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Ludology meets PedagogyVideo Games and Education
Video games are a major segment of the entertainment business and children spend hour after hour playing and talking about them. What if they could be used for educational purposes? What if video games could be designed with pedagogical concepts in mind to help children learn? If video games are so popular and this design is possible then what are the drawbacks? Literature on this topic is sparse, but in this paper an introductory look at computers and education that leads to a look at the world of video games is undertaken. Basic educational skills, memory, problem solving, transfer, that video games could improve as well as some of the successes in the world of computer based education and games for the intellectually disabled are examined. Lastly, we conclude with a review of the caveats, reasons why gaming might not be a success in or out of the classroom. While many academics believe in the power of gaming for educational purposes, the jury is still out on the matter.
Lars SorensenMetacognition and Strategy Instruction Seminar : 295:590 Fall 2009
November 4, 2009 – [email protected]
Introduction
There is simply no denying the power and popularity of computer video games. From
“Pong” in the seventies to “Madden NFL” in this decade, they are some of the most popular
leisure activities of their respective eras. Like television before, the allure of using the computer
and video games as a way to educate and teach is a siren song that is difficult for educators to
resist. Imagine if children's time spent playing games were serving some pedagogical purpose at
the same time? In a recent study (Eow, et al, 2009) it was found that some children play video
games on every day of the week and average fifteen hours of playing time during that week.
What if these games incorporated learning strategies and other theoretical frameworks to help
bolster their educational value?
Computer based training and video games bring many things to the table that educators
dream about. Incredible motivation on the part of the student to not only actively engage in the
process, but the willingness to come back over and over again. Students react positively to the
challenges that computer games present and games create a multisensory stimulation that “sucks
in” a participant and makes them want to keep playing (Jayakanthan, 2002). These features
make gaming an incredibly tempting way to deliver educational content to students and adults
alike. Many educational video games have already been hailed as great successes, “Where in the
world is Carmen Sandiego?” being one, but there is agreement across the field that there is
insufficient pedagogical support in existing games (Amory, et al, 1999) and that there is little
existing research about the success a game could have if these techniques were implemented
properly. What if such things as memory, problem solving and metacognition were focused on
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and techniques were used to improve these important skills during gameplay? Imagine a game
developed to promote transfer or self regulation? What if more than mere content could be
delivered with these games, what if they could teach students how to think and learn?
If this were possible, what kinds of games would be the best for learning? Would they be
historical simulations where students could set a series of starting parameters and watch history
unfold? Would it be an adventure game where children could enhance their problem solving and
memory skills? Should the educational content be interwoven into a popular title or should the
true educational purpose of the software be known from the start? These are many of the
unanswered questions in the relatively new field of “Ludology” (from ludus, the latin word for
“game”), the academic study of games and play.
One aspect of using video games for education is especially intriguing. It seems that
there is a greater education benefit for low SES students and students with intellectual
disabilities when video games are used in their studies. Computers are not judgmental, do not
mind countless repetition and can provide a setting where scenarios can be explored with the fear
of embarrassment. These features make them ideal for disadvantaged learners.
Even with all the hype and potential for success when mixing education and video
gaming there are problems. For reasons that run from “too expensive” to “my curriculum is too
rigid to incorporate this” there is a distinct reticence in the teaching community when it comes to
gaming. The old lament of the television foes has now jumped hosts and is endangering gaming,
the claim that video games promote violence. With many of the most popular games being shoot
em ups or being violent in nature, there is a fear that using games in school will be promoting a
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system that leads to desensitization and more violent behavior among the youth community. A
lack of empirical study in this field gives people who want to ignore the idea of educational
gaming a great deal of ammunition. Lastly, many cite a gender gap, the fact that less woman
play video games than men, as a reason to avoid the practice claiming it would be unfair.
In this paper we examine all of the above. First we will take an introductory look at
computers and education that will lead to a look at the world of video games. We will then
discuss some of the basic educational skills, memory, problem solving, transfer, that educational
video games could play a role in improving. We will look at some of the successes in the world
of computer based education and games for the intellectually disabled. Then we will conclude
with a look at some of the caveats, reasons why gaming might not be such a wonderful idea after
all.
Computers & Education
While the invention of the computer in the nineteen thirties is certainly a watershed event
in the history of modern science, one could argue strongly that the invention of the
microprocessor, the small “chip” that emulates so many million transistors, has had a greater
affect on society in general. It was this breakthrough that lead to the personal computer, one that
could be used by an individual at work and even by someone in their homes. It's here that the
uses of computers for modern education begins. The growth of personal computers in the world
is often compared to another similar phenomena from the fifties, television (Condry, 1983). Like
television, the cost of a personal computer started very high and was for the wealthy only.
Within ten years of its release though, one could find a computer in average households and
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popular applications like Lotus 123 and Word Perfect drove the hardware market to make
cheaper and cheaper models in order to get PCs into more and more homes and offices. Soon
after, games for the PC began to appear. Not unlike television, parents began to complain that
their children should be outside playing and not wasting their time in front of a computer screen.
Some people, just as with television before, saw an opportunity to educate.
Continuing the comparison to television, at first educators saw this new medium as a way
to deliver content. Many digital encyclopedias and manuals began to become available at your
local software store. Soon, specialized software began to appear. These computer based
instruction (CBIs) programs were designed to tutor and drill students in different topics and
content. Programs could be designed for chemistry, math, all the sciences, the only limitation
was on the creativity of the software designer. An early study on the effectiveness of CBI found
that it was “one of the most effective ways to teach math at the elementary and secondary levels”
and that it took only two thirds of the time that regular instruction took (Hartley, 1978). This
result drove a great deal of the early research in computers and education.
What the early research found was that computer based learning was more motivating
that regular instruction. Perhaps because the student did not see using the computer as “school”
but as a leisure activity that they often did at home. The active nature of computer use and the
perception of control were also contributing factors. Another early result was the phenomenon
that CBI worked extremely well for the intellectually disabled, students in “special education”
classrooms (Condry, 1983).
As technology moved forward and software became more and more graphical we began
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to see more than just CBI in the education field. Cheaper hardware meant more computing
power for the dollar and this meant power to run simulation software. Once the sole domain of
NASA scientists, now an amateur astronomer could walk down to his local CompUSA software
store and purchase a copy of “Red Shift”, a space simulator that allowed you to set initial
conditions and then let the universe work, at any speed, right in front of your eyes. Soon the
education market saw the potential and simulators for physics and chemistry began to appear. At
this stage we begin to see the beginning of the “computer training” phase of computers and
education. It was at this time, the mid to late eighties, where computing was finding great
success as a training device for the US Army and airline pilots (Jayakanthan, 2002). Microsoft's
Flight Simulator was a popular title, allowing a novice to learn how to fly a Boeing 747. Still,
these were serious titles and not considered “games” in the sense that a “Sim” is seen as a game
now. If Johnny woke up on Christmas morning and found Red Shift under the tree he might not
have been so happy. What came next was the revolution of computer video games.
Video Games & The Advent of “Edutainment”
It all started with “Pong.” A simple tennis game where two vertical lines acted as players
and batted a digital ball back and forth to each other. It was addicting and drove the market for a
new kind of device that appeared in the seventies, the game console. Advances in technology
soon brought us the Atari game console and later offerings from Nintendo and Commodore.
Easily attached to a television at home, these consoles let consumers play popular arcade video
games in the comfort of their own homes. Games like Space Invaders, Asteroids and Tempest
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could now be played without having to pay a quarter for every game. Their popularity drew the
attention of computer software designers who scrambled to offer the same variety of games for
the personal computer.
In the late eighties a particular kind of video game began to take hold. The technology
having become more and more graphical, it could now support a life like looking character that
was able to be manipulated around rich virtual worlds that were displayed on the screen. Games
such as these were adventure games, where you could control your character's body as he/she
solved problems, navigated their world and eventually met some wide reaching goal. Titles like
“Police Quest” and “Zelda” were some of the more popular offerings of the time. As the nineties
began PC games were more popular than they had ever been before.
Another form of game began to be seen at the beginning of the nineties. Games that were
later called “Edutainment.” An edutainment game was a title that was designed to teach as well
as entertain. Some early examples of these kinds of games were “Sim City”, where you were
given control of an entire city and put in charge of running everything from the sewage to the
mayor's office. You just set initial conditions and let your city work. These games were different
than earlier sims because there was interactivity with characters when you stopped your sim for
any length of time. You could now work and play in the world you created. Another popular
edutainment title, also a sim, was Civilization. Later used in history classes, gameplay begins in
4000 BC and you are charged with building an empire and moving forward to modern times,
adjusting for all that history throws at you along the way.
At the same time the market began to be flooded with titles for children's learning at
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home. The teaching company released “Reader Rabbit” and later “The Clue Finders”, games
aimed at education as well as recreation. Games to teach children words, math, science all
became available. These are now seen as the first truly educational games. The trend has
continued to the present day. Educational games now permeate the market, from “Where in the
world is Carmen Sandiego?” to “Rosetta Stone”, educational software is as popular as ever.
This raises the question, does the use of educational software rival standard teaching
methods? If so, why are we not using them widely in schools? Are we just sugar coating regular
learning and creating a new wrapper for the old way of doing things? Are we tricking our
students into believing that they are playing a game, and then presenting them with the same
education they were getting in the past? Are we just giving CBI a new interface and “putting old
wine in a new bottle” (Jayakanthan, 2002). To figure this out we need to look at some of the
research that has been done in the field of gaming and education.
Mixed Results
Despite the potential that video games show for the purposes of education they are often
discounted by educators and by parents (Chuang & Chen, 2009). The reasons for this range from
not wanting to deal with the potential negative effects that video games may have to the fact that
the research on the effectiveness of education games is mixed. A study by Harris (2001) has
shown that games may actually cause students to be less academically capable and less sociable
as well. Games are often blamed for things like excessive violence and even obesity (Eow et al.,
2009). If people do not want to incorporate video games for learning there is ample literature to
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back their decisions.
Still, other studies laud games and their ability to educate. A study by Chuang & Chen
(2009) states that video games not only improve fact/recall processes but also improves problem
solving skills. An examination of the existing research seems to pull the reader in both
directions, empirical evidence does not establish a case for either side and many game studies are
hypothetical or anecdotal in nature (Ke, 2008). In order to make sense of it all we need to take a
look at some of the reasons educators think video games work for educational purposes.
There are a few factors that lead one to believe that the modern video game is a good way
for children and adults to learn. The first and most evident is motivation. Students and adults
like to play games and often do so for a large amount of their leisure time. Becoming educated
in an entertaining fashion is favored above traditional methods. More time spent in front of a
game means more exposure, more repetition and greater experience with educational content.
Secondly, the graphical nature of games makes it easier to demonstrate experiments, scientific
phenomena and even social interactions quickly. They also have the ability to display these
demos over and over again with very little overhead. An important point when we get to the
intellectually disabled community is that fact that your interaction with the computer includes no
judgment, few time restrictions and a predictable interface. This often relieves the user from
factors that might add to the cognitive load (Ke, 2008) and make learning more of a burden than
an enjoyable experience. Newer internet based games can increase corroboration with other
students in ways that could not have been done before and using computer games as a delivery
mechanism for students gives you a greater chance of the student learning at home while they are
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away from the classroom.
Some of these points seem obvious and one would think that data to back up these
teaching methods would be bountiful, but this is not the case. At first the research community
paid little attention to gaming, only in the last twenty years has the topic of gaming been looked
at by the academic community (Crogan, 2006). When serious research did begin the work
seemed to focus on the potential negative effects of computer gaming. These were mostly
psychological studies focusing on violence and very few came at the issue from an educational
standpoint. Research on computer game education is very limited (Ke, 2009).
Agreement on a Key Point
When one examines the limited literature on video games and education one factor is
crystal clear and mentioned in nearly all papers and articles. Researchers believe that if proper
instructional design techniques were used in the creation of video games that positive results
would follow. There is a noticeable lack of pedagogical support in computer games (Amory et
al, 1999) and few studies let this point pass.
“There appears to be a consensus among a large number of researchers with regard to the
negative, mixed or null findings of games research, suggesting the cause might be a lack of
sound instructional design embedded in the games” (O'Neil, 2005)
“The literature is filled with articles calling for the use of established learning theories
and instructional strategies to guide the design of educational games and enhance games based
learning (Dickey, 2005; Kafai, 2001; Squire, 2004). However, less than half the authors who
10
designed games included in this study reported the pedagogical foundations for their games.”
(Kebritchi, et al., 2008)
“The integration of learning and fun is not automatic, but a well planned instructional
design with a game's endogenous fantasy” (Ke, 2009).
Is this the answer? Is the problem that there are just not enough games out there with a
sound instructional design behind them? If the right mix of pedagogy and entertainment is
found will we have found a new way to educate our children and even adults? In the following
section we will examine some of the studies that are looking into the effectiveness of games that
have been designed with learning strategies and pedagogy in mind. In particular, we will look at
some of the cognitive skills that are important for learning. Computer gaming has been thought
to help students gain improvement in motivation, memory, transfer and problem solving to name
a few.
Cognitive Skills
Before discussing instructional design targets like improving memory and problem
solving we will look at one aspect of video games that has been present from the start,
motivation. In order for a video game to be popular it must be engaging and make the user want
to return to the game time and time again. A good game makes the user become invested in the
process, enjoying themselves so much that video game addiction is being considered as an entry
in the next edition of the DSM (Liu & Peng, 2009). In other words, without giving a thought to
instructional design, computer gaming already brings motivation to the table.
This motivation is thought to exist for a number of reasons. Our perceived control over
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the learning experience with computer games is one motivating factor. Computers allow us to
learn and interact at our own pace. Computer games invite activity and manipulation, letting the
learning occur in an active and not a passive way (Condry, 1983) and this factor is seen as a
motivational plus. Play is seen as an involuntary activity that is intrinsically motivating (Amory,
et al., 1999) and playing computer video games is seen as leisure activity, whether it is done in
school or has an educational purpose or component. This motivation leads to many beneficial
outcomes. More game play means more exposure to content and more time spent solving
problems and learning. Gaming participants in one study showed, “game playing participants
demonstrated focused attention and enjoyment and expressed reluctance to leave the computer
labs after the gaming session had ended” (Ke, 2008). While data like this is anecdotal and
qualitative, there is something going on here.
Some see the increased motivation as “motivational fluff.” It is looked at by some as a
limited phenomena that quickly dissipates after a few times playing an education game, but
research is showing that this is not the case. In a study by David Malouf (1988), one of the first
papers to look at motivation for special education software, the factor of continuing motivation
was examined. Continuing motivation is described as, “returning to a task or behavior without
apparent external pressure to do so when other behavior alternatives are available” (Mauer,
1976 ). In this study, Malouf looked at two different kinds of computer education delivery
mechanisms, one program that acted as a CBI tutor and one that acted as a game. It was found
that, “the instructional computer game produced significantly higher continuing motivation on
academic tasks than did a computer program which operated identically but without game
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features” (Malouf, 1988). Other more recent research supports these conclusions as well (Tuzun,
et al, 2009; Ke, 2008) so the concern about gaming being a facade that is hiding the same old
content, that it will soon be discovered and ignored by students, does not seem worth worrying
about.
Some see this motivational edge as a way to breathe new life into subjects that have been
falling out of favor in recent times. A Turkish study (Tuzun, et al., 2009) described how the
authors created a virtual world computer game to teach geography and then measured the
motivation of the students who were using the games against the students who received more
traditional instruction. The results fell strongly in favor of the computer game for both
motivation and achievement, “In addition to significant learning outcomes, the game
environment in this study impacted the motivation of students in a direction desired by most
educators and parents. When compared to the traditional school environment, students showed
statistically significant higher intrinsic motivations and statistically significant lower extrinsic
motivations while learning through the game based learning environment” (Tuzun, et al., 2009).
The students stopped caring about grades and began to play the game at home just to learn more
about geography. An anecdotal passage tells the story of two students who were together online
one evening and just decided to go to Italy and complete a scavenger hunt portion of the game
because they found it fun. Can you imagine a similar story being told about math problems or
chemistry formulas?
One interesting finding comes from the Malouf study (1988) when they found data to
support the idea that not only will a student with low motivation find it raised by gaming, a
13
student who comes to the table with high motivation already might find his/hers lowered. They
also found vestiges of “generalized motivation” whereas the students wanted to return to the
subject weeks later even if they were not getting computer instruction. Both these phenomena
are very intriguing but require further research for any conclusions to be drawn.
Motivation is the huge allure of computer games and designing for it is somewhat
implicit in the game making process. When one makes a game you do what educational
designers do when trying to motivate. Use interesting content, short quick bites that don't bog
you down and get you bored, shock and awe visuals and other media techniques to keep the
viewer interested. One doesn't really need to know much about instructional design or
educational psychology in order to do this. With this in mind we now take a look at some other
cognitive skills, ones that might benefit from intentional design ideas, that can be improved by
computer gaming.
One of the first cognitive skills targeted by the “edutainment” industry was memory.
Matching games like “Concentration”, pattern recall games like “Simon Sez” and trivia and quiz
games have always been popular computer titles. Memory, long known to be a major part of
successful learning, was the target of some of the first educational computer games to hit the
market in the nineteen eighties. Companies such as the Big Brain Academy sell games for older
people who want to keep analytically active and do “brain building” exercises. There's no
research that supports the assumption that doing puzzles can ward of the effects of aging, but
there is research on whether a game can be designed with memory improvement in mind.
When one looks to improve memory by using a computer game one merely implements a
14
few well known successful learning strategies within the game and then lets the game's natural
replay value do the rest. Memory games will use classification and labeling extensively (Oyen &
Bebko, 1996). The motivational aspects of computer games bring children back to the game
time and time again and this fact brings about rehearsal. It turns out that rehearsal is the key.
In the Oyen study (1996) it was found that rehearsal was the key to memory
improvement, but the gaming aspect caused users to rehearse up to three times longer than
children who used traditional methods. Here we have the fact that children will spend countless
hours a week playing video games working to our advantage. The fact that the instruction was
computer based or not did not really affect memory per se, rehearsers would always remember
more than nonrehearsers, but by wrapping the techniques in the gaming context you've created a
delivery mechanism that will have students using the learning strategy up to three times longer
than they would if they were using traditional methods. You were essentially turning non
rehearsers into rehearsers whether the student knew it or not.
Another cognitive skill that is a popular target of modern educational video games is
problem solving. A major component of the flow of most video adventure games, which require
that problems be solved before one can move to the next level or chapter of a game, problem
solving is often citied as one of the major skills that are made stronger by computer gaming.
This is recognized by most studies, where one finds many comments like, “An important
component of research on the effectiveness of educational games and simulation is the
measurement and assessment of performance outcomes from the from the various instructional
strategies embedded into the games or simulations that involve the learning outcome of problem
15
solving” (O'Neil, et al., 2005).
Many find computer games to be especially well suited for problem solving for a number
of reasons. First, the computer can repeat itself countless numbers of times without becoming
impatient. This allows a problem to be worked over and over again, as many times as the user
wants. Another factor is that it is easy to implement some time tested problem solving learning
strategies in order to lighten the cognitive load and keep the user focused. Things like hints,
feedback and scaffolding are purposefully implemented in many educational computer games as
well as many entertainment titles that do not profess any pedagogical value whatsoever (O'Neil,
et al., 2005). In a recent review of the pedagogical content of modern computer video games
(Kebritchi, 2008) one game was found to use coaching, scaffolding and fading support while
attempting to implement an online cognitive apprenticeship approach. Authentic activities were
demoed through interaction with instructions and expert problem solving methods were taught.
Many modern simulators use this approach to problem solving now. An interesting type of
scaffolding, graphical scaffolding, appears in many games in the form of maps and charts. These
maps have proven to be difficult to gauge as far as learning is concerned. Some say that this
graphical scaffolding assists the user, orients them in a strange context and provides ease of
navigation. This point is not argued. What is argued is whether this map adds to the cognitive
load and detracts from the positive scaffolding effects (O'Neil, 2005).
James Paul Gee, author of “Good Video Games + Good Learning”, states that problem
solving skills are improved in video games because the problems are well ordered and start from
simple to complex. He posits that confronting a complex problem too early in the learning
16
experience can be detrimental. He states, “Given human creativity, if learners face problems
early on that are too freeform or too complex, they often form creative hypotheses above how to
solve these problems, but these often do not work for later problems...” (Gee, 2007).
Interactive game problem solving eventually leads to the user thinking about the
processes they are using to solve the problems. This fosters metacognition, “It has been pointed
out that technology can provide models, prompts, displays and social contexts that promote
subjects' reflection upon their own cognition and thinking” (Moreno & Saldana, 2005).
Understanding the processes you are implementing and when you should use them leads to the
last of our cognitive skills, transfer.
In his 1983 paper “Educational and Recreational uses of Computer Technology”, John
Condry states, “Finally, the basic question remains of whether any kinds of skills at all are
learned from video games, and whether any such skills are transferable to other activities.”
Transfer is the ability to take a problem solving method from one context and use it successfully
in another. There are many instances in modern computer games where one takes a skill or
problem solving schema that was developed earlier in the game and uses that same method in
another context. Because this is the case, the modern gamer is cognizant of these skills and
methods and is always looking for ways to use them in different situations. They are looking for
transfer opportunities. A simple example could be a character in a game learning to push a box
next to a large cupboard and climb on top of it in order to access a cabinet. Later in this same
game the character could find themselves pushing a large boulder up against a cliff in order to
climb it, or to make the fall less for someone who falls from the cliff. It creates a situation where
17
the student/gamer is always looking for ways to apply prior knowledge in “outside the box” kind
of ways. Methods like this are believed to be promoting transfer.
Important research in this area is now finding that skills and methods used in games are
not just being transferred to other game situations, but can be generalized and used in real word
contexts. One such case is discussed in the Coles et al. Study (2007) that found researchers
using a computer video game to teach children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome safety skills. Using
a virtual world to teach fire safety skills the researchers found that, “The results of this study
suggest that such games are successful in teaching these skills and that the knowledge gained can
be generalized from the virtual world of the computer to more “real world” situations” (Coles, et
al., 2007). Not just aping what's seen in a video game, but learning that methods learned in a
virtual world can work in the real world is a powerful educational tool.
We have seen how some software developers are beginning to implement learning
strategies and instructional design in their games in order to augment the educational process.
While some of the early results are promising, the research is still scant. One area where there
has been more research with positive results pertains to the Coles et al. study above, the area of
computer gaming and the education of the intellectually disabled community.
Gaming and Special Education
While the lack of solid instructional design in modern educational computer games is the
one point that the existing literature all agree on, there is another aspect that comes to the finish
line a very close second. Research seems to support the contention that computer training and
18
gaming has a greater positive effect on low aptitude students, especially those who are
intellectually disabled.
Many reasons have been posited for this. A computer program is not able to judge a
student or be biased by previous performance, a fact that might put the disadvantaged user at
ease (Condry, 1982). The ability of the computer to repeat itself time after time after time
without complaint is another feature that many think put a low aptitude student at ease, being
able to learn at your own rate is a very important factor for the intellectually disabled community
(Coles et al., 2005). A computer's interface is engaging, predictable and the user is in complete
control, a state of affairs that the low end student or the intellectually disabled student enjoys and
rarely finds in other learning contexts.
Computer assisted programs designed to improve metacognition in people with severe
intellectual disabilities has shown positive results (Moreno & Saldana, 2005), as a group of
students with an average IQ of 36 were given pre and post tests around a computer based
learning program and showed improvement and maintenance in metacognitive scores. Yet
another study has shown that ADHD students who are usually inhibited during academic
performance showed no inhibition when learning with computer video games (Shaw et al.,
2005). This flies in the face of many ADHD theories, and shows that there are contexts where
the inhibitory behavior of the person with ADHD disappears.
The areas that have found the most success as far as special education and gaming are
concerned has been with training of life skills for the intellectually disabled. Programs to teach
purchasing skills, how to get dressed in the morning, and personal sexual safety have shown
19
great success (Mareno & Saldana, 2005). An example of this is the Fire Safety dog “Buddy.”
Children with cognitive impairments and intellectual disabilities are more than twice as likely to
die in a fire or home accident than their neurotypical counterparts. To teach fire safety a game
was developed where “Buddy” the fire safety dog walks around a virtual world and teaches the
user about fire safety. The game was tested on a group of children with fetal alcohol syndrome.
The results showed that not only was this kind of game a good way to deliver information, but
that information transferred to a real world context. Children were asked to demonstrate what
they had learned a week earlier using the computer in the real world and were successful (Coles
et al., 2007).
We have seen how some learning strategies and methods to improve metacognition have
been used to maximize the potential of computer video games to be used as educational tools.
We have also seen that in a subfield that has very little conclusive research, gaming, there does
seem to be evidence that computer based learning and games work in the realm of special
education. This being the case, one wonders why more people are not trying to implement
games based learning. Now we examine what's keeping educators from jumping on the
bandwagon and singing the praises of video games as a teaching tool.
Caveats
There are a few major reasons why educators are reticent to implement systems that
incorporate gaming into a curriculum. Some are valid points that require careful consideration
and some of them are merely widely held beliefs about games that are not backed up by recent
20
research.
The most widely held belief is that many computer video games are violent or aggressive
in nature and that by using games, any games, in an educational setting the education community
will be giving aggressive games its “seal of approval.” There is no denying that many video
games are incredibly violent. Popular titles such as “Grand Theft Auto” and “God of War” are
very bloody, considerably violent and not made for children. Even games that have been lauded
for their accurate portrayal of historical events, like the World War II adventure game “Call of
Duty”, have been cited for having too realistic violence and adult content to be used for
educational purposes. Studies have looked at the cognitive performance of children who play
violent games and find them to be the same if not higher than those who play nonviolent games
(Bartlett, et al., 2009) but like television before it, the computer game has been victimized by its
worst elements in this instance. There are many nonviolent games that provide just as much, if
not more, entertainment than their violent counterparts. Still, this factor is often cited by those
who do not see gaming as a legitimate way to educate children.
Another factor mentioned when educational gaming is discussed is gender. It has been
posited that placing educational content in a gaming context would be unfair to women, who play
games less and do not enjoy computer gaming as much as men. It is here where recent research
is proving this claim false. Many recent studies have shown no effect for gender (Ke, 2008;
Oyen & Bebko, 1996; Blumberg & Sokol, 2004; Amory et al., 1999) and have shown that while
women are less likely to play sports games or violent adventure games they are just as likely as
their male counterparts to be playing collaborative massively multiplayer online games
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(MMOGs) such as “World of Warcraft” or creating an avatar and using “Second Life”, the
popular virtual world where you build your own environment and share it with others. One study
found that women over forty spent more time playing online games than any other group in their
study and often stayed up late into the night playing (Sun, et al., 2008). Research is showing that
women enjoy collaborative games more than men and that it is these games that provide the best
avenues for learning in many respects (Ke, 2008). Current research on the question of gaming
and gender is showing that the long held belief that women simply do not play computer games
as much as men do is likely false.
If heroin had an educational component to it, would you hand it out in school? This is
what is often said by those who subscribe to the next caveat for gaming and education, addiction.
Excessive Computer Game Playing (ECGP) is now a phenomena that is being studied by many
psychologists (Sun et al., 2008). ECGP is being linked to many negative life outcomes such as
low social engagement, obesity, loss of employment and even physical problems (Liu & Peng,
2009). Research in this area suggests that computer games may have a negative effect on
cognition and could very well lead to cognitive deficits (Sun et al., 2008). With certain children
losing sleep, not getting exercise and play outside and spending little or no time with their
friends, many educators are not looking to add to a students gaming time in the school setting.
Many of the examples given above are extreme, and the existing research on this topic is still
limited, but the fact that the true impact of excessive gaming is unknown puts many people in a
“wait and see” mode as far as implementing gaming in the classroom is concerned.
One study goes directly to the heart of the matter by examining why teachers are reticent
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to implement gaming in their classrooms (Baek, 2008). They list factors such as the inflexibility
of their curriculum, the lack of supporting materials, limited budgets and the litany of negative
gaming effects already mentioned above. While younger teachers seem to have a more open
mind when it comes to gaming, most older teachers want nothing to do with the topic. When
asked what would need to happen in order to use games in the classroom teachers cite things like
having solid pedagogical reasons to do so and that they be mapped into the curricula.
Proponents of gaming point to teachers being made aware of the positive aspects of
gaming and making attempts to clear up misconceptions (such as the gender issue) to see if
teachers would be willing to clear their slates and give gaming a chance in the classroom. One
can see that while the upside of using games for education seems large there are reasons, some
legitimate, why the education community has not made a greater push to implement them.
Conclusion
After an examination of the world of education and computer gaming there are a few
conclusions that can be made. The first is that there is very little existing literature on the
subject, and what does exist gives a mixed view of whether gaming and education are a good
match for each other. It is universally agreed upon that an educational computer game that
properly implements known learning strategies and solid instructional design is likely to have
success. The second conclusion is that there is much stronger evidence and available research
that deals with gaming and the intellectually disabled. Gaming looks like a positive avenue to
pursue as far as special education is concerned. Given the incredible motivation that children
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and adults have for playing games and the success that computer simulation has had in the area
of training, gaming for mainstream subjects and K12 curricula may not be very far behind.
The final conclusion is that while incredibly promising, there are issues that need to be
dealt with. Existing attitudes towards gaming need to changed for the better. Many believe that
doing more studies and getting the academic findings out into the public arena is the best way to
begin to let people know that the world of gaming does not stop at shoot em up and slasher
games. While the gender issue is shown to be overblown for gaming there are legitimate
concerns about the excessive violence and possibility of gaming addiction.
Gaming as a way of delivering educational content, teaching learning strategies and
improving cognitive skills such as problem solving and transfer is very alluring. Proper caution
is being shown by the educational community at the moment, but many believe that it is just a
matter of time before children and adults alike are going to be going to class with a controller
and not pencils and erasers very soon. If proper instructional design is incorporated into a
motivating gaming context that sees the user coming back over and over again and this scenario
produces results, it will be an astonishing chapter in the history of education. This author hopes
he lives long enough to see it.
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