Learning from Gaming

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 3^rd 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…

Using Games in the Classroom

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.

Use of Computer and Video Games in the Classroom

This paper reports the findings of how and why video and computer games are used in formal classroom settings.