In the above 2009 video Will Wright, creator of the Sims series of computer games, discusses the educational value of video games. Wright’s games have been enormously popular since 2000 and are often seen as setting the groundwork for the creation of alternate identities that is now a common part of online gaming and social networking (Ito et al., 2010, pp.1-20; Singer, 2009, p.1016).
Like Hong et al., Wright stresses that games, such as chess, have been a way of learning strategic and abstract thinking for thousands of years (Hong et al., 2009). He believes that it is only in the last twenty years or so, since the widespread advent of digital games, that we have developed a ‘cultural bias’ against play and started to see it as a disposable waste of time, rather than an important element in cognitive and social development.
Wright acknowledges the potential for curriculum content in games but feels that most ‘serious’ education games lose the sense of flippancy that makes a game fun and thereby lose their reason for inclusion in education - motivation. Wright succinctly expresses what most teachers already know:
Zero motivation = Zero learning, no matter how good the content
Wright raises an interesting point about the potential for games to deal with real issues, such as racism, as has been successfully done in the TV series Twilight Zone and the Dr Seuss books were an acceptance of difference has often been an underlying theme disguised in a fantasy world. This is a use of games that I had not previously really thought about, but one that I consider well worth future exploration.
Like Hong et al. and I, Wright considers digital games to be an important element in the classroom as a social and thinking skill educator, rather than as a curriculum content vehicle. For this reason it appears more feasible to include games at the primary level than at High School, where the curriculum is highly regimented and the time allocations for classes are inflexible.
(by BurnBaby Bern)
(by BurnBaby Bern)
References
Hong, J., Cheng, C., Hwang, M., Lee, C., & Chang, H. (2009). Assessing the Educational Value of Digital Games. In Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 25 (5), 423-437. Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00319.x/abstract;jsessionid=182E79E79086FBD204D652B4084020CB.d03t02
Ito et al. (2010) Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out : kids living and learning with new media. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved August 2, 2010 from Queensland University of Technology Course Materials Database
Singer, D. (2009). Play and the Search for Identity in the Cyberspace Community. Retrieved September 26, 2010 from http://law.wlu.edu/deptimages/Law%20Review/66-3Singer.pdf
Young, J. (2010, January 24). 5 Teaching Tips for Professors – from Video Games. [Electronic format]. In The Chronicle of Higher Education (technology), (n.p.). Retrieved September 9, 2010 from http://chronicle.com/article/5-Lessons-Professors-Can-Learn/63708/
I would generally agree that computer games can be used more easily in the primary setting than the high school for reasons of timetable inflexibility as much as content delivery. Games in the classroom need to be controlled in terms of time, curricula constraints and outcomes (Royle, 2009). The controlled use of games may led to reduced autonomy of the player (Sandford, 2006) and therefore as Wright points out less motivation, the main reason for using games in learning.
ReplyDeleteHowever teachers who are willing to see the benefits of games in learning can overcome these obstacles and successfully use games in the high school setting.
Currently at the high school where I am teaching games are used in several departments; the Technology and Media departments have students both study and design their own games, the Maths, Agriculture and Special Needs departments all use games to teach specific content.
Observations of students using games in these contexts show that they are more engaged in this learning and find the learning ‘fun’ which is a key factor in the learning process (Prensky, 2001). The inclusion of games into the work program in these subjects is reliant often on one teacher who is interested in games or is a game player themselves, and has been a broker between the education and gaming community (Royle, 2009).
Teresa
Will Wright definitely evokes thought in this video and it is a pity that this 'cultural bias' towards play may taint public acceptance, or at least consideration, of games in education. I agree with Wright's opinion that many adults dismiss play as a time wasting activity, and believe this to be one of the greatest barriers to including games as resources or teaching tools in the classroom. I am emphatic in my belief that without motivation there can be no learning, and that even the most 'serious' of games must beat more antiquated teaching styles hands down.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the idea of using fictional issues or highly personalised characters to teach serious concepts is an interesting perspective, provided the concept is not so well-disguised in a 'playful' medium that the whole point of the exercise becomes extinct and the game loses the connection with real life.
It does appear more feasible that the primary curriculum lends itself more seamlessly towards the inclusion of games, but I also believe that educators in the 21st century must be creative and innovative with digital technologies to facilitate learning across the entire P-12 curriculum. Who said learning and 'play' must be mutually exclusive domains?
Karen