Learning Through Video Games

LEARNING THROUGH GAMES 1

Learning Through Video Games

Hanna Suviha

University of Nicosia

MCOM-501

Fall 2014


Abstract

Computer and video games is a fast growing industry all over the world. Amount of

time and money spent on the games industry cannot stay without our attention. In

2010 in America alone, total consumer spending on the games industry in totaled was

$25,1 billion (Siwek, 2010), which is much above the amount spent on the music

industry and box office movies. Variety of researches showed that the amount of

time young people spend with entertainment media in general is shocking. Youth

ages 8 to 18 years olds consume about 10,45 hours per day of media - compresses

into 7,38 hours per day thanks to multitasking (Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, 2010).

Apparently video games have interest and attention of school aged youth. This

findings make scholars think of the possibility of using video games in learning

process, particularly in schools and educational institutions, and examine this topic

more detailed. In my essay, I will briefly discuss influence of video games and

concentrate on learning through video games and its main learning principles.


Introduction

Popular press used to give a lot of attention to the negative consequences of video

games. This topic is still new for people. And because we don't have rich historical

experience in this field, it may cause doubts and underestimation of possible effects.

But along with negative sides of gaming (such as addiction), scholars examine

positive impact of video games. For example, Griffiths in his article "The

Educational Benefits of Video Games" discuss how video games help to develop

skills ( such as language, basic math, basic reading and social skills) among special

needs group. The outcome of researches shows that, indeed, children with several

difficulties had improved their social skills after certain special-designed game's

sessions.

Popularity of video games with young people is not the key reason that learning

scientists have taken interest. Empirical findings on the impact of games come from a

broad range of academic disciplines, including neuroscience, social studies education,

literacy studies, health, and psychology (Steinkuehler, Squire, 2012). Action games

have been found to improve visual acuity and attention (Green, Pouget, Bavelier,

2010). Historical simulations aid systems understanding in world history and

geography (Squire & Barab, 2004). Exergames are shown to increase calorie

expenditure and decrease sedentary lifestyles for children (Graf, Pratt, Hester, Short,

2009). Casual games have been shown to increase mood and decrease stress

(Russoniello, O’Brien, Parks, 2009). Out of these studies several issues arise:


Video games are remarkably engaging for the audience who plays them. Or we can

call it 'addictive' because of the extent that games have, and their interactivity and

design principles.

Commercial games often are examples of good pedagogy (Gee, 2010): Built into the

beginning levels of all successful commercial games are principles for learning that

enable players to successfully master not just the game system and interface but

game goals and rules.

Games afford opportunities for learning assessment that are quite rich. Ranging from

learning analytics applied to a given game title's data exhaust to connected

ethnographies, that trace student trajectories of learning from within the game to the

online game fandom community.

Games popularity and existing online distribution channels offer tangible means for

their potential scale (Steinkuehler, Squire, 2012).

These themes raise interest in the medium for use in learning, both within formal

classrooms and beyond them, in after-school programs and home. In my paper I will

look at games learning principles more detailed in order to understand how to apply

them in our studying practices and everyday life.


Games and Learning

James Paul Gee suggests to look at his contemporary learning theory before trying to

analyze how we can learn through video games. Theory argues that people primarily

think and learn through experiences they have had. People store these experiences in

memory and use them to run simulations in their minds to prepare for problem

solving in new situations. These simulations help them to form hypotheses about

how to proceed in the new situation based on past experiences. But there are

conditions experiences need to meet in order to be truly useful for learning ( Gee,

2008).

First marked condition which experience need to meet - is that experience need to be

structured by specific goals. For people it is easier to store their experiences in terms

of goals, and how these goals did or did not work out. Second - they have to be

interpreted. It means thinking in and after action, extracting lessons and predicting

when and where those lessons can be useful. Third, people need to get immediate

feedback during their experiences so as they can determine their errors and see where

they failed. It is also important for people to understand why they failed and how

they could behave differently. Next condition is that learners need to have

opportunities to apply their previous analyzed experiences to similar new situations,

so they can improve their knowledge of these experience. And fifth, people also

should learn from the interpreted experiences and explanations of other people,

including professionals and people of the same age. Social interaction and discussion

is very important. When all these conditions are met, people's experiences are

organized in memory in such a way that they can draw on those experiences as from


a data bank, building simulations in their minds that allow them to prepare for action

( Gee, 2008).

Squire in his article 'Changing The Game: What Happens When Video Games Enter

the Classroom?' is discussing his practice of bringing Civilization III into curricula

for educational uses. First thing which most academic theorists expect - is increased

motivation. Early research on arcade-style games shows that games create intrinsic

motivation through fantasy, control, challenge, curiosity, and competition (Malone

1981; Cordova, Lepper 1996). Indeed, when Squire first introduced Civilization III to

the class, students were immediately motivated. But It brought curiosity as well as

incomprehension of how this game can teach them about history or geography. And

almost one quarter of students decided to turn back to standard learning means such

as reading. They found the game too hard, complicated and uninteresting. While

another quarter (particularly those not good at school) considered it as an ideal way

to learn history. The game-based learning provided them opportunities for replaying

history, for considering hypothetical historical scenarios, such as under what

conditions might have a Native American tribe held of Europeans or even colonized

Europe. In post interviews, these students developed new vocabularies, better

understandings of geography, and more robust concepts of world history (Squire,

2004). This example points several issues: playing games doesn't appeal to everyone

and no one game experience appeals to everyone. The experience of playing

Civilization III is a cerebral blend of planning, building, managing, and competing

with other civilizations. In this study, experience appealed to students who enjoyed

building and managing virtual societies, using mathematics in game play, or were


interested in geography (Squire, 2004). Thus, there is an important issue for

educators to take into account - how different players experience different games of

different genders.

Video games offer people experiences in a virtual world and they use learning and

problem solving, and mastery for engagement and pleasure. For the last few years

James Paul Gee, learning theorist from USA, concentrated his work on main learning

principles in video games. His theory is persuasive and has strong arguments. So

according to Gee, there are thirteen main learning principles.

1) Agent principle (Co-Design Principle). It means that learners must feel like what

they do matters, they must feel like agents. Games are making you feel this way,

because everything you are doing in a game - affects it. The decisions you make, the

actions you take - everything affects the outcome and the way you solve problems.

Game designers have set of choices and decisions for gamer to take, and by taking

them gamer is co-designing the actual performance of that game.

2) Customization Principle. There are different types of players, different types of

learners. So if there is no way for particular learner to customize his learning style, it

lowers effectiveness of learning. Good games allow players to solve problems in

different ways, to customize difficulty levels and to think in different strategies in

order to satisfy different types of players. Good games invite to try a new style

instead of keeping playing or learning in a way they always do with very low cost of

failure.

3) Identity. For quality learning a person must have created identity. In real life it

should be answers on questions: "Who am I going to be?", "What am I going to get if


I do this and learn this?". Games are creating such identity. They give learner an

avatar, they have clear goals and clear sense of who player is going to be.

4) Manipulation. Games allow players to manipulate game role: we can manipulate

our characters or the world. From the neuroscience we know, that when humans feel

that they can manipulate something, they feel that their body almost got into that

space. By playing games people have feeling that their body is transferred to a game

space because there is control over it. So people are able to learn in very embodied

way.

5) Well-Ordered Problems. The human mind is built in such a way that we need to

sequence problem solving, so that problems, which we see early, lead to genitive

solutions, that work later on for harder problems. Sequencing problems is a part of

level design. Players always start with easy level and continue with hardest. Each

level teaches how to solve problem, which leads better solutions for hardest problems

next levels.

6) Pleasantly Frustrating. For learners it is very important not to be stressed by

problem they need to solve. A problem leads to good learning when a person feel

challenge and also when he feels that some accomplishment mean head by solving it.

Games are giving to individual a feeling of pleasant frustration, which is not stressing

player because he knows that he is going to find solution.

7) The Cycle of Expertise. It is a way how people are becoming experts. Fist stage of

the cycle of expertise is to give a person a challenging problem and let him practice it

until he can do it easily. From the beginning he doesn't know how to solve problem,

but he practice over and over again until he can do it automatically. This is called


routine knowledge. Then person gets problem, where that routine knowledge doesn't

work anymore. It is a new challenge. Individual rethinks about that routine

knowledge and finds new solutions, getting new skills. The he is practicing his new

skills, and then again he comes to a point when he has to challenge that knowledge.

This is how person is improving level of his proficiency.

8) Just-in-Time and On-Demand. Just-in-time means that a learner gets a piece of

information that he can apply and see how it works. If he didn't understand, he

should read or learn it again and then immediately apply it.

Information on-demand - it is when learner, out of a sudden, realizes that he needs to

learn particular thing, that he needs information or lecture. So he demands, he is

ready to get and learn this information.

9) Fish Tank Principle. When people are trying to solve big problem, they have to

deal with complexity. Fish Tank principle is when learner takes few elements of the

whole complex and examines it closer. When person learned everything about those

elements, he can go back to complexity. In games this principle is shown very clear.

Games add complexity level by level.

10) Sandbox Principle. It is a given opportunity to explore and try new things with

lower risk. Learners need a time just to explore before they are demanded to level up.

11) Skills as Strategies. In order to achieve high results in any field, people have to

master skills. And it is very important to put skills under strategy, because it makes

person feel that he is solving a problem. Using a strategy is meaningful, it is

accomplishing his goal. Having skills under the goal person understand, making him

to focus on his accomplishing of a goal and getting his strategy to work.


12) System Thinking. Today most of the problems have to do with complex system:

environment, the economy, global immigration. People are trying to understand how

many problems interact in a very complex way with each other. So in order to solve

such big problems people need to do system thinking. Game is a form of complex

system. Because game is a set of rules that interact in a way to give rise to effects

based on decisions player make. In fact, good players try to build model in their head:

"how are the rules in this game working, so they give raise to me to be able to

accomplish my goals". So games are form of model based reasoning, thinking how

variables come together, so we can solve problems and accomplish goals. They are

core way to teach system thinking. It is a model-based reasoning, which is a

foundation of scientific reasoning.

13) Meaning as action (or situated meaning). People truly understand a meaning of

word when they can associate an image or an action, or experience they had. In

games it is image or action, or experience that you're having, what gives a meaning

to word in a game manual. Situated meaning is a foundation of a problem solving


Conclusion

This work aimed to represent how video games can be helpful in learning. Modern

educational system is based on studying terms and passing tests. If we can introduce

video games learning principles in educational institutions, we can create more useful

set of skills for future employment. The topic for future research can be the way of

application of these principles in a classroom, how different players experience

different games of different genders, how to combine different types of knowledge

and skills and how to escape influence of negative effects of gaming. But one thing

remains clear: we can definitely benefit from playing video games.


References

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Handbook of the Learning Sciences. Second Edition

Jim Gee (2013, November 13). Jim Gee Principles on Gaming [Video file].

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Gee, J.P. “Learning and Games." The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games,

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQAgAjTozk

http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Changing%20The%20Game-final_2.pdf

http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Changing%20The%20Game-final_2.pdf