Please review these materials prior to your lab for the Games Challenge
If you were born post-1980, odds are you’ve had a run-in with one or two educational (video) games; perhaps Number Munchers for math, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? for geography, or Oregon Trail for history. Together, these and other early DOS/Apple IIe games established how fantastical characters and worlds could merge with pedagogy and learning theory to lay groundwork for the targeted instructional game design we have today.
In this module, you’ll revisit some educational games from your past as well as interrogate the science behind game-based learning (AKA gamification) more generally. As you explore the readings and resources, consider:
1) What makes games “work” or not “work,” instructionally speaking as a classroom activity; and
2) How can (and/or should) we utilize gaming technologies to enhance instruction
To begin, it may be helpful to review one (or more) of these three meta-analyses, which outline the trajectory for game-based learning (past, present, and future):
Our Princess Is In Another Castle: A Review of Trends in Serious Gaming for Education
A Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and Motivational Effects of Serious Games
Digital Games, Design, and Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Educational Theory
Many teachers and parents think of play as a break from learning. But developmental psychology has long suggested play, particularly in early childhood, is the PRIMARY way children learn. For example Vygotsky’s theory of development prominently focuses on play, arguing that play is central to enculturation, and that play nurtures creativity. But perhaps more profoundly he was the first I know who argued that play was not pure fantasy, but was a “dialectic” (interactive conversation) with reality. For example he said the all emotions are “true and real” whether in play or in reality. He also said that children always incorporate elements of reality in play, and create multiple points of contact in a dialectic between play elements and real-life elements of their experiences. If true, then play is a powerful tool for all instructors to consider as part of how to create safe and engaging learning environments. Read a longer summary of Vygotsky’s theory of play here.
Games can evoke true emotions and extend our real perception. Many people think games, specifically video games, are escapes from reality rather than real experiences. But some research has shown that video game players experience real emotions, and their experiences can engender real learning. Note that such effects may reduce with habituation during repeated game playing.
With the idea that there is strong nexus between games and real life in mind, designers of citizen science have looked to games to engage crowd sourced help with authentic research. Games have helped young patients understand their medical treatments and improved patient compliance (see Re-Mission and Re-Mission 2). There are also puzzle games, like Fold-it, that help real scientists solve real problems, in the case of Fold-it, U. of Washington protein scientists.
A few distinctions:
Games vs Simulations. Games usually add a playful mechanic, including keeping score or winning and losing conditions. Simulations are open for exploration and attempt to mimic a real-world process. Consider this simple math simulation of transecting parallel lines. Note there’s no way to “win” it.
Next consider educational research in Whyville.net, a playful online space for students ages 8 to 15. You will have to register if you want to see it in detail, but it’s free. Consider how researchers in 2005 simulated a pandemic in Whyville and that has been renewed in 2020 for COVID-19 teaching research.
Open Play vs Structured Play. An important distinction for teachers interested in using playful learning in their classroom is the difference between simply letting students do anything they want with toys (within the rules of good behavior of course) which is Open Play, versus having a goal for being playful, such as a script for role playing or a game with win/lose conditions. In school, Open Play may foster creativity while Structure Play can align with student learning objectives within the curriculum.
As you digest the big takeaways from these articles, think about the difference between discovering THE solution to a problem versus discovering A solution to a given problem (as outlined by game designer Mark Brown).
Puzzle Solving… or Problem Solving? | Game Maker’s Toolkit
Naturally, there are many different game options for many different subjects, and it can be difficult to develop general categories in which to list specific educational games. One approach is to organize them based on the learning theories they employ to induce player goal adoption and fulfillment. In educational technology, we use the following:
Behavioral Gamification
Behavioral gamification (drawing on principles of Behaviorism) relies on reinforcement of specific behaviors through the use of points, tokens, or badges. If or when a player performs a particular action, they earn an artifact that codifies the experience and tracks related information (e.g., date, time, location). This can further be broken into two sub-categories: proficiency gamification, which is akin to badging in the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America (i.e., denoting mastery of a specific skill), and gamification for score-keeping, which is more like earning runs in a baseball game (i.e., tracking the number of times a particular action was performed by way of a point, token, or badge). Either can be useful for enhancing otherwise straightforward or mundane tasks, but a user’s willingness to participate and perform the task with enthusiasm depends on how valuable they perceive the reinforcer (point, token, badge) to be.
Examples: Class Dojo, Credly, Open Badges, and (more recently) Classcraft.
Gamification for Memorization
Gamification for Memorization emphasizes ‘remembering’ and ‘repeating’ mechanics rooted in Information Processing Theory. Teaching occurs primarily through exposition/direct instruction, and the content is usually something that will be tested via in-game assessment (e.g., boss fight, puzzle, etc.). This is a common educational game design strategy, but it rests on a problematic assumption about the way we think and learn (i.e., a “one-game-fits-all” framework that can’t be modified or personalized by the player/learner).
Examples: iCivics, Filament Games, Math Blaster, SimCityEDU, Spore, Plague, Inc.
Gamification and Citizen Science
Did you know gamers can contribute to serious science by playing games that bring the power of crowd sourcing to complex problems? Perhaps the first such example was SETI@Home that leveraged your computer’s screensaver time to analyze packets of data in NASA’s search for extraterrestrial life. Next came FoldIt that used how gamers solve protein folding problems to improve scientist’s algorithms for do it. The European Union has set up a forum for such scientific games, called XTribe. Think about how playful approaches can extend the work of authentic science.
Gamification in Character
Gamification in Character involves performance as a content expert in an instructor-guided narrative, akin to roleplaying or acting. Because transfer of learning hinges on students recognizing variance and invariance between the game and real world, learning and game objectives are maintained at a 1:1 ratio; that is, any task a player is required to perform in-game should be identical to the way the same task would be performed by a professional in the equivalent real world circumstance (“knowledge as doing,” drawing on principles of Situated Cognition). Such games can be difficult to conceptualize, construct, and implement, but–if successful–they can provide a more richly-authentic, personalized learning experience than a tightly-structured video or board game.
Let’s Compare…
Consider a student learning objective for students in which their teacher is seeking students to apply the lessons learned by the nuclear event, the Chernobyl reactor meltdown, back in 1986. How one might enable students to get some background on the Chernobyl disaster??
How about Wikipedia about the topic?
next compare perhaps a documentary, video about the disaster.
Next compare a slide deck of 36 slides about the topic.
Finally consider an immersive (Google Cardboard) VR news article about the topic.
Examples: Operation LAPIS, Lapis Arkhaia, Lapis Player Guide, Depression Quest, Dungeons & Dragons, Minecraft Ed Edition Virual Space for Holocaust artifacts here at UConn
Sandbox Games
Many students love Minecraft, an open sandbox for student building. But it also has an education edition. Read Minecraft Games Saricam & Yildrum (2021 on the potential of Minecraft to influ in the classroom.
| Saricam, U., & Yildirim, M. (2021). The effects of digital game-based STEM activities on students‘ interests in STEM fields and scientific creativity: Minecraft case. International Journal of Technology in Education and Science (IJTES), 5(2), 166-192. https://doi.org/10.46328/ijtes.136 |
Hey.. have seen an entire high school ELA curriculum associated with ESports?
Yes, that is a real thing. NASEF’s ELA esports curriculum in California has adopted such a thing for the State.
Or have you consider….
how students might create their own games to show what they have learned in your class?
FYI
Below is a list of games (predominantly recreational/commercial) that can be helpful in teaching particular themes, ideas, concepts (e.g., math, reading), art styles, and/or kinds of storytelling:
Fallout 3 / Fallout: New Vegas / Fallout 4
Flower (Video)
Grand Theft Auto V / Red Dead Redemption (Video)
League of Legends / DOTA 2 / Heroes of the Storm
Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale
Shadow of the Colossus (Video)
Super Mario Bros. (Video) / 64 (Video) / Odyssey (Video)
The Last of Us (Video)
The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past (Video) / Ocarina of Time (Video) / Breath of the Wild (Video)
The Walking Dead Season One / Season Two
Enduring Understanding- Student Learning Outcome from this module
This module intends to prepare teachers for ISTE Standard for Educators 5b that states: Design authentic learning activities that align with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
Here “authentic” is placed in the context of playful learning, where student engagement is primary and reflective play, including the “meta game” lead to deep understanding.
