How Games Teach
Doug AdamsALTEC
Resources and Files
This PowerPoint:http://www.slideshare.net/dadams.altec
My Wiki page:http://dadams-altec.wetpaint.com• Technology Expectations in Education
– Games and Education
Why Games?
21st Century Skills
Scientific American Magazine July, 1903
“ The letter of a century ago still has a certain literary value. Nowadays we only ‘correspond’ or we ‘beg to state.’ It still remains for our children to discard the forms of polite address which have come down to us. The letter of the future will be a colorless communication of telegraphic brevity.”
The Millennial Generation• “Millennials”• “Generation Y”• “N-Gen”, “Generation Next”• Oyayubizoku ( 親指族 ) = “Thumb Tribe”
Young Japanese have become so adept at their phones — manipulating a set of cursor keys or a button-sized joystick by thumb — that some people refer to a new 'thumb culture'. (The Daily Telegraph, August 7, 2000)
• “Digital Natives”
“Kids say e-mail is, like, sooooo dead.” – CNET News, July 18, 2007
Characteristics of Digital Natives
• Active• Multi-tasking• Non-linear thinking• Ubiquity• Technical Fluency• Feedback• Individualization• Risk-takers• Collaborative
Attitudes in the Millennial World
“Our knowledge comes from the intelligence of the mob. There are websites that let us view user ratings on news, bookmarks, definitions, wines, burritos, beers, and videos. I want to have that same experience when searching for my first home. Show me what the community thinks. Give me the data the way I am used to receiving it…. ”
-- Beam Me Up Jimmy - A Look At Tomorrow's 1st Time Home Buyer http://realestatetomato.typepad.com
What is a Game?
A competitive activity in which players follow a set of rules– Single player (player versus self), multi-
player, computer controlled player– Active: player actions affect outcomes– Rules
• Define victory conditions• Describe legal play• Differentiate games from one another
SimulationsSimulation: a reproduction or representation of
reality• Some simulations are games
– Sim City– Zoo Tycoon– “Serious games”
• Some simulations may not be games– Economic models– Cinematic re-enactments– Anatomical or geographical exploration
• Incidental Learning
Incidental Learning• Systems-based reasoning - reasoning about some
phenomenon in terms of a system • Understanding feedback - understands relationships
among system components • Model-based reasoning - evokes a model to understand
some system in the virtual world • Model-testing & prediction - compares model’s
predictions to actual observations • Mathematical modeling - proposes mathematical model
to describe relationships in system • Mathematical computation - explicates some
mathematical computation not given by game
-- Constance Steinkuehler, UW-M, 2007
Gaming in EducationDo not, my friend, keep children to their studies by
compulsion, but by play -- Plato, Republic.Games have been widely used in education
throughout history– Athletics– Debates– Spelling bees– Classroom Jeopardy
Most common uses are assessment and practice– Incidental learning minimized
Gaming in Education
• The 1970s saw a dramatic increase in the use of games for educational purposes– "As the true character of gaming as a unique
communication form becomes clear, its use… will become pervasive” Richard Duke (1974), The Future’s Language
• In the 1980s there was a focus on basic skill development – Reader Rabbit & Math Blaster
How Games Teach
1. Activity – a game depends on learner not being passive
2. Engagement – longer time on task, greater involvement, rewards
3. X2: Exploration and Experimentation – support creativity, scientific thinking, opportunity for (relatively consequence free) failure
How Games Teach
4. Frequent achievement – smaller tasks with individual rewards, motivating
5. Expanding competence – scaffolding and breadcrumbs
6. No right answer7. Working within a set of rules8. Language – signs, symbols, slang all
promote language skills. Game literacy = world literacy
How Games Teach
9. Social nature 10. Identity and empathy – students identify
with characters and situations11.Simulation – students can explore
situations that are otherwise impossible12.Practice – drill and repetition
How Games Teach
13.Application – learn and apply new knowledge
14.Context – relationship between objectives and game content
15.Feedback cycle – analysis > decision > feedback > analysis
How Games Teach
16.Multimodal – text, images, sounds, symbols, actions
17.Reflection – emphasis on thinking, problem solving rather than “twitch”
18.Mastery – Experienced players teach new players, experts become mentors
19.Challenge – game players seek out difficult or challenging tasks
90% of what they learn when they teach someone else
5% of what they’ve learned from a lecture
10% of what they’ve learned from reading
20% of what they’ve learned from audio-visual presentation
30% of what they learn from a demonstration
50% of what they learn when engaged in a discussion
75% of what they learn by doing
Students retain…
Source: NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science
Limitations of Games
• Content– Alignment with standards– Inaccurate information (most games aren’t
designed to be “educational” at all!)– Fidelity of simulation
• Transfer of skills– Content skills– Thinking skills– Pedagogical skills
Club Penguin
But how will people live in a world that is so…
VIRTUAL?From Scientific American, Aug, 1902:
[C]hildren cope more easily with the new necessities of life, and new arrangements which perplexed their parents become habits easily borne. Thus we may imagine future generations perfectly calm among a hundred telephones and sleeping sweetly while airships whizz among countless electric wires over their heads and a perpetual night traffic of motor cars hurtles past their bedroom windows. As yet, our nervous systems are not so callous.
Doug [email protected]
http://altec.org