Four Paws: Training a Service Animal- Final Proposal

Introduction

In 2003, an article written for Australian psychologists examined the importance of using humane education programs to increase empathy and prosocial behaviors in children (Thompson and Gullone). Humane education programs utilized introducing children to non-human mammals, so they can better understand the needs of others. The proposed game, “Four Paws: Training a Service Animal”, is a pet-raising virtual reality game based on the concepts behind humane education programs. It’s centered around fostering a puppy who will become a service animal for someone with a physical or mental disability. Users will play as the caretaker of the animal and will have to balance the needs and training of the animal.

It was found in a 2009 study, at Simon Fraser University, that when children play human-animal interactive games, like Nintendogs, there is an increase in empathy and compassion for other people (Y.-F. L. Tsai and Kaufman). The researchers also found in a follow up study in 2014 that when a child is focused on a common goal with the animal, there is an increase in the understanding of the needs of others (Y.-F. (Lily) Tsai and Kaufman). The use of the service animal in this game is to act as a way to connect students to those who may not be similar to themselves. In Denise Gigante’s “Facing the Ugly: The Case of “Frankenstein”, she notes that it was not until the creature came to life that Victor becomes uncomfortable and began obsessing about how different the creature was from humans, although he was made of human parts and had not physically changed since becoming reanimated. It was not until Victor saw the constricted and limited movement of the creature that he began to fear the creature, who was similar to him but was not able bodied. Through this game, children will be given the opportunity to help those unlike themselves and gain altruistic behaviors. The benefits of this type of game can go beyond the classroom community and potentially into the everyday life of the player as they develop the skills to relate to others and their needs.

This products current target market is elementary-school teachers and children ages 6-11. Teachers are the primary audience as this game aims to improve the classroom environment by enhancing student’s ability to be altruistic and care about others in their community. The goals of “Four Paws: Training a Service Animal” are to open the conversation of diversity, teaches responsibility and compassion for others. This game will also help students facilitate the ability to set goals and make inferences from their surroundings.  An article published in Inside Higher Ed, titled “Empathizing 101” by Allie Grasgreen, commented on children’s ability to develop empathy. Grasgreen said that the value of understand and perspective-taking will have long lasting effects into adulthood. Through Four Paws, users will have to the opportunity to learn how their actions can affect others around them directly and indirectly. Through simulation, this game allows users to impact on the life of a community member that has additional needs outside of the societal norm. By understanding the needs of another and motivations for raising the animal, the student can gain perspective within a controlled environment.

The secondary audience for Four Paws is children ages 6-11, who will encounter the game outside of the classroom environment. This game aims to promote helpfulness, peer positivity, and responsibility in a fun, virtual experience. The importance of the aims are to improve empathy by increasing the user’s ability to identify and sympathize with the needs of others. Keith Oatley, a novelist and professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, explains how when reading fiction there is an increase in empathy and understanding because readers are being stimulated by a fictional, social world (Oatley). Oatley was quoted in Léa Surugue’s article “Reading books and watching films makes you kinder in real life”, saying that “The most important characteristic of being human is that our lives are social.” He continued to say that “Fiction can augment and help us understand our social experience.” In Four Paws, users will be in a simulated community where their actions impact those also living within the community by giving aid to others. Through the use of this fictional community, a child will be able to take the experiences they gain within the game and apply them to their everyday lives.

Learning outcomes

How is this application educational?

  • Students will be able to define working animals.
  • Students will be able to describe the importance of having service animals for people with disabilities.
  • Students will be able to understand how service animals are trained.
  • Students will be able to define trust.

Connection to Frankenstein: This application will be educational because we believe the power of empathy to positively transform the teacher and student experience in the classroom. If you’ve been in a school for any length of time, you know that whether you’ve asked for it or not, anything can happen. For example, every day teachers and students are facing difficult and complex situations in school – questions about belonging and forgiving, advantage and ability, conflict and acceptance. Everything seen in school age children now is a theme of learning in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

According to Davis,

“To understand the disabled body, one must return to the concept of the norm, the normal body. So much of writing about disability has focused on the disabled person as the object of study, just as the study of race has focused on the person of color. But as with recent scholarship on race, which has turned its attention to whiteness, I would like to focus not so much on the construction of disability as on the construction of normalcy. I do this because the “problem” is not the person with disabilities; the problem is the way that normalcy is constructed to create the “problem” of the disabled person” (Davis 3).

Students often do not get to see people with disabilities interact in the public which can create false assumptions or stereotypes about disabilities.  So, this virtual reality application is educational because it teaches the students to have empathy towards the people who have disabilities, teaches to think about different kinds of people who are different from them, and learn about service animals. Students will gain an understanding of the themes (isolation, health, and perspective) of Frankenstein by learning how to train a service animal.

How will the outcomes be assessed?

The learning outcomes will be assessed through small groups. Students will be discussing answers, sharing thoughts, and justifying their conclusions. The teacher will support and facilitate discussions allowing the students to learn more about service animals. In addition, the teacher will be checking in with each group taking notes that will be used to facilitate the whole group lesson closure. The teacher should be able to see the students’ success by the conversations they will be having in their groups. The teacher will also know when the students come up with multiple strategies and are working together to find the best way to solve the game. Also, the teacher will not be able to see each student actively play “Four Paws: Training a Service Animal”, but the teacher will have the option to record each student play the game to access the students’ progress through the “Options” section. This is very important because it will help the teacher to be able to successfully assess each student by rewatching their games to see if they are understanding the concept of the game. The teacher will be able to locate the collars of the dogs to see which level the students are on.

STANDARDS:MD College and Career-Ready Standards (CCRS); Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.1.A

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.2

Confirm understanding of a text read aloud, information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.4

Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.4

Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

MD College and Career-Ready Standards (CCRS) – http://mdk12.msde.maryland.gov/instruction/curriculum/technology_literacy/vsc_technology_literacy_standards.pdf

Grade 1st– 6th

Standard 2.0– Digital Citizenship: Demonstrate an understanding of the history of technology and its impact on society, and practice, legal, and responsible use of technology to assure safety.

B. Legal and Ethical Issues

1. Practice responsible and appropriate use of technology systems, software, and information

           b) Work cooperatively and collaboratively with others when using technology in the classroom

           c) Recognize responsible use of technology systems and software

           d) Demonstrate proper care of equipment (such as following lab rules, handling equipment with care)

C. Increase Productivity

1. Use and understand how technology increases productivity

           a) Describe ways the selected technology tools are being used to support learning goals and accomplish tasks

LESSON DESIGN / SEQUENCE OF INSTRUCTION / ASSESSMENTS:

  1. ANTICIPATE: Guide students through a picture walk of the book. Read the book, Hanni and Beth: Safe and Sound by Beth Finke. Through class discussion of the book, create a list of the things that Hanni provides for Beth as her working companion (protection, safety, comfort in strange situations, confidence, etc). Create a list of things that Beth provides for Hanni (food, water, a home, care). During the discussion, lead the class to understand that this companion relationship benefits both Hanni and Beth because of trust. Define and discuss trust.
  2. Explain that there are many working animals that humans depend on and trust for their assistance. Ask students to brainstorm what they think “working animals” means, then explain the following definition. Define working animals as animals kept by humans and especially trained to do specific tasks. These animals make the quality of our lives better and benefit all of us. Talk about some of the skills that service animals are taught as students look at the pictures, such as: retrieving various objects, pressing a wheelchair access sign with their paw, and getting on and off a bus.
  3. Discuss why an animal rather than a person may be better suited for a particular job.
  4. To conclude the lesson, show students the Oculus device to play Four Paws inside the classroom.
  5. After playing the game, have the students reflect on what they saw by using the Think, Pair, Share learning strategy, asking students to think about one thing they learned, turn to a neighbor, and share with each other.

User experience

Similar Products:

There are many games that are similar to “Four Paws”, two of them being “Augmented Reality Dragon by Virtual Pet Simulator” and “Dog Hotel: My Dog Boarding Kennel by Simulation”. In AR Dragon players get to create their own AR dragon that will appear as though it is in their room through their phone. Players can play, feed and collect items for their dragon including toys and hats. In Dog Hotel players can board dogs that they will have to feed, clean and entertain during their stay at they hotel. Both of these games are similar to Four Paws but also incredibly different. In “Four Paws: Training a Service Animal” players are immerse in a virtual world via The Samsung Gear VR Powered by Oculus or they can use an app on their mobile phones. This game setting allows students to will foster and train a puppy that will become a service animal. Players will be students in a classroom, or children five to eleven at home and this game can/will be used to teach empathy towards others.

The Gear VR Powered by Oculus-

In the interest of trying to keep access to this game affordable for teachers while still being a virtual gaming experience the Samsung Gear VR Powered by Oculus was our choice of gaming system. This system will use a single hand controller to perform actions in game and will allow for the adaptable use of just using the app without the VR set. This simulated game can be switched from a regular phone app to a VR game with a simple push of a button, the game will display the controls on the screen allowing for everyday use without the Oculus. Students will be simulating training service animals in order to help their community.

Start Page:

Begins outside the Animal Shelter, standing in the front yard. Players will see four options: Start, Load Game, Options, and Help. Start will allow players to begin a new game, here they can customize their avatar in the world and give it a name, it then would proceed onto play the game. Load game would allow players to load their avatar from previous sessions. Options would be available for teacher access only which would allow them to put a time constraint to cut the game into shorter intervals, view their students progress within the game and monitor students interactions with the VR set and the game itself. Lastly, Help would give answers to common questions asked about the game and a customer service number in case of any game related issues. Continuing on from start players will walk through the doors and then be greeted by store owner Bob, he will tell them about how the shelter is looking for volunteers to foster service animals and give students the option to choose between a type of puppy either a dalmatian or golden retriever. Based on the student choice they will train the animals in ways to help someone with a physical or mental disability. The students will then feed, bathe, play, and train their animals while having their level progress monitored by their teacher through the options menu. While training their animals they can build up their pets level, this will be shown by the color collar the animal is wearing as displayed in Figure 1. The length of the session will determine how much the student is able to accomplish with their animal and each session will end with the student having the animal go to bed. For example, in their first session of eight minutes, they will only be able to meet their animal, feed it, bathe it, do some quick training and put it in bed. This is because most of the session will be spent creating the avatar and explaining the purpose of training the animals. Should a student or player get stuck on a level or not understand how to progress, a hint will be in the right hand corner to help guide back into the right direction. In the second session if eight minutes long the student will wake their animal, feed it, play with it/walk it, and do more training exercises. In the sixteen minute session they will be allowed to work on their animals training to earn a new collar. This game will proceed over 6 sessions, the last session ending with giving the animal to the new owner it will be providing a service to.

Session123456
LevelTraineeRookieAverageAdvancedProService Animal!
Collar ColorRedOrangeYellowGreenBluePurple

Figure 1: Level Guide

Session One Script

Start page– Four Paws: Training A Service Animal (Start, Load Game, Options, Help)

Start– Begin creating avatar, once done walk into Animal Shelter.

Bob: ”Welcome to Four Paws; a pet store designed to help people find their perfect pet. We are currently looking for foster homes for our service animal program. In this program you foster and train an animal to become a service animal for a member of the community, we started this because it is important to help others and by simply training this animal you can change somebody’s life. Would you like to foster a puppy?”

Options– allow student to pick between dalmation and golden retriever puppy.

Bob: “Wonderful! It makes me so happy when people are willing to foster!What would you like to name your pet?”

Options– Allow student to type pet name and select boy or girl.

Bob: ”(pet name)! Oh that’s the perfect name for this little guy. Well it’s almost time for you to head home but before you go here is a few thing you might need!”

Display– bed, food, toys, and white collar

Bob: “Well it was wonderful to meet you (avatar’s name)! If you have any questions about the animal program please come back to ask! Thanks again and we will see you and (pet name) soon!”

Screen Change– now in players home, animal runs in through front door “Welcome home! This is where you and (pet name) will live. Let’s take a quick tour!” now the student can move around the house to find the pet food, bed and toys. “Here you can feed, clean, play and let your animal sleep.” *animal makes noise* “Oh it sounds like (pet name) is hungry! Why don’t you feed them and get to work on training, if you have any questions on your next job or need help push the three lines in the top right corner. Good luck and happy training!”

Options– Steps will instruct student to feed and bathe their pet.

After bath– “It’s time to head off to training!”

Screen change– “Welcome to Pet Training! Here you’re going to work with (pet name) to train them to be the best service animal they can! Let’s get to work on your first task!”

Options- allow student to pick a task to train and work with their animal on the task a couple times.

After training– “Congratulations! You’ve reached Level 1 Trainee! Place this new red collar on (pet name) to show they are in training! Great job today, make sure you let (pet name) get some rest today.” The game then instructs the student to put the animal in bed and log off from their first session.

Implementation strategy

The implementation of “Four Paws” as a virtual reality game that allows the user to train a service animal in order to help develop empathy for those different from them will be done through a strong catchphrase, marketing towards target populations, and overcoming various barriers.

A strong phrase is what truly draws people in and forces a focus on what is being sold. Having something set to a tune especially a familiar toon, makes it easier to remember, meaning that consumers may come back later to buy the product (Costa-Sanchez). If the game or concept cannot be described in a sentence or less then it will not sell. “Making life easier, one paw at a time” Is a simple and effective way to identify the game and what it aims to accomplish. This will become a part of the marketing campaign to make the game familiar and easy to remember.

The marketing campaign will become effective after the game has went through testing and is functional to the target audience. The game is going to be marketed through television ads at times when children normally watch, for example after school and later evening times after dinner. The channels it could be broadcasted on would be inclusive of Cartoon Network, Nick Jr., and Disney Channel. The game will also be marketed at major gaming conventions such as PAX west and east. These are major game showcases on the west and east coast held every year. This would help to get the word out about the game. As a way to reach our primary audience of teachers, the game would also be brought to teacher conferences and conventions like the Conference on Meaningful Living and Learning in a Digital World, and ConnectED. The reason this will also be marketed on television is to familiarize children with the concept and allow access and visibility of disabled characters and promote understanding outside of a classroom setting. The ability to see and understand disabled people with allow children to be more open and empathetic with them in the future. Early access and awareness of this will help improve the empathy gap and allow for an easier transition in the classroom (Insight).

Potential barriers that can be foreseen for the game include price and time. Many public and even private schools may simply not be able to afford an The Gear VR powered by Oculus system. Baltimore school systems for example can not even afford to heat some of their school buildings, these schools will not be able to use these systems. The solution to this is a cheaper choice of VR headsets. The one chosen cost around $80-120 instead of other more expensive headsets that range from 500-1500 dollars. The headset chosen is the Samsung Gear VR headset with a controller. The headset and controller would be shared with a few students who would take turns, not one headset per student. An alternative to this as well is to use the game on just a mobile device such as a smart phone as a app.

Timing is another factor and is a much easier problem to solve. In job training, employees will have to do modules at a time to get online training for their jobs. By doing modules at a time this will allow for developers to take their time but for teachers and other clients to be able to fit this into their class schedules or syllabus.The goal is for the game to play over the course of six modules, or about 1 session a week. The first module is going and getting the service animal and the subsequent modules after this will be focusing on is training the service animal.

Long Term Goal

For the initial prototype, “Four Paws: Training A Service Animal” will be limited in three major ways. The first limitation will be the animal and service options, as the prototype will only feature two breeds of dog that will aid in stability. By only allowing a few options, users will have the ability to begin playing in the virtual world much quicker while allowing developers to focus on game play. The next limitation is how many options are given to users when they are training their dog. The prototype will have an either/or game play, where there are only two options for game play but only one option allows players to move forward. This limitation is to ensure that the goals of the game can be accurately met and assessments to of the aims can be more focused. The third limitation of the prototype is that players will have very limited options for characterization. Users will have the ability to name their animal and pick out require resources for owning an animal like bowls and pet beds but there will be minimal choices for these items. This limitation has been set to help keep game play time down as well as continue to focus on the aim and goals of the overall game.

The five year plan for “Four Paws: Training A Service Animal” is to add more animals like cats and horses, as they are used currently as service animal. The goal of the service from the animal would also be able to be altered, as now the prototype dog will become a stability service animal. New installments of the game may include smelling, vision, seizure detection and emotional support. As the game continues to develop and needs are being met, this game may be able to become more inclusive for all audiences. This would include having an option for captions to be added for hearing impaired users or remedial level for student users with learning disabilities. Additional expansion packs for the overall game could be “Four Paws: Training a Police Dog”, where the dog could be trained for the K-9 unit, bomb squad, or search and rescue. All installments of the game would include an increase of animal characteristics like breed, bowls, bedding, and potentially weather appropriate clothing and vest.

Works Cited

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Oatley, Keith. “Fiction: Simulation of Social Worlds.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 20, no. 8, Aug. 2016, pp. 618–28. www.cell.com, doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.06.002.

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Tsai, Yueh-Feng (Lily), and David Kaufman. “Interacting with a Computer-Simulated Pet: Factors Influencing Children’s Humane Attitudes and Empathy.” Journal of Educational Computing Research, vol. 51, no. 2, Sept. 2014, p. 145.

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Tsai, Yueh-Feng Lily, and David M. Kaufman. “The Socioemotional Effects of a Computer-Simulated Animal on Children’s Empathy and Humane Attitudes.” Journal of Educational Computing Research, vol. 41, no. 1, Jan. 2009, pp. 103–22. Baywood Publishing Company, Inc. 26 Austin Avenue, P.O. Box 337, Amityville, NY 11701. Tel: 800-638-7819; Tel:

631-691-1270; Fax: 631-691-1770; e-mail: info@baywood.com; Web site: http://baywood.com.https://ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ855455&site=eds-live&scope=site

Powerpoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BI4pQAb0r1pjx8tmS8uVpmYhP0Cu_GuKE5wsie4gge4/edit?usp=sharing