Browsing by Author "Repo, Santtu"

It is important to look for new approaches and means to support learning in the constantly changing world. The potential of live-action role-playing games or larps to affect motivation and learning is examined in this study. In the center of the study is a larp called Velhokoulu. The skills taught by role-playing games and their other positive effects has also been studied earlier, but the children's point of view is rarely emphasized. Furthermore, the Velhokoulu-larp is a fairly unique case in a Finnish context. The aim of the study is to empirically find out the effects of larping both from the view of motivation as well as learning. The study was carried out as a case study, which data was collected with both qualitative and quantitative methods. The motivation and the learning were examined through the vision of the designers of Velhokoulu, the assistants’ execution and the players' experience. The material concerning the designers and assistants was collected with semi-structured interviews, while the players' experiences were surveyed with a quantitative questionnaire. The methods for analysis consisted of the qualitative content analysis for the interviews and simple methods of the statistical description for the questionnaire. The results showed that Velhokoulu can support the player's motivation and psychological basic needs in many different ways. Some of the most centered results concerning motivation were influencing one's own character and the action in the game, an optimal level and supporting it and the good and safe atmosphere. These principles were supported by enabling different action, taking the players' different age and experience into consideration and through safe roles and the model of assistants. Some centered results from the point of view of the learning were the development of the imagination, taking others' perspective, cooperative skills and critical thinking and questioning. The learning of the skills was supported by creating atmosphere, assistants' own model and the concrete examples, active encouraging and the challenging of the players. The player’s experience mainly highlighted the fact of Velhokoulu supporting both the basic needs and learning of the skills. On the basis of the results can be said that concepts such as Velhokoulu bring many benefits with it from different points of view. The filling of psychological basic needs is a precondition for the development of inner motivation, in addition to which the skills taught by role-playing games are important for example from the point of view of the wide-ranging skills mentioned in Finnish curriculum. The study indeed offers a viewpoint and example of how the untapped resources of games could be brought into use in practice and could be adapted for example in the context of education.