The Game, Sensegiving and Sensemaking
Excerpt from my doctoral work on meaning mechanisms and playful pedagogy
PhD Student in Design and Social Innovation - PROJEKT
How can artifacts help create meaning?
“... humans, a body-mind-heart-spirit living in a space-time... requires considering that thoughts and ideas... are all possible sources of meaning creation.”
(Ribarsky, Tolone, Wang, n.d.)
From mental model to sensemaking and vice-versa
According to the psychological perspective, sensemaking is defined as follows:
“How people make sense of their experience of the world”. Mental modeling –aside from sensemaking– is the mechanism that allows it.
Mental Modeling ⊂ Sensemaking
Mental Modeling ≠ Sensemaking
What is a mental model?
According to Forrester (1971), we carry an image of the world around us, which is only a mental model.
“Mental modeling –the mental model– is simply a representation of how the world works.”
One view on human reasoning is that it depends on mental models. In this view, mental models can be constructed from perception, imagination, or discourse comprehension (Johnson-Laird, 1983).
Discourse comprehension → Mental model construction → Cognition
“All models are wrong, but some are useful”
A mental model is generally:
- based on non-quantifiable, imputable, obscure, or incomplete facts;
- flexible - considerably variable, in both positive and negative sense;
- an information filter that causes selective perception;
- very limited, compared to the complexity of the world;
- dependent on information sources available at any time.
The game as a sensemaking facilitator
For Durkheim, education holds the role of socializing institution par excellence. Recall that “socialization can be defined as the process by which individuals internalize norms, values, and roles governing social life” (Darmon, 2006).
Two important phases are generally distinguished in the socialization process:
- Primary socialization starting from birth and extending through childhood.
- Secondary socialization continuing throughout adult life.
According to Dervin (2003), sensemaking is making sense of complex ideas by putting them in situation.
→ The game could be an artifact that allows concretizing abstract notions and complex phenomena.
We then hypothesize that the game could be a mediation artifact by the fact that it creates cognitive proximity.
What is cognitive proximity?
By cognitive proximity, we mean that people sharing the same knowledge base and expertise can learn from one another.
However, Nooteboom (2000) refers to two conceptions of cognition:
- One is “absorptive capacity” which includes phenomena an individual can understand.
- The other notion is learning, described as “extension of cognitive function”.
Discussion and exchange time responds to players' reaction regarding their game experience (debriefing).
Thus, the game allows awareness that leads to acquiring new perspectives –lenses– (Schell, 2008).
Case study: Children facing social inequalities through Monopoly - an example of sensemaking through play
The Monopoly of Inequalities proposes a version of the game where rules reflect our society's injustices. The objective of this activity is to raise awareness about inequalities and discrimination, discover notions of justice and injustice, and encourage critical reflection.
The Monopoly of Inequalities is a game treating abstract notions for children, which they cannot necessarily understand without living them.
The game, sensemaking and sensegiving: conclusion
Sensemaking consists of making sense of what is happening, and it allows the genesis of sensegiving, creating meaning for others
