VELS Domain: Humanities
VELS Dimension: Humanities Skills
VELS Level: 2
This is the main game in a series of three games – it is preceded by a familiarising compass labelling activity, and is followed by an optional extension activity relating to the other directions on a compass, e.g. North West. It is a fun maze game, where you have to apply your compass knowledge to help a character find its way. There is an intrinsic motivation in beating a previous best time on the clock, and the compass knowledge is actually being applied in a similar way to the practical use in reading a map or finding one’s way. This similarity to the real-life application of the acquired skill makes a learning object like this one highly effective at meeting its long-term educational goal (Walker & Shelton, 2008).
The most frustrating aspect of the usefulness of this learning object is that it does not present any variations or alternatives – there is one way to solve the puzzle, and once you have mastered that you cannot refresh to a new maze design. Applying knowledge of compass points to a few different mazes would be more effective for learning outcomes. This is a quick, informative, and engaging game that could provide an ideal learning task before assigning students a real-life orienteering activity.
References
Walker, A. & Shelton, B.E. (2008). Problem-Based Educational Games: Connections, Prescriptions and Assessment. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 19(4), 663-684.
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