Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Designing an Anti-Bullying Serious Game: Insights from Interviews with Teachers

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Serious Games (JCSG 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13476))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Bullying in schools is a widespread problem with serious and long-lasting consequences. We explore designing RE-Mind – an anti-bullying serious game that uses social robots to foster bystander intervention against bullying of peers among school-age children. To ground the design of RE-Mind in how bullying happens between peers at local schools, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 elementary teachers. Insights from this study highlight a need for novel anti-bullying interventions that (i) are relevant to children’s present-day experiences, (ii) are designed by children and, thus, are relatable for them, and (iii) lessen the burden on teachers. In this work, we present an overview of our methodology and qualitative findings and discuss how this research informs the design of the game elements in RE-Mind. This work demonstrates the first steps towards designing an anti-bullying serious game involving social robots and contributes insights for designers of pedagogical robots and anti-bullying interventions for children.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Short for Robots Empowering Minds.

  2. 2.

    https://bit.ly/32Ay8wG.

References

  1. Alexiou, A., Schippers, M.C., Oshri, I., Angelopoulos, S.: Narrative and aesthetics as antecedents of perceived learning in serious games. Information Technology & People (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Andersen, C.: Learning in “as-if” worlds: cognition in drama in education. Theory Pract. 43(4), 281–286 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Arnab, S., et al.: Mapping learning and game mechanics for serious games analysis. Br. J. Edu. Technol. 46(2), 391–411 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Aylett, R.S., Louchart, S., Dias, J., Paiva, A., Vala, M.: FearNot! – an experiment in emergent narrative. In: Panayiotopoulos, T., Gratch, J., Aylett, R., Ballin, D., Olivier, P., Rist, T. (eds.) IVA 2005. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3661, pp. 305–316. Springer, Heidelberg (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/11550617_26

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Baek, H., Andreescu, V., Rolfe, S.M.: Bullying and fear of victimization: do supportive adults in school make a difference in adolescents’ perceptions of safety? J. Sch. Violence 18(1), 92–106 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bauman, S., Toomey, R.B., Walker, J.L.: Associations among bullying, cyberbullying, and suicide in high school students. J. Adolesc. 36(2), 341–350 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.12.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Belpaeme, T., Kennedy, J., Ramachandran, A., Scassellati, B., Tanaka, F.: Social robots for education: a review. Sci. Robot. 3(21), eaat5954 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Blatner, A.: Drama in education as mental hygiene: a child psychiatrist’s perspective. Youth Theatre J. 9(1), 92–96 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Blatner, A.: Role playing in education. Disponibile all’indirizzo: https://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/rlplayedu.htm (2009)

  10. Blatner, A., Blatner, A.: The art of play: helping adults reclaim imagination and spontaneity. Rev. Brunner/Mazel (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Braun, V., Clarke, V.: Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual. Res. Psychol. 3(2), 77–101 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Cai, Y., van Joolingen, W., Walker, Z. (eds.): VR, Simulations and Serious Games for Education. GMSE, Springer, Singapore (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2844-2

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. Carbone-Lopez, K., Esbensen, F.A., Brick, B.T.: Correlates and consequences of peer victimization: gender differences in direct and indirect forms of bullying. Youth Violence Juv. Justice 8(4), 332–350 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204010362954

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Carmona, J.A., Espínola, M., Cangas, A.J., Iribarne, L.: Mii school: new 3D technologies applied in education to detect drug abuses and bullying in adolescents. In: Lytras, M.D., et al. (eds.) TECH-EDUCATION 2010. CCIS, vol. 73, pp. 65–72. Springer, Heidelberg (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13166-0_10

  15. Chaim, D.B.: Distance in the Theatre. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor, Mich (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Cowie, H.: Understanding the role of bystanders and peer support in school bullying. Int. J. Emot. Educ. 6(1), 26–32 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Crothers, L.M., Kolbert, J.B., Barker, W.F.: Middle school students’ preferences for anti-bullying interventions. Sch. Psychol. Int. 27(4), 475–487 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Cunningham, C.E., et al.: What limits the effectiveness of antibullying programs? A thematic analysis of the perspective of teachers. J. Sch. Violence 15(4), 460–482 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2015.1095100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Dahlbäck, N., Jönsson, A., Ahrenberg, L.: Wizard of Oz studies—why and how. Knowl.-Based Syst. 6(4), 258–266 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Davidson, J.: Embodied knowledge: possibilities and constraints in arts education and curriculum. In: Bresler, L. (eds) Knowing Bodies, Moving Minds. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol. 3. Springer, Dordrecht (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2023-0_13

  21. Dedousis-Wallace, A., Shute, R.H.: Indirect bullying: predictors of teacher intervention, and outcome of a pilot educational presentation about impact on adolescent mental health. Aust. J. Educ. Dev. Psychol. 9, 2–17 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Dulmus, C.N., Sowers, K.M., Theriot, M.T.: Prevalence and bullying experiences of victims and victims who become bullies (bully-victims) at rural schools. Veictims and Offenders 1(1), 15–31 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Enz, S., Zoll, C., Vannini, N., Schneider, W., Hall, L., Paiva, A., Aylett, R.: e-motional learning in primary schools: FearNot! an anti-bullying intervention based on virtual role-play with intelligent synthetic characters. Electron. J. e-Learn. 6(2), 111–118 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Foutsitzi, S., Caridakis, G.: ICT in education: benefits, challenges and new directions. In: 2019 10th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications (IISA), pp. 1–8. IEEE (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Freire, M., Serrano-Laguna, A., Manero, B., Martinez-Ortiz, I., Moreno-Ger, P., Fernandez-Manjon, B.: Game learning analytics: learning analytics for serious games. In: Spector, M.J., Lockee, B.B., Childress, M.D. (eds.), Learning, Design, and Technology, pp. 1–29. Springer (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_21-1

  26. Goodwin, J., Bradley, S.K., Donohoe, P., Queen, K., O’Shea, M., Horgan, A.: Bullying in schools: an evaluation of the use of drama in bullying prevention. J. Creat. Ment. Health 14(3), 329–342 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Hall, L., Jones, S., Paiva, A., Aylett, R.: FearNot!: providing children with strategies to cope with bullying. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, pp. 276–277. ACM (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  28. QSR International: NVivo (2021). www.qsrinternational.com/nvivo-qualitative-data-analysis-software/home

  29. Isaacs, J., Hodges, E.V., Salmivalli, C.: Long-term consequences of victimization by peers: a follow-up from adolescence to young adulthood. Int. J. Dev. Sustain. 2(4), 387–397 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Jeffrey, L.R.: Bullying bystanders. Prev. Res. 11(3), 7–8 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Jennifer, D., Cowie, H.: Listening to children’s voices: moral emotional attributions in relation to primary school bullying. Emot. Behav. Difficulties 17(3–4), 229–241 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1080/13632752.2012.704314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Jimenez-Barbero, J.A., Ruiz-Hernández, J.A., Llor-Zaragoza, L., Pérez-Garcia, M., Llor-Esteban, B.: Effectiveness of anti-bullying school programs: a meta-analysis. Child Youth Serv. Rev. 61, 165–175 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kärnä, A., Voeten, M., Little, T.D., Poskiparta, E., Kaljonen, A., Salmivalli, C.: A large-scale evaluation of the KiVa antibullying program: grades 4–6. Child Dev. 82(1), 311–330 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Katz, I., Lemish, D., Cohen, R., Arden, A.: When parents are inconsistent: parenting style and adolescents’ involvement in cyberbullying. J. Adolesc. 74, 1–12 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Khanolainen, D., Semenova, E., Magnuson, P.: ‘Teachers see nothing’: exploring students’ and teachers’ perspectives on school bullying with a new arts-based methodology. Pedagogy Cult. Soc. 29(3), 469–491 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Konstantopoulou, A.G., Nikolaou, E.N., Fessakis, G.N., Volika, S.P., Markogiannakis, G.M.: Designing interactive digital storytelling as a strategy of raising children’s awareness of bullying in preschool education: implications for bullying prevention. Andreas Moutsios-Rentzos 21(23/09), 91 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Lee, B.K., Patall, E.A., Cawthon, S.W., Steingut, R.R.: The effect of drama-based pedagogy on PreK–16 outcomes: a meta-analysis of research from 1985 to 2012. Rev. Educ. Res. 85(1), 3–49 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Ligthart, M.E.U., Neerincx, M.A., Hindriks, K.V.: Design patterns for an interactive storytelling robot to support children’s engagement and agency. In: Proceedings of the 2020 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, pp. 409–418 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Loderer, K., Pekrun, R., Plass, J.L.: Emotional foundations of game-based learning (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Mavroudis, N., Bournelli, P.: The role of drama in education in counteracting bullying in schools. Cogent Educ. 3(1), 1233843 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Mazzone, E., Iivari, N., Tikkanen, R., Read, J.C., Beale, R.: Considering context, content, management, and engagement in design activities with children. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children, pp. 108–117 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  42. Mishna, F., Scarcello, I., Pepler, D., Wiener, J.: Teachers’ understanding of bullying. Can. J. Educ./Revue canadienne de l’éducation 718–738 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  43. Muñoz, J.E., Dautenhahn, K.: Robo ludens: a game design taxonomy for multiplayer games using socially interactive robots. ACM Trans. Hum.-Robot Interact. 10(4), 1–28 (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  44. Nocentini, A., Zambuto, V., Menesini, E.: Anti-bullying programs and Information and communication technologies (ICTs): a systematic review. Aggress. Violent. Behav. 23, 52–60 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Norman, D.: The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition. Basic Books (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  46. Nostadt, N., Abbink, D.A., Christ, O., Beckerle, P.: Embodiment, presence, and their intersections: teleoperation and beyond. ACM Trans. Hum.-Robot Interact. 9(4), 1–19 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Olweus, D.: Bullying at school. In: Huesmann, L.R. (eds.) Aggressive Behavior. The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9116-7_5

  48. Olweus, D.: Peer harassment: a critical analysis and some important issues. In: Juvonen, J., Graham, S. (eds.) Peer Harassment in School: The Plight of the Vulnerable and Victimized, pp. 4–18 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  49. Omnicore: TikTok by the Numbers (2021): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts (2021). www.omnicoreagency.com/tiktok-statistics/

  50. Polanin, J.R., Espelage, D.L., Pigott, T.D.: A meta-analysis of school-based bullying prevention programs’ effects on bystander intervention behavior. Sch. Psychol. Rev. 41(1), 47–65 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Rantala, J., Manninen, M., den Berg, M.: Stepping into other people’s shoes proves to be a difficult task for high school students: assessing historical empathy through simulation exercise. J. Curric. Stud. 48(3), 323–345 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Rawlings, J.R., Stoddard, S.A.: A critical review of anti-bullying programs in North American elementary schools. J. Sch. Health 89(9), 759–780 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12814

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Ruberg, B.: Empathy and its alternatives: deconstructing the rhetoric of “empathy’’ in video games. Commun. Cult. Crit. 13(1), 54–71 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Salmivalli, C.: Bullying and the peer group: a review. Aggress. Violent Behav. 15(2), 112–120 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2009.08.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Salmivalli, C., Kaukiainen, A., Voeten, M.: Anti-bullying intervention: implementation and outcome. Br. J. Educ. Psychol. 75(3), 465–487 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Sanoubari, E., Johnson, A., Munoz, J.E., Houston, A., Dautenhahn, K.: Using robot-mediated applied drama to foster anti-bullying peer support. In: Robophilosophy (2022)

    Google Scholar 

  57. Sanoubari, E., Muñoz Cardona, J.E., Mahdi, H., Young, J.E., Houston, A., Dautenhahn, K.: Robots, bullies and stories: a remote co-design study with children. In: Interaction Design and Children, pp. 171–182 (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  58. Sanoubari, E., Young, J., Houston, A., Dautenhahn, K.: Can robots be bullied? A crowdsourced feasibility study for using social robots in anti-bullying interventions. In: 2021 30th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), pp. 931–938. IEEE (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  59. Schell, J.: The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses. CRC Press (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  60. Ttofi, M.M., Farrington, D.P.: Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: a systematic and meta-analytic review. J. Exp. Criminol. 7(1), 27–56 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Twemlow, S.W., Sacco, F.C.: Why School Anti-bullying Programs Don’t Work. Jason Aronson (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  62. Vaillancourt, T., Brittain, H., Krygsman, A., Farrell, A.H., Landon, S., Pepler, D.: School bullying before and during COVID-19: results from a population-based randomized design. Aggress. Behav. 47(5), 557–569 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Wiseman, A.M., Jones, J.S.: Examining depictions of bullying in children’s picturebooks: a content analysis from 1997 to 2017. J. Res. Child. Educ. 32(2), 190–201 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Wright, V.H., Burnham, J.J., Christopher, T.I., Heather, N.O.: Cyberbullying: using virtual scenarios to educate and raise awareness. J. Comput. Teach. Educ. 26(1), 35–42 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  65. Zhonggen, Y.: A meta-analysis of use of serious games in education over a decade. Int. J. Comput. Games Technol. 2019 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  66. Zwaan, J., Geraerts, E., Dignum, V., Jonker, C.M.: User validation of an empathic virtual buddy against cyberbullying. Stud. Health Technol. Inform. 181, 243–247 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

    Elaheh Sanoubari, John E. Muñoz Cardona, Andrew Houston & Kerstin Dautenhahn

  2. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    James Young

Authors
  1. Elaheh Sanoubari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. John E. Muñoz Cardona
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andrew Houston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. James Young
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kerstin Dautenhahn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elaheh Sanoubari .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bauhaus University, Weimar, Weimar, Thüringen, Germany

    Heinrich Söbke

  2. Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Pia Spangenberger

  3. TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Philipp Müller

  4. TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Stefan Göbel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Sanoubari, E., Cardona, J.E.M., Houston, A., Young, J., Dautenhahn, K. (2022). Designing an Anti-Bullying Serious Game: Insights from Interviews with Teachers. In: Söbke, H., Spangenberger, P., Müller, P., Göbel, S. (eds) Serious Games. JCSG 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13476. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15325-9_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15325-9_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-15324-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-15325-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation