connected, which is the case in many modern-day educational games and e-learning software programmes
5.3 Grounding and causal links of ALE
to explain how the four action-based spaces can be connected, we define two qualitatively distinct kinds of links grounding links and causal links
Recall that Strategies I and II from Sect 2 posit that the material from the game has to be presented in and made visibly relevant for the real-world context, in other words grounded. In general, this can happen in two ways. First when a student roams around the information some information can bring him/her to the everyday world. Second, when a teacher discusses the gaming issues and gives short lectures, he/she has the opportunity to decontextualise these gaming issues and make them relevant for the everyday world. To capture these two means, we define two kinds of grounding links: links connecting the information space with the everyday space and links connecting the schooling space with the everyday space(Fig. 5)
However, what motivates the student to leave the game space and to start roaming around the information space? Why should helshe listen to the teacher? Obviously, the student is searching for information. As Squire and Stein kuehler[44] have demonstrated, research is a core component of game play. Many gamers regularly conduct research on the Internet and find and interpret data in order to determine the best strategy for particular game situations
Thus, students search for information because they need this information for success in the game: to control their domestic policies, to persuade their fellow players about the merits of an EU policy or to find a solution to a