World Of Warcraft: Achieving Habits Of Scientific Thinking

In my experience, I have found World of Warcraft, or WoW, to be more effective in cultivating habits of scientific thinking than its educational counterparts: labs and textbooks. In their introduction, Steinkuehler and Duncan quote Henri Poincare as he reflected on the progress of scientific inquiry: "Science is built up of facts, as a house is built up of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a heap of stones is a house." Taken aback upon reading this quote, suddenly all I could think about was the years I remember losing interest in science class because teachers handed us stones without instructing us on how to build houses. It was no wonder I turned to this massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). Shabriri was a priest (a healer, in the game) who with the help of a kind guild, conquered dungeons, slew bosses, and led raids. Here I finally learned how to collaborate with others, ask for help without feeling ashamed, and expand my perception of issues without a specific solution. A …show more content…
I could not help but think of a specific page in my psychology textbook detailing the scientific method. When a problem arises, the first step is to conduct a literature review; similarly, guild members consult group chats or forums on a specific issue before attempting to solve it. The next step is to develop a testable hypothesis, or "plan of attack". Accordingly, the plan of attack is carried out by players. Once we have collected the data from the results of the test, we analyze it and determine how to improve upon it. Players usually submit these results back into the group chats and forums, which demonstrates the cyclicity of the scientific method. To quote actor Adam Savage, "The difference between messing around and science is writing it