Dear Mom,

I am happy that I am keeping in touch with you about what I have been doing. I have done many things since the last letter. I have met the doctor and many other adults. I have done some pretty bad things.


Here the child clearly contrasts a social/cultural sense of morality (“bad things”) with what must be a “personal/individual” sense of morality (“what I have been doing is right”). A real opportunity for reflection here on issues I have already brought up on “moral relativism” and the tensions between individuals and social groups.
I hope what I have been doing is right. Clearly, I am worried and stressed about the decisions I am making about the plague world. These people depend on me and I am close to losing hope on this world.

I realize that every decision I make can take one step into helping this world, or take one step back and leave this world to in worse conditions. This is why I’m glad I have you. I know that even though you can’t be with me, you still have faith in me. I want you to know that you are the only reason that I am sticking to this mission. I really need you during this time more than anyone else. I need you because I know you can give me a boost of confidence. A little encouragement goes along way.

It is important to keep you up to date on what I have been doing in Ingolstadt. I have met the doctor and the constable. The doctor seems pretty arrogant to me.


Of course, “taking credit for everything that everyone does” is, like plagiarism, “unethical” and one sign that someone is not “trustworthy”. Nonetheless, this child says that he thinks the doctor is “a trustworthy guy”. Once again we see the conflict between “personal opinion” (“I think he is a trustworthy guy), perhaps partly formed on the basis of the doctor’s centrality to the game, and “public” evidence and standards (“He takes credit for everything that everyone does” as socially defined as “dishonest”). Note, too, that while we all concede that “evidence” is relevant to science, it is a pervasive cultural model that evidence is not relevant to ethical or moral judgments (but, as is clear here, it is). But note, too, the child later says: “I’m so worried that sometimes I question the amount of trust I give to the doctor”.
He takes credit for everything that everyone does. I hope that I can put that aside for now. Other than his arrogance I like him, and I think that he is a trustworthy guy.

Speaking of trust, I have been dealing the most with trust issues during this mission. Like I said before, I don’t know if I should trust the new people I met. I believe that in certain times it is important to lie to people that you are unfamiliar with.


The “over valuing of kin” (i.e., people “like us”) is at the root of much evil in history and particularly problematic in a global world. This idea—that “unfamiliar people” are subject to a different standard of conduct—is so pervasive in culture that it is almost not an ethical principle as much as a cultural mode of behavior—one that was deeply functional in a less global and pluralistic world, less functional now. The belief that this girl expresses is quite likely to have been one she has long held, not necessarily one that this curriculum made her discover.

Here the child reverts to another very pervasive moral model: what works for me and my self interest is “right” as long as I can get it to happen (a version of the “might makes right” theory). So lying to the constable “turned out successfully for me”. Lying to others when they caught his “bluff”, “made me tell the truth”—truth telling as a matter of force not ethics. Just as in science education, where “misconceptions” stand in the way of better theories, so too, we might think of the role of “misconceptions” in ethics, something that is hard to do if we see ethics as just a matter of opinion (as so many Americans do) or as just a matter of manipulating people (especially “non-kin”) in our own interest.
That is what I did. I lied to the constable and that turned out successfully for me. When I lied to other people they caught my bluff and made me tell the truth. I am positive though that I can trust you because you are my mother. I’m so worried that sometimes I question the amount of trust I give to the doctor. I won’t lie to him though, because I know you trust him, therefore, I will be honest to him.

Without a doubt I have been running around all over Ingolstadt doing all sorts of missions. The doctor has got me doing all his work for him.

Another sign the doctor isn’t “trustworthy” perhaps. One wonders whether in a game world like this players will make different judgments than in real life given the conflict between evidence (the doctor’s behavior) and the role the doctor has (as, for example, “quest giver”) in the game world.
I don’t mind though because I have learned about how the plague is affecting people. I met a dead person who has the plague. I have also realized that as I go further in the missions I find more green slime.

The missions are scary here in Ingolstadt. One of my missions was to grab a package for Doctor Frank. When I found out where the package was I got scared. It was in a cemetery. The cemetery was really dark so I couldn’t see. The scariest part was when this dead person reached from the ground and tried to grab me.

As you can see I am even more terrified of this plague world than I was before. Even though I am scared I will try to put my fears away and face the danger of this world. I hope you are doing well, and that you will keep writing to me. I do have the confidence deep inside myself, but I know that only you can help me get through this. I love you and I hope that you can encourage me throughout this mission. I will write back soon, but until then please stay safe.

Sincerely,

your beloved daughter

To the left, you will see an example of a student's work in Quest Atlantis after they completed the Cemetary Mission. This letter demonstrates how many of the Questers feel as they begin to grapple with ethical and moral situations more and more inside of this unit.

One of the benefits of games and activities like this one is that there is a built in assumption that students come to better understand significant and complex ideas through engaging with different aspects of those ideas, rather than being pressured to “get it” or not immediately in a one-shot application. In this way, students not only have repeated opportunities to examine and re-examine different moral and ethical issues, but through presentations of these issues which take on different perspectives, students have chances to develop more robust ethical and moral commitments.

In doing this mission I have realized that I should think of the health of others and not just how something affects me.

Example of student reflection

This student work suggests that the student is beginning to think about one of the primary goals of the unit: developing a sense of personal ethics in science and technology. Her description of her struggle with trust in the game, and in particular, her statement: "I believe that in certain times it is important to lie to people that you are unfamiliar with" demonstrates an emerging understanding of ethical decision making.

The “over valuing of kin” (i.e., people “like us”) is at the root of much evil in history and particularly problematic in a global world. This idea—that “unfamiliar people” are subject to a different standard of conduct—is so pervasive in culture that it is almost not an ethical principle as much as a cultural mode of behavior—one that was deeply functional in a less global and pluralistic world, less functional now. The belief that this girl expresses is quite likely to have been one she has long held, not necessarily one that this curriculum made her discover.

As seen below in this second example of student work, many Questers struggle with truth-telling, and telling lies. Particularly when the lies would benefit the Doctor, who is a trusted family friend.

Dear Mom, I'm very confused.

Am I supposed to believe what Victor says? He does seem a little crazed and I am worried that he might not be able to make the cure. Sometimes I lied but that was what I had to do to complete the mission. Telling the truth is not always the right thing to do. Sometimes you have GOT to lie. Not for yourself, then it would be wrong. You have got to lie sometimes for what you believe is right. I've learned that lesson the hard way,mom, and I hope this all turns out for the better.

An interesting decision point for many students in this unit comes when they are faced with the decision to take a "creepy" package from a crypt to help the Doctor, or not. The student who wrote the letter to the left, describes the experience as scary but necessary. We feel this is an excellent opportunity for teachers to discuss with students their decision making strategies, and one of the other themes in this unit: does the means justify the ends?

So now given all we have seen in the child’s letter, this is absolutely crucial. But, perhaps, “decision making strategies” hits the wrong note here—we are talking not just about “strategies” (which can encourage the idea that ethics is all about “being successful for me”), but about the ethical or moral “theories” on the basis of which one acts and how generalizable (universalizable) they are or one thinks they should be. Of course, this immediately raises the old issue of the role of context in ethical judgments and how context specific ethical principles are. We are now deep on the realm of philosophy. It gets to be very clear at this point that the thing we need to build and concentrate on is the “learning system” (mentorship, dialogue, reflection inside and outside the game) and not just the “game”, which resides within the learning system. The design principles of the learning system as a whole always need to be discussed, not just the game. But by moving this to school, we risk that the teacher fills out the learning system in any way she likes and thus undoes the design of the game and its potentials within a good learning system. Hopefully QA comes with a “strategy guide” for building a good classroom learning system around the game.