• The Tiltfactor Laboratory makes screen based computer games as well as street games and table top games like card games and board games. Unlike typical commercial games, our mission is to focus on “critical play.” We make games for children, for adults, for the public, and for particular communities to raise issues, discussion points, or just innovate play in novel ways.

    While our games can be seen as educational, it is important to us that they are fun!

    Our software and playful art fosters rewarding, compelling, and socially-responsible interactions, with a focus on inventive game design for social change.

    • The Adventures of Josie True

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    The Adventures of Josie True is the award winning science and mathematics web adventure game. The design was targeted at middle school girls in order to come at learning software design from a new angle. The proejct was funded by the National Science Foundation in 1999

    Integral to the research was player testing and research with our target audience, girls age 9-11 years old. We conducted experiments ranging from visual comparisons to interaction research using various game designs with the 5th grade curricular content. We also employed existing research to create better educational software through design.
    First, the project design was intended to increase both the time girls spent using technology and increase their comfort level with technology. This had to be incorporated into the project in terms of sustaining interest and providing for replayability, which was tested in our study.

    Second, we wanted to provide both a narrative and content that students in our target population could identify with, including women heroes of color. We focused on user populations which did not have much experience with computers. Some of the schools we worked with made the computer rooms off limits after violent incidents, so many of the girls hadn’t used a computer in a few years, if at all, before interacting with our testing materials.
    Third, we wanted to use the game as a context to make abstract problems “real,” thereby working to improve skills in the 5th grade science and math curricular areas by contextualization. We performed tests using the same content in the environment we created and tested performance and attitudinal outcomes against the same content in a different form.
    Fourth, our goal was to change the perception of role and place of science, math, and technology in order to promote associated fields of work. Our hypothesis was that we would partly change this perception by including lead characters of African American and Asian American ethnicity. To test attitudinal shifts we used pre and post testing in our testing sessions.

    The Major findings from the Research
    In order to increase both the time girls spent using technology and increase their comfort level with technology, we had to assess for content level but change how we ordered and presented the content to the subjects. We found that our target group used the software longer if a) they were attracted to the look and feel of the software; b) if they liked the characters and story and, most significantly in a science, math, and engineering context, c) if the girls perceived they performed well with the content. This was the most challenging aspect of the research and redesign process. Initially we designed the content for a baseline 5th grade national curriculum, but found that the participating girls would stop interacting with the software if they perceived themselves as not being able to successfully perform tasks (ie, they self-monitor their success with the tasks). We therefore designed levels into the science and mathematics activities. The three levels were set to approximate the third, fifth, and 6-7th grade levels. This way, girls who needed the confidence boost of knowing subject matters well could start off performing well in activity level 1; perform to their level in activity level 2, and exceed their current level in activity level 3.
    Our resulting software was more than simply a translation of 5th grade curricular areas to web-ready media. We had to design activities that reinforced actions and that made abstract problems “real,” thereby working to improve skills in the 5th grade science and math curricular areas by contextualization. To do this, we researched the field and for each game created a set of user tests to see of girls understood why they needed to use math and science in a particular area. Brunner (Feb 1997) notes that if the technology is introduced as a means to an end–as a tool for communicating or for making a creative work–young women are as likely to adopt it as young men. Girls prefer using technology for a reason, so we had to create concrete, narrative reasons for the interaction. Next to solid pedagogy, curriculum, and activity design, the most important measure of successful educational software is a strong content.
    One test involved the medium of the web itself—do our subjects prefer learning in our game-built contexts, or do our subjects prefer working on the computer because of its novelty? Our hypothesis was that girls would perform better when using our conscientiously designed software. We tested student performance by using the same fraction problems posted as a worksheet on the web against the problems being incorporated into a fractions game, incorporating the characters. The subjects had a 9.7% improved performance within the game than they did on the worksheet (web worksheet average score 86.2; web game average score 94.57). We believe this result is partly due to the feedback offered through the game. Before the result was “entered” by the participant, the game reminded the subjects to simplify/reduce their fractions or (divide when the top is bigger than the bottom to make mixed fractions). These simple reminders may have helped girls re-examine their work and submit more correct answers, improving their collective score dramatically.
    We used pre- and post- tests to collect data on the subjects’ perception of the role and place of science, math, and technology in order to promote associated fields of work. The lead characters in the Adventures of Josie True are an African American woman scientist and an African American woman aviator; the hero is a spunky Asian American girl. We found a significant shift in pre-and post-tests about perception and attitudes towards who works in science and what roles science and math have in daily life: a majority of the subjects tested using pre- and post-test surveys reported a shift in opinion about their preconceived notions of science and math, especially in the areas of computer science and problem solving.
    We tested our software project against commercially available math and science educational software projects. When compared with educational projects not directed at girls, subjects played the Josie True project 1.34 times longer than other projects in a given testing period. In testing situations, girls were given 20 minutes to play a commercial style educational software game (from the Jump Start series) and, in another session, use The Adventures of Josie True. In the commercial software sessions, we observed distracted behavior and switching out of the game at an average of 13.1 minutes into the game. We observed that girls used the Josie True activities an average of 17.6 minutes during the sessions before distraction. While interviews suggest that the girls seemed to think our software “made learning fun,” we also were unable to tell if the presence of testers influenced this part of the examination.
    More research is needed in the area of self-monitoring and reinforcement in learning, as well as in feedback systems and the importance of content review in educational software. Our subjects in particular wanted to prove what they already knew almost as much as they wanted to learn new things.

    This NSF sponsored research attracted the attention of the press. Below is a list of articles either completely about the project or which mention the project in great detail.

    2001   Friedman, Matthew. “Discontent: From indie musicians and game developers to mainstream advertising houses and filmmakers, businesses are still reaching for a content model that works.” The Montreal Gazette Industry Watch. January
    2000      “True Role Model in Cyberspace: University Professor invents Free Internet Game to Empower Young Girls.” The Montreal Gazette. November 2, 2000.
    2000   Adelson, Andrea. “Is Anybody Not Out for E-Billions? Josie True, For One.” The New York Times, March 29. Article about Josie True game for girls.

    2000   Mailander Farrell, Jodie. “Cyberspace: Where the Girls Aren’t — Yet.” (Computer and online games for girls are becoming the next frontier for developers). Office.com, February 11.

    http://www.office.com/global/0,2724,166-16202,FF.html

    2000   Willdorf, Nina. “Scholar Develops Computer Adventure Game for Girls.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 10. http://chronicle.com/free/2000/02/2000021801t.htm

    2000   Donovan, Patricia. “Game Designed with Girls in Mind.” United University Professions, March.

    2000   Article in Mandarin in the Chinese World Journal, January 17 about the Adventures of Josie True.

    2000   “Josie True, Game for Girls.” Center for Women and Information Technology Newsletter, April http://www.umbc.edu/cwit/news.html

    1999   Business First of Buffalo. “Project Aims to Help Girls Gain High-tech Advantages.” Business First of Buffalo. Oct 25, 1999, v16 i4 p41
    1999   Swift, Pat. “Program Aims to give Young Girls Access to Computers.” The Buffalo News, October 2, p C7.