As someone who has never been into video games growing up,
most of my knowledge of gaming has come from my elementary-aged students. To be honest, most of what I heard was how
OBSESSED my students were with video games, especially the particularly violent
ones it seemed. Cringe. For some of them, games were all they wanted
to do, write about, and think about.
Naturally, you can see why my view towards video games wasn’t very
favorable.
For one of my graduate classes this week, I read the Innovative Pedagogy Report 2013, which
explores new forms of teaching, learning, and assessment. While reading this, what did I come
across? A section on “Learning from
Gaming.” As I read further, I saw that the video game “Minecraft” was mentioned,
a favorite among my class of 3rd graders last year. Though I have always heard people mention the
positive aspects of gaming, I decided I needed to dig further into this topic
based on the fact that games are so popular among the students I work with. Here’s a summary of what I found…
What is “Learning from Gaming?”
Learning from gaming involves using the power of digital
games for learning purposes. Games used
for learning can provide engagement and motivation for learners. They can also provide an opportunity for
learners to reflect on and self-regulate behaviors. Learning may also be achieved through gaming
by allowing players to design, create, and invent things. In education, the motivational aspect of
games could be used as a vehicle to reach learning objectives.
Why might it be important in the future?
Games are naturally intrinsically motivating and video or
online games can provide students with another opportunities to utilize
technology in their learning. Since we
know that students learn from their interactions with others, the social aspect
of some games may enhance student learning through collaboration or discussion. Additionally, games can allow learners to
experience designing, creating, and inventing things. These learning experiences could be valuable
when solving problems in the “real world.”
Finally, many gaming companies are looking to move into the educational
market. This could potentially give
educators or learners a greater variety of quality games to choose from.
How might it be used in a K-12 classroom setting?
For a non-gamer, this question seemed pretty daunting to me
at first, since most games I’ve heard of don’t have an obvious educational
focus. However, teachers are already using
gaming in creative ways! I found this article,
Wii Love
Learning, which gave me some great ideas.
For example, an elementary teacher was using data from the Wii bowling
game to give his students practice with recording data and graphing. That sounds like a lesson that I’d like to
participate in!
One interesting tip from this website Join the C Team!,
was to just talk to your students about the types of video games they like to
play and then try out demo versions on your own. I think this is a great idea since it allows
you to see what kinds of games motivate your students and also allows you to
think about if and how the game could be used in the classroom. Another idea from this website that I could
use in the classroom would be to incorporate gaming at a center. I think this is a great idea since it would
allow all students to try the activity without having to have enough equipment
for all students. As a teacher, this
would also be an opportunity for me to try out different things related to gaming on a smaller
scale.
Some other resources you may want to check out…
This article doesn’t necessarily focus specifically on
online or computer games. However, there
are some tips for making the most of games in the classroom that I thought were
useful for teachers.
This paper reports the findings of how and why video and
computer games are used in formal classroom settings.
