game attributes, and the design research of game mechanics revolves around game design steps, design elements and design methods. The second emphasizes the use of gamification in museum learning, that is, the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-gamified situations. Gamified thinking can be integrated into the top-level design of the museum learning experience, including museum exhibition display, education science and communication and interaction.

In terms of application, educational games have developed different application forms according to different types of museums, and combined with the blessing of new digital technologies and new devices such as augmented Reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), the application prospects of future museum educational games are proposed. It is worth noting that applied research takes science and technology museums as an example to explore the application characteristics and value of museum educational games on the theme of science and technology.

Intrinsically related cognition

With the increase in the practice of museum educational games, the relationship between education and games has become more and more close. The balance between educational and playfulness coincides with the purpose of "edutainment" of museum education, which has become the key to the success of museum education games, and the importance of the intrinsic relationship between the two has gradually been recognized.

The practical research on the intrinsic relationship between education and games is to reveal the rules of educational game design through the analysis of competitors in the educational game market, including smooth interactive experience, interesting interface design and personalized needs, and refer to the application trend of gamification learning, and conclude that the design of museum educational games requires that the learning content be interesting, the interaction mechanism is easy to understand, and the guiding means are used to trigger the audience to think and learn.

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The research on domestic museum educational games is in its infancy and has not yet been systematized, and the overall research situation can be summarized into the following points. First, the research content has been continuously enriched, and a preliminary understanding of the concept, nature and internal relationship of museum educational games have been obtained. Second, the research ideas are mostly summarized by the experience of practical cases, and there are fewer conceptual deductions and theoretical analysis of museum educational games. Third, the research perspective is diverse, and interdisciplinary research is carried out with reference to pedagogy and communication. Fourth, the depth of research is limited, and the existing research conclusions fail to reveal the connotation and value of museum educational games, which is not enough to build a systematic theoretical foundation.

V. Research Summary and Enlightenment

Problems in the current study

Domestic research on museum education games has received attention and quite a progress, to the perspective of development of museum education games, the current research has certain limitations, to be overcome.

First, empiricism is characterized by significant characteristics, and there is a problem of homogenization in research. Specifically, the vast majority of studies use case studies to draw empirical understanding of museum educational games, summarize the laws and strategies of design and application, and provide reference for the practice of museum educational games. In addition, different studies have different understandings of the concept of museum educational games, and the experience of case analysis is not universal enough to promote conceptual unity and standardization.

Second, the specialization of theoretical research is weak, and there is a lack of theoretical basis for the discipline of museology. According to statistics, the existing research uses play theory, immersion theory, situational cognition theory, recent development zone theory, multiple intelligences theory and gamified learning DMC level system as theoretical basis, which are closely related to the "educational game" and ignore the fit with the non-formal educational institution of the museum. There is no research on the professional analysis of educational games based on theories of museum education, such as free choice learning, situational learning models, and constructivist learning theories.

Third, the research position is slightly one-sided, blindly affirming the positive effect of educational games on museum education, ignoring the potential negative impact of games themselves on the concentration of learning. In this regard, we should uphold an objective and dialectical attitude, combined with theory and empirical evidence to analyze the learning impact of museum educational games.

Prospects for future research

With the continuous renewal of the carrier, the way the museum's knowledge is produced and disseminated has changed. In terms of overall practice and development, the museum education game undoubtedly injects new vitality into contemporary museum learning. Drawing on foreign research and based on existing local research results, relevant research should grasp the main body in general, deeply reveal the essence of museum education games, effectively define them at the conceptual level, and construct a complete research framework at the theoretical level.

Specifically, the research related to museum educational games still has a large space for exploration from the professional perspective of museology. Compared with traditional museum education, the difference is reflected in the educational media, educational audience, educational effect, etc., which has enlightened the future research direction of museum educational games. For the study of educational media, starting from the basic attributes of games, the feasibility of game advantages in museum education is explored, so as to lay a solid foundation for the integration of educational games into museums and become museum education means. For the study of educational audiences, that is, for the audience research, the original intention of the museum to carry out educational games is to create opportunities for museum audiences based on game learning, and different audience groups have their own learning characteristics and learning needs, especially for children, families, students and other museum learning motivation of the strong target audience. Through audience research, the attitudes, demands and expectations of museum audiences towards educational games are clarified, and references are provided for the museum to implement educational games and provide a gamified learning experience for the target audience to have fun and teach. For the study of educational effects, it is advocated to carry out educational game evaluation, which is oriented to the target audience of the game based on museum learning, so as to analyze the learning impact of museum educational games on the audience, and further provide empirical evidence for the connotation and value of museum educational games.

This article is adapted from the "Review of Research on Educational Games in Mainland Museums", which was originally published in The Museum, No. 5, 2021 (No. 29 in total). Author: Huang Tingting Department of Cultural Relics and Museology, Fudan University