Game-Based Learning

It was not long ago that I viewed the conventional notion of gaming with disdain. To me, it seemed like a big waste of time when there is so much beauty outside to explore and experience. Not so anymore. Over the last few years, I have worked with students that have resisted many strategies, and finally, buy-in, when it is connected to gaming, includes elements of gaming in the learning. This past week I was fortunate to spend three days at Microsoft in Vancouver where we discussed some of the possibilities that their software could provide professionals and students in my district. On a conversational tangent the topic of Minecraft came up, and we ended up getting one of their Minecraft Education Edition folks to come and share some of the reasons so many kids love playing the game, and how they've leveraged that in their education edition. Long story short I am piloting the software with an English Language Arts class next week! I do have some concerns about game-based learning but it may be beyond the scope of what we're talking about. The idea of bringing highly-engaging learning methods to students so often could be problematic as it might foster a sense of "entitled learning". In essence, the learning comes to the students' interests and passions and there is little effort required to engage in learning that is inherently less motivating.

Game-based learning is very important. I am taking the Digital games & learning course this semester and am very excited to learn more about this concept as a primary/elementary teacher. Gaming is huge now. Kids spend hours gaming, so why not make it educational. Many educational apps now are turning learning into games as it is more engaging to students. Some games (like DreamBox) work at students ability, and will focus on areas that students need help in. They will also challenge students that find their current curriculum too easy. Engagement, I believe, is the most obvious benefit to game-based learning. Turn something 'boring' into a game, and suddenly everyone wants to play!

Games based learning is still just as relevant (if not more relevant than 15 years ago). Like many others I found certain video games to make a massive impact on my development from Gizmos & Gadgets for learning basic physics to Red Alert for teaching me strategy. The list can go on because I loved to play games as a kid. Anytime we can make learning fun as educators we should. We want our students to be passionate about learning. Games are also a gateway to teaching students more advanced content because they can visualize the basic content in different ways which gives them a foundation in which to build upon. we are very fortunate to teach in a time like this.

Nearly 30 years ago, I was introduced to two different games that I believe had a big impact on my academic development: Number Munchers (I think that was the name) and Mavis Beacon. I thrive on competition, whether with myself or in challenging myself to improve personal bests, and these games were able to play into this proclivity of mine. Thanks to them, I improved my multiplication skills and learned how to type. It's a shame that right now games are oftentimes seen, for good reason, as an enemy of child development (the late night Call of Duty sessions really don't help with lesson retention the next day). It's clear that computer games are a big part of students' lives and won't be going away anytime soon (read: never), but there's greater potential for a sort of weaponizing of this desire to play digital games into a form of education that's beneficial to student development. I'll be honest: I don't know much about this emerging market at this point in time, and I think that's partially because it is nowhere near reaching its potential, and I'm excited to explore what current technology is out there, and explore ideas for further expansion.

Engagement and motivation are extremely important components to student success in a learning environment, and I believe that game based learning has the potential to be an incredibly effective way to promote these components in the classroom. Teachers can have their students use competitive or non-competitive game-based learning activities to review preciously learned material, demonstrate their understanding of a topic, or perhaps even inhabit the roles of fictional or non-fictional characters and interact in a virtual environment. As technology progresses in the educational space, these type of experiences can become more immersive and effective. I have used game-based learning in a limited way in my music classrooms, mostly for quiz games or reviewing music theory, but I am very interested in this topic and hope to integrate more game-based learning into my classroom in the future. I also agree with what Gregory noted in his post, chiefly that game-based experiences have to be designed and implemented in the classroom with purpose and with proper instructions in order to reap the potential educational benefits.

Learning is a demanding cognitive process. Our mind needs to be motivated to stay engaged. Game-based learning brings the motivation that makes the whole experience fun. When learning through games, one usually doesn’t feel much the cognitive demand due to the level of excitement and motivation. However, the challenge is on one hand to build a game that helps the students to develop the knowledge and skills we want them to acquire, and on the other, to have enough incentives in the game that would interest the students, hereby, maintain an appropriate level of engagement and motivation.

I agree with Gregory that games offer a fun and interactive way to engage with content and learn valuable skills. My initial foray into the use of games for education focused mostly on elements of gamification. I made use of Kahoot! quizzes (and still do) in my classes as well as 30 second games and a board game that incorporated content covered in class. My interests have since developed into exploring more game-based learning in a variety of new ways. I am interested in constructionist approaches (where students are in charge of designing a game or game elements themselves similar to Gregory's example) and have a research project this year where I hope to use digital games to investigate their potential in developing acute spatial abilities in STEM students. I am also involved in a project focused on designing a game for tutor training in Higher education this year as a way to make simulations currently used more realistic in the sense of giving the tutors options in how and when they interact with different scenarios. In future, I might explore the prospect of in-game analytics as a way to measure student ability and performance with the idea being that the game itself could be the assessment of what has been learnt. In a nutshell, I believe game-based learning has a lot to offer education but there is a need to delve deeper into understanding how exactly we can take full advantage of games in our different contexts.

Games provide an avenue for students to have fun. When an activity has an element of fun, there is a higher chance that content and skills will be learned. Games, both online and offline provide students with opportunities to collaborate with peers, develop communication skills, practice skills and use knowledge in a meaningful way. Games also teach that failure can be a powerful and motivating tool. Personally, I have used games in several scenarios, but one of the most memorable is when teaching economics to grade 7 students. After they had been presented with some basic economic principles and budgeting skills they were given a chance to test their understanding through a game called Carnival Tycoon, it is an online game where the player operates a carnival. It was a chance for students to practice what they had learned, fail, learn from their mistakes and then improve their abilities. Game Based Learning will always play a critical role in education because of the multitude of skills and benefits that it offers. However, students cannot simply be presented with a game and expected to play it well and learn from it. It should be used with the right purpose in mind and proper instruction must be given. There is room for students to explore and test how the game is meant to be played, but some basic instructions should be given. To take this to the next level students can be challenged to design their own games and then have other students play them. This also links computational and sequential thinking into the vast amount of skills that Game Based Learning provides.