Search results for "Game play"

Designing motion-based activities to engage students with autism in classroom settings

2015

We report on a nine-month-long observational study with teachers and students with autism in a classroom setting. We explore the impact of motion-based activities on students' behavior. In particular, we examine how the playful gaming activity impacted students' engagement, peer-directed social behaviors, and motor skills. We document the effectiveness of a collaborative game in supporting initiation of social activities between peers, and in eliciting novel body movements that students were not observed to produce outside of game play. We further identify the positive impact of game play on overall classroom engagement. This includes an "audience effect" whereby non-playing peers direct in…

Factors affecting peak impact force during soccer headers and implications for the mitigation of head injuries

2020

It has been documented that up to 22% of all soccer injuries are concussions. This is in part due to players purposely using their head to direct the ball during play. To provide a more complete understanding of head trauma in soccer athletes, this study characterized the effects of four soccer ball characteristics (size, inflation pressure, mass, velocity) on the resulting peak impact force as it relates to the potential for incurring neurophysiological changes. A total of six hundred trials were performed on size 4 and 5 soccer balls as well as a novel lightweight soccer ball. Impact force was measured with a force plate and ball velocity was determined using motion capture. These data we…

Towards a Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Tower Line Wars

2017

There have been numerous breakthroughs with reinforcement learning in the recent years, perhaps most notably on Deep Reinforcement Learning successfully playing and winning relatively advanced computer games. There is undoubtedly an anticipation that Deep Reinforcement Learning will play a major role when the first AI masters the complicated game plays needed to beat a professional Real-Time Strategy game player. For this to be possible, there needs to be a game environment that targets and fosters AI research, and specifically Deep Reinforcement Learning. Some game environments already exist, however, these are either overly simplistic such as Atari 2600 or complex such as Starcraft II fro…

On Addressing the Challenges of Complex Stochastic Games Using “Representative” Moves

2018

The problem of achieving competitive game play in a board game, against an intelligent opponent, is a well-known and studied field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This area of research has seen major breakthroughs in recent years, particularly in the game of Go. However, popular hobby board games, and particularly Trading Card Games, have unique qualities that make them very challenging to existing game playing techniques, partly due to enormous branching factors. This remains a largely unexamined domain and is the arena we operate in. To attempt to tackle some of these daunting requirements, we introduce the novel concept of “Representative” Moves (RMs). Rather than examine the complete l…

1999

Since the 1980s there have been a number of studies that investigate the use of computers in homes. Many of these focused on the adults or adolescents in the family. Few studies have focused on children, particularly those between the ages of five and twelve. If children of these ages were included in a study they were usually situated within a study of the family and its dynamics, and often their experiences were viewed through the eyes of the adults in the family. The study described in this paper is unique in that the children‘s perceptions, beliefs and practices were the major focus and the children themselves were the informants. The study investigated children‘s computer experiences w…

Development and validation of the Perceived Game-Specific Soccer Competence Scale

2015

The objective of this study was to create a valid, self-reported, game-specific soccer competence scale. A structural model of perceived competence, performance measures and motivation was tested as the basis for the scale. A total of 1321 soccer players (261 females, 1060 males) ranging from 12 to 15 years (13.4 ± 1.0 years) participated in the study. They completed the Perceived Game-Specific Soccer Competence Scale (PGSSCS), self-assessments of tactical skills and motivation, as well as technical and speed and agility tests. Results of factor analyses, tests of internal consistency and correlations between PGSSCS subscales, performance measures and motivation supported the reliability an…

A Review of Early Numeracy Interventions for Children at Risk in Mathematics

2015

This study reviewed early numeracy interventions for four- to seven-year-old children at risk for mathematics difficulties. The search yielded 19 peer-reviewed studies with pre- and post-treatment control designs. The interventions were categorised as either core or supplemental instruction. The study analysed the effectiveness and identified the pedagogical components of the interventions: setting, duration, numeracy content used for intervention training and progress measurement, conductor and professional developmental support offered, and instructional design features. The interventions showed, to various degrees, the promising effect of improving the early numeracy skills of at-risk ch…

Internet and computer game addiction - a review of current neuroscientific research

2011

IntroductionA significant part computer game players and internet users show clinical features of abuse and addiction (loss of control, withdrawal symptoms, tolerance, continuation of game play even with increasing negative consequence in social and academic life). Similar mechanisms are suggested to underlie the pathogenesis and maintenance of internet and computer game addiction and substance-related addictions.ObjectivesNeuroscientific research on internet and computer game addiction is sparse, yet emerging. To review previous studies is the objective of the present project.AimsWe aim to identify common findings regarding the neurophysiological processes underlying internet and computer …

Consolidation by Game-Playing: a Gamesmanship Inquiry into Forestry Industry

2006

If one takes a flight in Finland from the country’s capital, Helsinki, for instance, north to Rovaniemi, the ‘Gateway to Lapland’, the scenery below consists typically of lakes, rivers and marshland, but most of all of forests. Wood in all its forms has been for centuries the core of the national character as well as the locomotive of business in Finland. Over the years the Finns have come to understand that the forest sector is perhaps the strongest guarantor of the Finnish economy and identity. The old saying ‘Finland earns its living from its forests’ can even be interpreted to mean ‘what is good for the forest sector is good for Finland’. Lilja, Tainio and Rasanen (1991a) encapsulated t…

"Rotaļspēle kā 5-7 gadus vecu bērnu sociālo prasmju veicinātāja"

2016

Darba autore: Eva Liepiņa Darba zinātniskā vadītāja: Dr.psyh., prof. Lūcija Rutka Darba apjoms: 52 lpp., 13 attēli, 1 tabula, 24 literatūras vienības, 5 pielikumi. Darba mērķis: izpētīt vecākā pirmsskolas vecuma bērnu sociālo prasmju veidošanos rotaļspēles darbībā. Problēmas būtība: Pirmsskolas periodā bērniem problēmas sagādā nepietiekami attīstītas sociālās prasmes. Problēmas sagādā uzturēt kārtībā vietu, kur bērns rotaļājas, apģērbu, savstarpējo attiecību veidošana, kā arī patstāvīga sava darba organizēšana. Rotaļas darbībā bērnos veidojas emocijas, pārdzīvojumi, kā arī attīstās sociālās prasmes. Pētījuma metodes: teorētiskā metode, empīriskā metode. Darba rezultāti: Bērnu sociālās prasm…