What can we learn from Pokémon Go?

The pathway of my academic research has immersed me in digital technologies and their application within education. In my previous research studies, I explored how students used digital resources to learn English (as a second language), mathematics and science, and I am especially interested in the learning experience in out-of-class contexts, as there is a significant gap in the literature concerning young learners’ use of digital technology to support learning outside of the classroom. I believe that students’ out-of-class learning experiences can impact their perception, motivation and learning experiences in formal learning contexts (e.g., school, college, university).

I chose to use the term “digital technology” rather than “educational technology” because some of the digital resources which are not primarily designed for educational purposes can be adopted in the field of education, especially when the use of simulation has reduced the boundaries between “educational simulations” and games.¹ Before I drafted my PhD research proposal, I discussed with my supervisor that I was quite interested in researching how Pokémon Go can be used in various STEM learning contexts. As it could take up to 4 to 5 years to complete a PhD at the University of Cambridge, we worried whether this game would remain available and popular by the time I completed my PhD degree; therefore, I decided to research some of the more “educational” digital resources instead. It turns out that our worries were unnecessary – one of the apps that I studied in my fieldwork was no longer available in the AppStore by the time my thesis was written up (although it used to be one of the most popular “educational” apps), whereas Pokémon Go is still popular and it even had its first World Championship in August 2022 in London, England.

In my PhD research, I investigated secondary school-age learners’ out-of-class (community and home-based settings) STEM learning experiences with digital technology. Since leisure-based games are not primarily designed for learning, many researchers argued that there might be a lack of pedagogical design and learning theory.² In addition, many technologies which have been widely used in various fields, including 3D printing, robotics, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), holographic projection, etc., are gradually being made available to learners, parents, and educators.³ These tools have demonstrated great potential to assist learning; however, existing research studies often lack a strong conceptual underpinning in terms of pedagogical theory. After joining Cambridge Mathematics and learning more about the Cambridge Mathematics Framework (CMF), I started to wonder, can we learn from the design of successful games and make the digital resources for mathematics and science learning both pedagogically sound and technically attractive?

As one of the contributions of my PhD research, inspired by Activity Theory, I developed an analytical framework based on the analysis of empirical data and systematic literature review:

This framework can be helpful when considering features to be included during the design and development of digital resources (e.g., devices, apps, web-based platforms, etc.). It consists of six salient components:

Learner
Tools (digital technologies are theorised as tools in this framework)
Goal (effective learning)
Context (e.g., school, out-of-class contexts, etc.)
Learning Theory (so that the digital resources can be pedagogically sound)
Content (specific content being studied by learners, e.g., mathematics topics, science themes)

“Content” is placed in the centre of the model since it is important to understand what content the digital resources aim to help learners to learn; each of the other factors in the model interacts with the learning of specific content. The two-way arrows can be understood as tendencies to interact. This framework can be used to study the interaction and mediation among different factors. For instance, Tools – Learner – Learning Theory – Context – Goal (also includes Content) can be used to study how secondary school-age learners (Learner) effectively (Goal) learn (Learning Theory, e.g., learning strategies, metacognition) mathematics (Content) with digital technologies (Tools – software and hardware) in out-of-class contexts (Context). This framework can be adopted in other fields and is not limited to the study of science or mathematics. Some triads can also be studied separately; for example, Learner – Goal – Learning Theory can be used to explore how a learner uses learning strategies to achieve their personal goals – this can be a study of, for instance, “How to improve primary school learners’ reading skills.”

In my PhD research, I identified a “plan-monitor-evaluate” cycle that reflected learners’ metacognitive skills and awareness:

As many digital technologies are not generally designed by teachers, researchers, or pedagogic experts with professional subject knowledge, some of those currently available for educational purposes offer little more than digitised versions of traditional textbooks or a collection of information; the technological power or computing system behind the tools might be advanced, but the learning materials are not arranged in a way which can scaffold secondary school-age learners’ learning.

Taber (2010) states that for digital technology to be effectively used for scaffolding self-directed learning, certain features need to be considered when designing the tools:

providing the learner with an overview of the area to be covered near the start;
providing navigation options to allow the learner to move about the material according to their own needs;
offering questions with feedback for the learner to check their understanding; and
‘scaffolding’ to allow learners to build up their understanding at their own pace … to help the student recognise which prerequisite knowledge is relevant, and show them how it fits with new knowledge – as well as offer a way of structuring prior learning with new information to build up new understandings.^{4(pp.15, 16-17)}

Based on these features and the analysis of observational data (e.g., plan-monitor-evaluate cycle) in my PhD research, a practical guide for the design of digital resources was proposed. For digital resources to provide scaffolding that can facilitate learners’ self-directed learning, it is suggested that the flow of learning materials should be:

introduction (a brief introduction of the tool; guidance on how to use it; basic mechanism in the resources);
pre-test (help learners, or AI assistant if installed, realise their ZAD (Zone of Actual Development), so that learners can “plan” their learning);
main learning materials (navigation options need to be provided so that learners are able to adjust their learning pace; this represents the “monitor” metacognitive skills); and
post-test (help learners evaluate their learning experience).

Apart from these steps, the use of rewards should be considered throughout the process, as this is arguably the most important factor that triggers learning motivation. In my research, I found that intrinsic motivational factors are more likely to lead to continuing to engage in an activity (e.g., learning); therefore, it is suggested that intrinsic rewards should be offered rather than material rewards. If a learner is offered material rewards the task would become extrinsically motivated; however, if the material rewards could trigger a sense of achievement or confidence, they would also motivate the learner to engage in the learning activities intrinsically. In addition, since some of the participants in my research mentioned that they found it useful when communicating with their friends or parents in out-of-class contexts, I believe that there would be value in adding social functions, but this might cause distractions. One of the suggestions here is that there can be a “window” period – for instance, a learner might be granted access to a chatbox once having spent some time learning, and the access to the chatbox would be closed after a period of time so that the learner would be able to concentrate on learning again without the pop-up being pushed. The time period can be set by themselves so that the digital resources can suit their personal learning goals and metacognitive awareness.

Although Pokémon Go is not considered as an “educational” game, as some of the features in Pokémon Go are mathematics- and science-related there are debates on whether Pokémon Go can be used in science and mathematics education. Regardless of whether Pokémon species adhere to the biological species concept, this game:

starts with an introduction (what this game is about, how to play the game) that establishes a storyline (that motivates users to continue engaging with the game);
provides opportunities for users to practice what they have learnt from the introduction (although this is not a pre-test of knowledge, this is a test for users to determine if they have the relevant skills and are ready to play the game, which links to an aspect of scaffolding);
encourages learners to continue engaging with the game by offering various forms of rewards (this is relevant to continuing motivation); and
offers a social function (players around the world can send virtual postcards and gifts to each other, but this would not cause distractions since this app does not provide real-time chatting functions).

The phenomenal success of Pokémon Go might be explained by the popularity of the Pokémon merchandise; the design of this game (which echoes the guidance discussed above) also plays an important role here. The guide proposed above is based on pedagogical and sociocultural theories from the perspective of learners. However, it is necessary to clarify that this is not proposing new design knowledge, but is rather a commentary on the limited design of many educational digital resources.

Although mathematics can be viewed as a language (i.e., as a metaphor for a system that we use to communicate), we cannot ignore the complex role of language (e.g., English, French, Chinese, etc.) in mathematics.⁵ Language provides the means for us to think and talk about mathematics and science; therefore, it plays an important role in scaffolding in mathematics/science classrooms. However, when it comes to the design of digital learning resources, especially for those being used by learners in self-directed/self-regulated ways, I believe that more research studies are needed to investigate whether it would be possible to teach and learn without giving instructions so that learners can be allowed to explore within the resources. For instance, one of the directions might be to explore how best to design digital resources that can afford effective learning but are not reliant on language for their effectiveness.

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