Chapter 1

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

Pokemon is a widely known franchise. People in general will always have even the tiniest bit of knowledge about Pokemon. What makes Pokemon interesting is the fact that the franchise had been circulating for more than 10 years already. It had been continually using different approaches to hook its fans into playing it more. It had been incorporating mathematics, interesting story lines and an engaging and enjoyable play sequence.

Pokemon is a famous game franchise. According to a recent survey in Serebii.net forums, Pokemon is mostly played by people in the age of 11 - 25 years old. What is interesting is the fact that these people enjoy the game because of the aforementioned qualities. The game has incorporated mathematics via different calculations in the codes in the game, such as Effort Values and Individual Values. It has interesting story lines that differ from season to season, form game to game. Pokemon possesses the Eight Elements to a Successful Game because without it, the franchise would have gone down from the very start. According to the article by Carlos Igaza, a game should be engaging to keep you hooked to the game, expandable which is something that continue to grow, elastic which becomes harder and harder as the game progresses, you should be able to enjoy the game and be entertained, and therefore make the game endemic. These qualities ensures that the people from ages 11 - 25 are hooked into playing Pokemon.(http://coronalabs.com/blog/2011/03/22/eight-elements-to-a-successful-game/)

Children under the age of 11 - 25 are still currently studying. In the Philippines, children at the age of 11 are in the final years of elementary school. According to K12's Science Curriculum, students in Grade 6 are taught about how the human body works and how the different organs in the human body compliment each other. (http://odea.sdb.ph/ODEA/downloads/Kto12Science-CG-as-of-Apr-25-2013.pdf)

In highschool, at ages 13 - 14, students are taught about the background of human biology. They are taught about human evolution. Topics that are included are cell biology, reproduction, genetics, and evolution. (http://www.genome.gov/12011721)

One common cause of procrastination is it being depicted as a positive trait. According to an article by a blogger named SecondsOfEternity, procrastination can therefore be reduced to a tool of denial and self-deception designed to protect one's fragile self image. Procrastination most is commonly used as a mechanism of task avoidance by people with low self-esteem and high social anxiety to mitigate the significance of performance. Usually, teens of age 13 - 18 suffer from low self-esteem and high social anxiety, therefore deducing their performance in academics. They resort into procrastination but the overall effect would be much worse. (http://secondsofeternity.hubpages.com/hub/The-primary-causes-of-procrastination-and-how-to-overcome-it)

Pokemon had been known to be a form of satisfaction. The false pets that we play with often affect on how our emotions play out. According to Fredric Kaplan's Free Creatures, pseudopets like Pokemon make us feel responsible. Their dynamics make it so that we should be systematic and feel empathy whenever we play them. They make us enjoy our lives and brighten up our mood. (http://www.csl.sony.fr/downloads/papers/2000/kaplan-er.pdf)

Pokemon can be used as a teaching tool. These students might be able to use Pokemon for them to understand more about human and biological evolution. By using the big cultural impact of Pokemon in children, students can be able to grasp knowledge about biological evolution with the use of fictional characters in order for them to understand it in such a way that they will not be disinterested with the topic. They would be encouraged because they would not see it as a form of procrastination, but rather enjoy the moment playing and learning at the same time. Pokemon has the same scientific dynamics regarding evolution.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how you can use Pokemon in teaching biological evolution.

B. Statement of the Problem

The study aims to answer this question:

1. What similar traits in Pokemon can be used in teaching students in the age of 11 - 25 about biological evolution?

C. Significance of the Study

High School and College Biology Teachers and Professors. This study would benefit the teachers and professors in the field of Biology as they can use this as a reference with the various ideologies and concepts to incorporate them into their lectures. They can use different information presented in this research paper.

High School and College Biology Students. This study would serve great help for students currently taking Biology classes as they would gain knowledge and see biology from a different view.

Future Researchers. Researchers who will have related topics as in this research paper would take this as a very useful reference because they can utilize the information presented in this research paper and can cite this as their source of study. It would be easier for them because the research paper gives detailed and structured data about related studies.

D. Scope and Delimitation

This research paper would discuss about the different factors and methods that Pokemon show that would help students understand the topic of biological evolution in a different way. The researcher would show different articles and readings that would give detailed data about this study. The researcher would show different methods that lead to human evolution, as well as Pokemon evolution.

The researcher would not tackle other topics in Biology other than Human and Animal Evolution. The researcher filtered unwanted information and would only include topics that would serve best for this study.

E. Materials and Methods

The information related and structured through this research paper was mainly articles and blogs from the Internet. Information was also gathered by interviewing those who are knowledgeable with the topic.

The collected information will now then be patterned accordingly and the researcher will try to connect the different ideas from Pokemon and evolution altogether to represent combined ideologies from both sides.

F. Definition of Terms

Biology. The study of living things and their vital processes. The field deals with all the physicohemical aspects of life. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/66054/biology)

Effort Values. EV's are attributes which give bonuses to a Pokemon's stats and improve differently depending which Pokemon they defeat. (http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Effort_values)

Human Evolution. It is the evolutionary process that leads to the appearance of modern humans.

Individual Values. IV's are the Pokemon equivalent of genes. They are instrumental in determining the stats of a Pokemon, being responsible for the large variation in stats among untrained Pokemon of the same species.

K12. It is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education.

Pokemon. They are the 719 known species of creatures that inhabit the Pokemon world, however, it is implied that there are more waiting to be discovered.

Procrastination. The practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones.

Pseudopets. An artificial pet, mostly digital but inanimate and is able to perform tasks to affect human emotion.


Outline for Chapter 1:

1. Pokemon is a widely known franchise.
2. Pokemon is a famous game mostly played by people in the age of 11 - 25 years old.
3. Children under the age of 11 - 25 are still currently studying, starting from Grade 6 to the final years of college.
4. Starting from grade school, children are given a background study about biological evolution. At second year at the age of 12 - 14, students are taught about human evolution.
5. Pokemon can be used as a tool to teach biological evolution.
6. By using the big cultural impact of Pokemon in children, students can be able to grasp knowledge about biological evolution with the use of fictional characters in order for them to understand it in such a way that they will not be disinterested with the topic.
7. The purpose of the paper is to explain how you can relate Pokemon into biological evolution.