Games based learning for Exploring Cultural Conflict

In this paper we discuss the early stage design of MIXER, a technology enhance educational application focused at supporting children in learning about cultural conflict, achieved through the use of a game with an effective embodied AI agent. MIXER is being developed re-using existing technology applied to a different context and purpose with the aim of creating an educational and enjoyable experience for 9-11 year olds. This paper outlines MIXER’s underpinning technology and theory. It presents early stage design and development, highlighting current research directions.

[1]  Rupert Brown,et al.  Contact is not enough: An intergroup perspective on the 'contact hypothesis.' , 1986 .

[2]  Ana Paiva,et al.  ION Framework - A Simulation Environment for Worlds with Virtual Agents , 2009, IVA.

[3]  F. Sani,et al.  The development of the social self. , 2004 .

[4]  Ana Paiva,et al.  FearNot! - An Emergent Narrative Approach to Virtual Dramas for Anti-bullying Education , 2007, International Conference on Virtual Storytelling.

[5]  Stephen C. Wright,et al.  The extended contact effect: Knowledge of cross-group friendships and prejudice. , 1997 .

[6]  S. Thiagarajan,et al.  Barnga, a simulation game on cultural clashes , 1990 .

[7]  Andrew Ortony,et al.  The Cognitive Structure of Emotions , 1988 .

[8]  Ana Paiva,et al.  Making It Up as You Go Along - Improvising Stories for Pedagogical Purposes , 2006, IVA.

[9]  F. Aboud,et al.  Parental and peer influences on children's racial attitudes☆ , 1996 .

[10]  F. Aboud.  Children and prejudice , 1988 .

[11]  R. A. Ruiz,et al.  Person Perception, Self-Identity, and Ethnic Group Preference in Anglo, Black, and Chicano Preschool and Third-Grade Children , 1974 .

[12]  Ana Paiva,et al.  Using rituals to express cultural differences in synthetic characters , 2009, AAMAS.

[13]  Americus Reed,et al.  The self-importance of moral identity. , 2002 .

[14]  D. Nesdale.  The development of Prejudice in Children , 2001 .

[15]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind , 1991 .

[16]  J. Yinger,et al.  The meaning of race. , 1966, Journal of the West Australian Nurses.

[17]  A. Mcalister,et al.  Extended contact through peer modelling to promote tolerance in Finland , 1999 .

[18]  C. Steele.  The Psychology of Self-Affirmation: Sustaining the Integrity of the Self , 1988 .

[19]  Ruth Aylett,et al.  FearNot! Involving Children in the Design of a Virtual Learning Environment , 2006, Int. J. Artif. Intell. Educ..

[20]  Miles Hewstone,et al.  Contact and Conflict in Intergroup Encounters , 1986 .

[21]  C M Steele,et al.  Self-image resilience and dissonance: the role of affirmational resources. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[22]  K. Aquino,et al.  Moral identity and the expanding circle of moral regard toward out-groups. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[23]  B. Corenblum.  What children remember about ingroup and outgroup peers: effects of stereotypes on children's processing of information about group members. , 2003, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[24]  K. Aquino,et al.  The self-importance of moral identity. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  S. Worchel,et al.  The Social psychology of intergroup relations , 1979 .

[26]  Lincoln Quillian.  Prejudice as a response to perceived group threat: population composition and anti-immigrant and racial prejudice in Europe , 1995 .

[27]  Gert Jan Hofstede,et al.  Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, 3rd ed. , 2010 .

[28]  W. Banks,et al.  Evaluative Bias and Preference Behavior in Black and White Children. , 1973 .

[29]  Gert Jan Hofstede,et al.  Exploring Culture: Exercises, Stories and Synthetic Cultures , 2002 .