EPIGAME: a software environment for learning structures and strategies to guide inquiry

This paper analyses the use of epistemic games in creating a computer-based environment called EPIGAME that teaches learners how to actively organize and construct their knowledge. In the process, EPIGAME also teaches them knowledge in a particular domain. This work fits in the paradigm in which computers are used as cognitive tools to help learners recognize, judge and organize patterns of information. We adopt the concept of epistemic games and forms as discussed in Collins and Ferguson (1993). Epistemic games act as structured concept maps that help organize information. EPIGAME teaches epistemic games in the context of discussing some domain of interest. Faced with a task for organizing or creating knowledge, the learner is first presented with the epistemic form and then guided to fill in the epistemic form in order to organize or create knowledge. Her moves will be constrained by the rules of the game. In this paper, we propose and discuss the design of EPIGAME. Our software architecture for implementing EPIGAME provides a flexible framework that ensures reusability and extensibility, and that allows teachers or instructors to edit domain knowledge embedded in the system