In the Zone: The Intersection of Flow Theory and the Zone of Proximal Development in Game-Based Learning

By: Nicole Damari, MD, MS, 

Hours had passed. I’m not sure how many solo rounds of the board game Pandemic I had played, but it wasn’t a small number. I didn’t just want to win the game on its hardest setting – I wanted to unravel the secrets of the game, to become an expert player, to learn to play the game well. As I fell into gameplay with those goals, everything else fell away. I was in the zone.

This feeling of being “in the zone” is one of the key features that game-based learning (GBL) attempts to leverage. A key theory discussed in GBL that captures this idea is Flow Theory,[i] which has also been describe in arts, sport, music, education, among others. Originated by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970’s, flow describes a state in which individuals are so absorbed in an experience that it is itself intrinsically motivating, sometimes to the extent that it can feel like nothing else matters. The theory describes that flow state occurs at the optimal balance of challenge and skill. An activity that is too easy promotes boredom; one that is too hard creates anxiety. The opportunity for flow exists somewhere in between. When achieved, a flow state promotes enjoyment, creativity, and sustained attention.

While distinct in many ways, there are some interesting parallels with Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)[ii]. ZPD describes the space at the edge of what a learner can achieve independently, but still within what they can achieve with appropriate scaffolding or support. A task that is too easy fails to promote growth; one that cannot be achieved even with support can be demoralizing. The space in between, when learners are supported with appropriate scaffolding, is where learning and development happen.

In looking at the verbal and visual descriptions of flow and ZPD, it’s hard not to be struck by the similarities. Both frameworks discuss opportunity that exists when the balance between challenge and skill is optimized.

Game-based learning serves as a unique opportunity to consider this overlap. With a clear win condition, progressive and adaptive difficulty levels, and opportunities for immediate feedback, games are often designed explicitly to sustain flow. If these features of games are leveraged effectively in an educational setting, similar factors can also place a player or learner in the ZPD: clear learning objectives, progressive degree of difficulty or challenge, and scaffolding or support in the form of peers, teachers, or tools that can provide feedback and guidance.

In the setting of an educational game, educators may have the opportunity to leverage similar design features to both place the learner in the ZPD where they are stretched just enough to acquire new skills and also sustain their attention and engagement in that space through a flow state. Game mechanics that are designed for flow naturally map onto to ZPD principles. The unique potential of game-based medical education lies in designed experience that exist at this intersection.

In fact, this has been explored in the K-12 education literature, with a group in 2013 proposed the preliminary concept of the “Zone of Proximal Flow” (ZPF) as they explored the intersection of these two theories.[iii] The authors describe a theory that capture the scaffolding dimension of the ZPD which also focusing on keeping learners in a high motivation, high engagement zone. The model provides a framework to consider when learners require help, when they require increased challenge, and when to expect peaks in engagement and motivation. This combined theory of ZPF was developed in the context of educational games in the middle school classroom setting, but the concepts can be considered in the medical educational context, especially as we consider game-based medical education in particular.

As you consider designing a game-based learning session informed by these theories, consider the following questions:

1. What are the win conditions of the game that the player will work toward, and how do they correlate with the learning objectives?
2. In what way does the experience provide opportunities for progressive or adaptive degrees of challenge? Does this challenge target the skills you want learners to develop?
3. What mechanisms exist to provide scaffolding and feedback to support learners as they work toward a challenge just out of reach?

Whether it was founded in productive learning objectives or not, my experience with Pandemic provided me with a clear win condition, the ability to adjust difficulty level, and continued feedback as each round took me closer to (or farther from) victory. There is significant opportunity within in game to leverage the design element to optimize learning and engagement. Considering flow and ZPD together in GBL can help guide us toward game-based curricula that promote sustained focus in situations that will lead to meaningful, lasting learning.

Photo curtesy of IStock

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References

1. Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper & Row.
2. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
3. Basawapatna, A. R., Repenning, A., Koh, K. H., & Nickerson, H. (2013). The Zones of Proximal Flow: Guiding Students Through a Space of Computational Thinking Skills and Challenges. Proceedings of the Ninth Annual International ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research (ICER ’13), 67–74.

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