Learning Through Media The Presence of Engineering Design Principles in Digital Games

Abstract

Record ID: 340

Program Affiliation: Service Learning

Presentation Type: Poster

Abstract: The goal of this research project was to determine if engineering design principles can be found within the popular digital sandbox games: Minecraft and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. This was achieved by finding videos of people playing the games with both creative and story-driven methods and scoring them based on how many steps of the engineering design process they followed within a given time frame. Inter-rater-reliability using Cohen's Kappa was utilized to ensure accurate and precise data related to these videos. This data was paired with our own research into the realism of both games through testing of the convertible measurement systems, friction, conventional mechanics, gravity, and collisions. Together, this research allows us to have a better understanding of the teachings of engineering principles from popular media and those teachings applicability to the real world. From this understanding we have generated recommendations for future media to instill engineering principles, and education in general, into their design.