John Kirriemuir and Angela McFarlane (2003) wrote a survey-based conference paper on how “pure” computer and video games (that is, games that are not explicitly designed to be educational) tend to be used in classrooms.
Kirriemuir and McFarlane report that games are typically used in five ways: (1) research projects, although hardly any schools continued to use the games after the projects ended; (2) school-oriented competitions; (3) computer clubs that are largely unsupervised and not part of a learning program; (4) a vehicle for literacy or critique (that is, describing or evaluating games); or (5) a reward or incentive to maintain good behavior.
The most common games used in classrooms were reported to be strategy and simulation games. SimCity and Roller Coaster Tycoon were the two most commonly used…
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Charles Reed, chancellor of the California State University system, has an interesting perspective on the future of education, as described in this recent cnet article. Responsible for over 400,000 students and 46,000 employees over 23 campuses, Reed envisions students becoming more like telecommuters. They might “meet with faculty and peers one day a week on campus, and then use simulations, virtual worlds and information downloaded for coursework the rest of the week.”
With Reed expressing concerns over expanding enrollment numbers and limited classroom space, it seems that the next logical place to look is in virtual space. Over 70 universities have already built island campuses in Linden Labs’ virtual environment, Second Life. It seems to me that virtual environments are a great way to learn some things — e.g. business (e.g. virtual real estate, intellectual property concerns), economics (virtual economies, competition, cooperation), art and architecture, social science issues like diversity and discrimination, and game design among a host of other topics — but there also seem to be some serious limitations and concerns that come along with an increased reliance on online class sessions. Will the open-ended anonymous nature of the world create more distractions (e.g. what if a student comes dressed as a chimpanzee in the virtual classroom)? If the teacher becomes more like a facilitator in a virtual world, is authority undermined too much? How much guidance/control does (and should) the teacher have? Then there are all the technical issues and high bandwidth requirements, not to mention equity issues — which schools can afford the technology?
In a conference paper presented at the Interaction Design and Children Conference, Robertson and Good (2004) consider the feasibility and benefits of game authoring for children. Ten teenagers created their own stories in the medium of interactive 3D virtual reality computer games, using a game authoring tool available in a commercial role-playing game, NeverWinter Nights. The authors wanted to take some first steps toward exploring some of the educational benefits of letting children create stories using game authoring tools. Interviews were administered, and while thin, the data highlights the more enjoyable activities expressed by the children, along with the more frustrating aspects of using the toolset. While this paper doesn’t actually say a whole lot (especially in terms of its data), game authoring is presented as a good way to develop creative narrative skills such as character creation, plot planning, and dialogue writing.
Reference: Robertson, J. and Good, J. (2004). Children’s narrative development through computer game authoring. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Interaction Design and Children. New York: ACM Press.
Video games have sometimes been touted as the gateway to increased computer literacy. Students can play games in the classroom, design their own games as a class activity (e.g. Kafai), or mod games — that is, to adapt an existing game (typically using a toolset) for some other purpose. Games with some degree of modding capability include; Neverwinter Nights, The Sims 2, Dungeon Siege, Second Life, Freedom Force VS. The Third Reich, and Half-Life, among others. Can game modding increase self-efficacy and motivation while teaching female students basic IT skills? Two students at Penn State University offered an extra curricular course, Gaming for Girls, in which an all-female class modded Warcraft 3 while learned some basic IT skills. Was it effective? The paper’s findings are somewhat inconclusive due to a small sample size, but it does provide interesting food for thought for how game modding could be an effective approach for engaging students. Click here to read the paper (PDF format).
Yucel, I., Zupko, J., & Seif El-Nasr, M. (2006). IT education, girls, and game modding. International Journal of Interactive Technology and Smart Education, 3(2).
Teachers realize that preparing lesson plans and the act of teaching itself causes the teacher to master the subject matter in an in-depth way. What happens when you let the students themselves become the teachers — that is, to let kids create their own educational video games to teach others? Kafai (2006) published a series of studies in which 10-year old children designed their own games, complete with characters, storylines and game themes to teach math (fractions) and science. Rather than embedding ”lessons” directly in games (i.e. more of an “instructionist” strategy, Kafai discusses a “constructionist” strategy that allows students to construct new relationships with knowledge while designing their own games. Therefore, learning takes place during the process of building games.
One interesting finding: Kafai notes “persistent gender differences in virtually all design aspects ranging from violent feedback in case of a wrong answer, the cast of extended characters, the goals of the game, and fantasy context…Although there are no significant gender differences in the proficiency of making games, it is obvious that girls prefer to make very different fraction games from those designed by boys in their class. Most interestingly, when asked to design science rather than fraction games, these gender differences disappeared. Click here to read Kafai’s paper from Games and Culture (in PDF format), along with her more in-depth discussion about gender differences in game design.
In a recent paper by University of Wisconsin academics David Shaffer, Kurt Squire, Richard Halverson, and Jim Gee, the authors argue that learning is most powerful when it is personally meaningful, experiential, social, and epistemological all at the same time. Video games are “powerful contexts for learning because they make it possible to create virtual worlds, and because acting in such worlds makes it possible to develop the situated understandings, effective social practices, powerful identities, shared values, and ways of thinking of important communities of practice.”
The authors highlight commercially available games such as Rise of Nations and Civilization III as games that offer rich, interactive environments in which students can explore counterfactual historical claims. Railroad Tycoon and other games that urban planning are also discussed. Click here to read the full paper. In practice, how comfortable are teachers in using commercially available games for learning? How can teachers be provided with resources and appropriate training to what works in classrooms and what games are useful?
Ravi Purushotma at MIT is interested in how learning can foster learning and help dispel global barriers. In a recent paper in Language Learning and Technology, Purushotma discusses how games originally designed for entertainment purposes can be modified to provide natural and context rich language learning environments, without sacrificing its entertainment value. Purushotma’s study takes a game like the Sims and turns it into a valuable teaching environment. His findings suggest that the game does a better job of teaching vocabulary and grammar than traditional methods, partly because of teaching things in context. The actions of each Sims character, the dialogue, and how they interact with their world often helps makes the meanings clear. For example, if a player did not really understand what “energie” meant, the actions of a tired Sim, stumbling then falling asleep, would help illustrate the meaning.
As more teachers and researchers find themselves using off-the-shelf entertainment to see if they can provide engaging, interactive education, hopefully commercial game developers will start to make customization options more flexible.
Indiana history teacher David McDivitt used a World War II simulation game (”Making History: The Calm & The Storm” by Muzzy Lane Software) to see if students would learn more compared to using their usual textbooks. As this USA Today article discusses, the gamers had learned more about the war and its geography while also writing more sophisticated essays.
Other examples of innovative educational games that move beyond drill-and-practice include Dimenxian, an exciting game that uniquely adopts a first-person Halo-esque perspective, launched last summer by game publisher Tabula Digita with its motto: “Learn math or die trying.” Dimenxian teaches state-aligned Algebra I concepts such as coordinate systems, graphs, and linear relationships. More rigorous academic research needs to be done with these games, but it’s exciting to see more recent games moving beyond basic, repetitive candy-coated superficial games.