Research on role-based learning technologies

One of the goals of science education is to familiarize students with an intellectual framework based on established scientific principles and general approaches that can later be used to solve science-based problems. Science is also content-based, and students must master the content of a discipline in order to succeed. The challenge for science educators is to develop educational tools and methods that deliver the principles but at the same time teach the important content material, but in a meaningful way. This paper describes research based on experimental virtual role-based environments built to explore the following beliefs: -educational technology should capitalize on the natural human propensity for role-playing; -students will be willing to assume roles if the environment makes it easy to do, and if the environment reinforces role-playing through careful crafting of explicit tutorial components; -that educational software should be engaging, entertaining, attractive, interactive, and flexible: in short, game-like. The experiences provided to the student within these virtual worlds can be both meaningful and authentic, although some trade-offs are required to make them fun, challenging, and occasionally unpredictable.