Max Lieberman May 3, 2009ETCV510Professor Sue South

Literature Review: Commercial Video Games in Classroom Education

Abstract

This is a review of the literature concerning the use of commercial video and

computer games in classroom education. Though focused primarily on academic research

published in peer-reviewed journals, the review is supplemented by information available

in non-peer-reviewed studies, unpublished academic papers, news stories and other

venues. This review is structured to address several key points regarding the pedagogical

use of video games. The first section briefly summarizes some of the arguments for the

educational use of video games. The second section examines the evidence that

commercial games—games created and sold primarily as entertainment products—have

pedagogical advantages over games created by educators. The third section describes

ways that commercial games are used to teach in the classroom. Finally, the fourth

section identifies patterns in the literature and points out opportunities for useful further

research. While historical perspectives on this question are interesting, this review

focuses primarily on literature from the past ten years

1. Why Teach with Video Games?

Arguments for considering games as pedagogical tools began to appear in the

1980s, following the explosion of the home console game market in first half of that

decade. Early work on the subject was largely speculative, as when Toole, Korienek and

Lucariello proposed that existing games “meet the requirements of laboratory tasks” for

studies of human motor skills (Toole, Korienek & Lucariello, 1983). Other contemporary

work studied the ways that games motivate players, finding that the “challenge, fantasy

and curiosity” at the heart of many games held “dazzling potential…for educational

purposes” (Long & Long, 1984). Silvern was the first to suggest that games were more

valuable as simulations in which students could come to understand rules, patterns,

hypotheses and systems than as mere “electronic worksheets” (Silvern, 1986).

However, the notion that games could be an asset rather than an obstacle to

educators was not universally held. In 1985, in a paper histrionically titled Reversing the

Literacy Decline by Controlling the Electronic Demons, Shenkman railed against the fact

that young children were spending less time reading and more time with electronic media

including video games, “ridiculous soaps” and “video rock” (Shenkman, 1985).

Shenkman’s focus on video games as detrimental to literacy, and particularly her

argument that video game players “are not learning the skills that will help them

understand…the complexities of geopolitics” seem positively quaint given the current

state of research into the educational value of video games.

In the past ten years, the quantity and quality of scholarship on video games, as

well as other game-like technologies, in the educational arena has risen dramatically. A

search within the Education Resources Information Database for the terms “video game”

and “education” returns a total of 125 documents published between 1970 and 1999; the

same search returns 191 published since the year 2000. The reasons for the increased

interest in pedagogy and video games are not fully clear, but likely include the increased

mainstream cultural relevance of video games (now rarely described as a “fad” as they

were in the 1980s); the new possibilities opened up by maturing game technology; and

the growing number of educators who are familiar with the medium because they grew

up playing games.

Broadly speaking, the scholarship on video games in education can be broken

down into three categories. The first category is speculative or theoretical literature.

Writers working in this vein tend to outline the potential educational value of games

based on their understanding of the medium, which they connect with some other

personal philosophy or established learning theory; this approach is not without value,

but it does tend to rely on anecdote and theory rather than on research with real students,

games and classrooms. The second category is observational literature. This category

includes some real-world research, such as case studies of classrooms in which games are

being used to teach. However, observational work tends to be somewhat haphazard in its

planning and subjective in its methods of evaluation. The third category is controlled

research. This category, much less common than the others in this young field, includes

mainly surveys and controlled case studies with quantitatively verifiable results.

The theory of “digital nativity” is one of the major arguments for restructuring

modern school systems to better incorporate digital content like video games. This

theory, the brainchild of game designer and author Marc Prensky, contends that people

who have grown up with the Internet and other digital technology at their fingertips are

“digital natives” who learn constantly from technology in ways that “digital immigrants”

are often unable fully to comprehend (Prensky, 2003, 2005; Annetta, 2008). Prensky’s

terminology has gained wide currency with academics concerned with the digital divide,

but his theory has also been criticized as a sort of inverse “moral panic” (Vaidhyanathan,

2008). The theory tends to rely heavily on anecdote, as when Prensky quotes a student of

his acquaintance as saying of educators, “Don’t try to use our technology…you’ll only

look stupid” (Prensky, 2008).

Another major argument for the use of video games in education is the notion that

playing is inherently a learning process, and that therefore the pedagogical use of games

is a natural fit (Annetta, 2008). In order to succeed in the marketplace, a commercial

video game must teach players its rules and interface, and must progressively introduce

new mechanics in a way that suggests strategy to the player. Linguist and games theorist

James Paul Gee contends that the profit motive has helped game developers to hone a

“theory of human learning” that rivals “the best theories of learning in cognitive science”

(Gee, 2007). There is in fact a remarkable compatibility between the ways that games

teach players to pay and the constructivist theories of learning which are currently very

much in vogue. Games teach players through experience, requiring them to construct

knowledge for themselves (Shaffer, Squire, Halverson & Gee, 2005; Squire, 2006).

Sophisticated games frequently train players using methods reminiscent of Vygotsky’s

concept of “scaffolding” (Oblinger, 2004; Gee, 2007; Rice, 2007a; Schrader &

McCreery, 2007; Annetta, 2008; Lim, 2008; Papastergiou, 2009).

Many other arguments for the increased use of video games in education have

been advanced. The possibility that games can be used to motivate students is often

mentioned (Oblinger, 2004; Squire, 2008; Papastergiou, 2009). Related to the idea of

“digital nativity” is the notion that students today will need a different set of skills later in

life than previous generations. This concept of “21st century skills” and “new media

literacy”—that is, literacy with digital technologies—also comes up repeatedly in the

literature (Gee, 2007; Annetta, 2008; Squire, 2008; Papastergiou, 2009). The argument

that schools should reflect and incorporate the activities students engage in outside of the

classroom is another common thread (Annetta, 2008; Lacasa, Martínez & Méndez, 2008;

Lim, 2008).

Ultimately, the question of whether video games have a place in the classroom is

already settled—games are studied as cultural artifacts, taught to aspiring game

designers, and used as simulations, conversation-starters, forums for collaboration and in

countless other ways that are not always reflected in the academic literature. Even when

teachers are not using games in the classroom, students are: in a 2003 survey, 32% of

college students admitted to playing a game unrelated to “instructional activities” during

class time (Jones, 2003). What the speculative and theoretical academic writers are doing

is constructing frameworks for how best to use games now that they are here.

2. Why Commercial Games?

Like entries in other mediums, video games differ greatly from each other in

genre, scale, difficulty, setting, tone, cost, quality and other respects. Much of the

academic work that has been done to date focuses on video games designed by

professional educators, rather than games created to compete for players’ dollars, time

and attention. As researchers have discovered, this is a significant distinction.

Van Eck identifies three approaches that educators have taken to “digital game-

based learning” (Van Eck, 2006). These are to “have students build games from scratch”;

to “have educators and/or developers build games from scratch to teach students”; and to

“integrate commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games into the classroom.”1 Van Eck

concludes that the first approach can be fruitful, but is not generally viable because it

requires teachers with specialized technical skill sets, as well as school systems willing to

support a nontraditional interdisciplinary project and able to devote the time and

resources to large-scale game development. Lim likewise describes major technical,

structural, and cultural obstacles to this type of project (Lim, 2008).

Van Eck’s second approach appears to hold out the hope of games that “address

[education] and entertainment equally, and to do so with virtually any domain,” but the

problems here are also significant (Van Eck, 2006). The main hurdle is the incredible

concentration of talent and resources necessary to make a game that approaches the

quality of commercial offerings. The literature repeatedly mentions the need for

educational games to compete with their commercial brethren on fun and production

values (Rosas et al, 2003; Lim, 2008; Warren, Dondlinger & Barab, 2008). Tüzün, whose

research group designed three games for use in Turkish primary, secondary and higher

education, found that teachers “demanded specific content” be included in the games,

while students weighed the entertainment value of the games against that of commercial

products (Tüzün, 2007). Poor quality graphics and unsophisticated interfaces are often

particular sticking points for students (Roubidoux, Chapman & Piontek, 2002; Eikaas,

1 Although the “COTS” nomenclature has been adopted by several researchers, I prefer to refer to commercial games as such, since the acronym ignores the increasing prevalence of digitally distributed commercial games (Martin, 2009).

Foss, Solbjørg & Bjølseth, 2005; Rice, 2007b; Simpson & Clem, 2008; Papastergiou,

2009). Will Wright, designer of the games SimCity, The Sims and Spore observes that

“All games are educational… Good games are hard to design. But designing a good game

around specific subject matter is really difficult” (Prensky, 2008).

One advantage of commercial games is that they tend to be more complex than

games developed for educational purposes. Prensky makes the case that complex games

are far more suitable for education than “mini-games” because they are more immersive

and focus more deeply on strategy and decision-making (Prensky, 2005). Several studies

make the case that complex games allow players to achieve the state of focused

engagement known as “flow” in a way that mini-games never will (Prensky, 2005; Van

Eck, 2006). According to Rice, complexity is a prerequisite for a game to “address the

upper levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy,” and most complex games “are commercially

developed software games” (Rice, 2007a). Other advantages include the availability and

relatively low cost of commercial games (Van Eck, 2006; Simpson & Clem, 2008).

The primary drawback noted of commercial games as tools for classroom

teaching is the dearth of content that can be easily integrated into an existing curriculum

(McFarlane, Sparrowhawk & Heald, 2002; Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; Van Eck,

2006; Rice, 2007b). Violence and other inappropriate content are particular concerns for

teachers working with young students (Rice, 2007b; Simpson & Clem, 2008). Yet there

are commercial games that mesh well with educational standards, and creative educators

are finding ways to incorporate non-explicitly educational games in surprising ways.

3. How are educators using commercial games in the classroom?

Information about how commercial games are being employed in the classroom is

available, generally, from three types of sources: government- or nonprofit-sponsored

surveys; reports by educators who undertook pilot or case studies; and non-academic

accounts, such as news reports, blog posts, and in one case, audio recordings of a college-

level course. The available sources are far from uniform in the level of detail they supply

about how the games were used in the classroom, but some clear concordances do

emerge.

Teachers are understandably concerned with the content of video games, and the

commercial games used in classroom teaching are often selected because they are easily

retrofitted to existing curricular standards. One study described the use of Restaurant

Empire, a business simulation game, in a Wyoming 8th grade computer skills course

(Simpson & Clem, 2008). The game was selected to conform to state vocational

standards, and the activities built around the game focused on the realism of the

simulation. A 2002 survey conducted by the British Educational Communications and

Technology Agency (BECTA) found that games in the SimCity and Rollercoaster Tycoon

series were the most common commercial games used by the teachers surveyed

(Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2003). SimCity games are frequently cited as appropriate for

classes studying civics and city planning (British Educational Communications and

Technology Agency, 2006; Charsky & Mims, 2008). Similarly, games in the Civilization

and Age of Empires series are often used to teach history and social studies (Van Eck,

2006; Gros, 2007). Squire’s work with the turn-based historical strategy game

Civilization III began with a case study using the game in a 9th grade humanities class

studying human cultures (Squire, 2004, 2006, 2008). Squire found that players’

knowledge of basic geography and history improved dramatically, and that they became

comfortable with the game’s college-level vocabulary. A slightly different example of a

commercial game matching school standards is the dance-pad game Dance Dance

Revolution, which has been integrated into physical education programs across the United

States (Trout & Zamora, 2005; Schiesel, 2007).

Another apparent trend is the use of a game to teach skills and subjects that are

not inherent to its setting or narrative. Gros, in a well-structured case study, used the

historical strategy game Age of Empires II in a social sciences class “while, in parallel,

the mathematics teacher used the same game to work on a reading of statistical graphs”

(Gros, 2007). Rollercoaster Tycoon games are often used to teach physics and

engineering principles despite the fact that these concepts exist only as part of the game’s

behind-the-scenes simulation, rather than as an overt game mechanic (Charsky & Mims,

2008). The BECTA Computer Games in Education project, a large-scale case study

following on the organization’s 2002 survey of games in education, used several

commercial games in interdisciplinary ways (McFarlane et al, 2002; BECTA, 2006). For

example, SimCity 3000 was used not as a city simulator, but as a tool to teach 11-16 year-

old special needs students about models, simulations and computer interfaces. Other

examples from the BECTA study include the use of people simulator The Sims to teach

budgeting skills and discuss emotional and relationship issues with the same special

needs demographic; the use of soccer management simulation Championship Manager

00/01 to teach 11-13 year-olds about databases; and the use of Age of Empires to teach

computer skills and strategic thinking. The researchers found that the games motivated

students and provided “powerful learning experiences” by presenting learning

opportunities in contexts that were inherently attractive to students. The study further

concluded that the role of the teacher “remains crucial” when using games in the

classroom: teachers who were not themselves knowledgeable about the games being used

had less positive results overall.

Some studies have investigated the use of commercial games to stimulate student

creativity, often by having students modify the games to create new scenarios, quests,

dialogue, art assets and even game mechanics. Neverwinter Nights, a fantasy role-playing

game, ships with a robust content development toolset. One Canadian case study tasked

high school students in two tenth grade English classes with creating interactive stories

using these tools, along with a programming tool of the researchers’ own design

(Carbonaro et al, 2007). A British study, conducted as part of a voluntary summer

workshop for high school students, also used the Neverwinter Nights tools to enable

students to tell interactive stories, and reported strong enthusiasm for the project from

participants (Robertson & Good, 2006). Both studies concluded that students found this

new form of expression both challenging and rewarding.

Even when no element of game modification is involved, games may still be used

to aid students with creative expression. Researchers in Spain designed a “multimedia

workshop” for children ages 8-9 centered around the action-adventure game Tomb

Raider: Chronicles (Lacasa et al, 2008). The students played the game and undertook

projects based on the experience, including writing stories, writing and performing a

play, drawing pictures and creating web pages. The researchers found that the teacher of

the class had a great deal of difficulty with the project. The teacher was unprepared for

the enthusiasm that the students showed for the game, and felt that the class was spiraling

out of control. The teacher also interpreted the game’s narrative much differently than her

students, framing it in terms of a traditional fairy tale (even using the phrase “once upon a

time” in her summary of the plot) and focusing far more on the game’s violence than her

charges. Overall, the researchers were pleased with the study’s outcomes, arguing that the

students employed a “meta-cognitive process” to translate the motives and actions of the

game’s heroine Lara Croft into several different mediums.

The final and least common model for integrating commercial games into

classroom education involves immersing students deeply into a game world. This may be

done in order to use the fiction of the game’s narrative to explore real life issues, as was

the case with a pilot study undertaken with a 7th grade language arts and social studies

class in Wisconsin (Kadakia, 2005). The study introduced the concept of choices and

consequences using traditional media (a novel), and then asked the students to play the

first-person role-playing game The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind over the course of three

days, analyzing the choices and consequences available to players during that time. The

instructor behind the project reports that it was “highly successful in raising the

engagement level in my classes,” and that students were able both to connect the lessons

to their real lives and to distinguish the elements of the game that they perceived as

unrealistic.

Another, far more ambitious example of this approach was the freshman college

English class “Worlds of Warcraft,” offered in 2007 and 2008 at Vanderbilt University.

Worlds of Wordcraft incorporated two commercial games into its syllabus: the massively

multiplayer online role-playing game Lord of the Rings Online and the smaller-scale

online role-playing game Neverwinter Nights 2 (Clayton & Hall, 2008a). Students played

Lord of the Rings Online extensively, approaching it as an interactive text which they

compared to versions of the same story told in books and film (Clayton & Hall, 2008b).

Students and professors compared the narrative techniques available to authors working

in these various mediums, and contrasted the experience of “player” from that of reader

or viewer. Students in the class also used Neverwinter Nights 2 to adapt a section of the

romantic poem The Fairie Queene into a quest-based role-playing game. This project

built on what students had learned over the course of the semester about romantic

narrative, game design and the complex nature of online and virtual identities. Listening

to the podcasted audio recordings of this class, two things are clear: first, that the students

cared a great deal about the material they were learning, and as a result learned a great

deal; and second, that a college-level class incorporating video games in such a

sophisticated and integral way would be impossible without instructors who were

incredibly well-versed in the medium. A paper from professors Jay Clayton and Matthew

Jett Hall evaluating Worlds of Wordcraft as a pilot study, or simply discussing the

process of developing the course curriculum, would be a valuable contribution to the

scholarship on games and pedagogy.

Conclusions and suggestions for further research

Although the literature reflects multiple approaches to using commercial games in

the classroom, many teachers and researches drew similar conclusions about what

worked and what did not. Numerous publications drew on these conclusions to propose

best practices for using games in classroom education (McFarlane et al, 2002; Kirriemuir

& McFarlane, 2003; Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; Shaffer et al 2005; Van Eck, 2006;

Rice, 2007b; Charsky & Mims, 2008).

Some perceived obstacles to the use of commercial games in education come up

again and again in the literature. Concerns that commercial games are not content-

appropriate for classroom teaching have already been discussed. Related to this concern

is the opinion that games are mindless exercises filled with violent and sexual imagery

(Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; Shaffer et al, 2005; Rice, 2007b; Lacasa et al, 2008).

Several writers articulate the notion that games promote a freeform, experiential

style of learning that is a good fit for digital natives, but is inherently challenging to the

“social organization” and “social boundaries” of traditional schools (Shaffer et al, 2005;

Lacasa et al, 2008; Lim, 2008; Brown, 2008). Although this is often presented as a reason

why administrators may object to the deep integration of games into classroom learning,

some researchers were pleased by the challenges games presented. Tüzün describes a

“positive, messy classroom culture, in which students were active participants” (Tüzün,

2007). Simpson and Clem likewise describe the need for teachers to respond to “on-

demand learning moments” (Simpson & Clem, 2008). The root of this messiness may lie

partly in the nonlinear nature of games, which means that students who begin in the same

place will almost certainly pursue a succession of divergent paths (Squire, 2008). If

games are truly disruptive to institutionalized modes of teaching and learning, acceptance

of them will take time; however, the extensive use of game-like simulations in military

training suggests that games need not turn the classroom into a circus (Prensky, 2003;

Oblinger, 2004; Shaffer et al, 2005). Teaching educators about what makes games

valuable and different is an important first step (Shaffer et al, 2005).

The large time investment necessary to successfully integrate video games into a

curriculum is mentioned repeatedly. Games can require a great deal of time to set up, and

students must be allowed to explore the game’s narrative, environments and mechanics

before meaningful learning can take place (Gros, 2007; Rice, 2007b; McFarlane et al,

2002; Lim, 2008). Sometimes, only certain sections of a game are deemed to be relevant

to instruction, and accessing specific content within a larger game can also take time.

Proposed solutions to this dilemma include “lite” versions of commercial games and

teacher-created saved games that drop players into a game at a specific geographic or

narrative place (McFarlane et al, 2002; Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; Kadakia, 2005;

BECTA, 2006). Hopes that commercial game developers will create dedicated

educational versions of their products appear unfounded, given the low penetration rate

of games in the educational arena. However, the experience of Kadakia, working with

Morrowind save game files, suggests that proper teacher preparation can save a

significant amount of actual class time (Kadakia, 2005).

Technical issues can exacerbate the problem of limited time for game-based

instruction. Researchers either anticipated or encountered a number of technical problems

when using games, from unreliable Internet connections to underpowered computer

hardware to security programs that interfere with the installation and maintenance of

game software (Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; Van Eck, 2006; Rice, 2007b; Charsky &

Mims, 2008; Lim, 2008; Simpson & Clem, 2008; Tüzün, 2008). Computer security is

incredibly important, but it is not incompatible with having games on computers—school

IT departments can install games as easily as they can install word processors (Van Eck,

2006). Rice suggests limiting the use of newer games in classrooms, given that classroom

computers tend to be underpowered, but the fact that students fixate on graphical quality

suggests that this approach is problematic (Rice, 2007b). Research into the costs, benefits

and disadvantages of dedicated console hardware, as opposed to mixed-use computer

hardware, would help to clarify the available options.

The need for teachers to know a game very well before using it in the classroom is

presented variously as an obstacle to the use of games (learning a game takes time) and as

a best practice for their use. There is a consensus among academics writing about

commercial video games in education that teachers must design instructional activities

that contextualize game content and gameplay within the course and subject being

studied (McFarlane et al, 2002; Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; BECTA, 2006; Van Eck,

2006; Gros, 2007; Charsky & Mims, 2008). Teachers must also know a game well in

order to answer technical and gameplay questions from students (BECTA, 2006; Charsky

& Mims, 2008; Simpson & Clem, 2008).

All of the case studies on the use of commercial games were generally positive

regarding the games’ effects on student learning (Kadakia, 2005; Robertson & Good,

2006; Squire, 2006; Carbonaro et al, 2007; Gros, 2007; Simpson & Clem, 2008). Several

studies mentioned the beneficial effects that games have on students’ level of motivation

and enthusiasm for schoolwork—Squire describes this enthusiasm spilling over into

voluntary learning and studying outside of school (Rosas et al, 2003; Oblinger, 2004;

Kadakia, 2005; BECTA, 2006; Robertson & Good, 2006; Schiesel, 2007; Squire, 2008).

Writers concerned with educational theory frequently reiterate that games are a good fit

for classrooms modeled on constructivist philosophies (Oblinger, 2004; Gee, 2007; Rice,

2007a; Schrader & McCreery, 2007; Lim, 2008). Finally, a number of theorists

speculated that games could stimulate student creativity, a hypothesis borne out by those

studies concerned with creative expression (Robertson & Good, 2006; Carbonaro et al,

2007; Lacasa et al, 2008; Lim, 2008; Prensky, 2008; Squire, 2008).

Despite the increase in scholarship focusing on pedagogy and video games in

recent years, this review exposed some significant gaps in the literature. One problem is

that many academics writing about games are not themselves very experienced with or

knowledgeable about games, gaming culture or the video game industry. This leads to all

sorts of issues, including a lack of understanding of the relationships between content,

narrative, genre and game mechanics; an inability to distinguish between separate games

in a series; and in one case, the misidentification of the game that was the subject of a

case study (Lacasa et al, 2008). Ignorance of the gaming space also has less concrete

effects on the field of study around games. For example, no publications focus on the

significance of major industry trends such as the increased prevalence of console gaming

and digital content distribution. The solution to this knowledge and culture gap is to

encourage scholarship by writers who know games as well as educational theory and

related subjects, something that is likely to happen naturally as people who grew up

playing games move into college and beyond.

Another issue is the surprising relative scarcity of academic literature on the

actual use of commercial games to teach. Far more researchers create their own subject-

specific games than use existing games. Knowledgeable and thoughtful academic

analyses of specific commercial games do exist, and some of these works speculate

convincingly about how to use these games in traditional school settings. However, this

sort of speculation is more common than studies or reports on the real-world use of

games. What literature does exist along the latter lines suggests that most teachers are

using the same few games, in the same few genres, in the same few ways (Kirriemuir &

McFarlane, 2003, 2004; Van Eck, 2006; Charsky & Mims, 2008; Simpson & Clem,

2008).

The existing speculative literature on the use of commercial games in classrooms

suggests that this is a promising avenue for further research. The positive outcomes

reported by case studies that reached beyond frequently used games such as Civilization

III and Neverwinter Nights should lead teachers and researchers to experiment with more

games in different ways. There are countless possible avenues for further research. Super

Monkey Ball, a first-person take on the traditional marble labyrinth, “demonstrates (and

allows experimentation with) the concepts of velocity, friction, acceleration and

gravity”—ideal for an elementary or middle school science class (Kirriemuir &

McFarlane, 2004). Brothers in Arms, a realistic World War II first-person shooter series,

could be used to teach high school history (Brown, 2008). The aptly named business

simulator Capitalism II could be used to teach about budgeting, business, and

macroeconomics. The cycles of hype and controversy surrounding the release of every

Grand Theft Auto game since 2001 would make an excellent object lesson for journalism

students. Particularly dismaying is the fact that few teachers devote classroom time to

examining narrative games as literature: the sci-fi shooters BioShock and Half Life 2

would fit right into any serious examination of dystopian genre fiction. The existing

research could be greatly diversified by a few well-designed case studies using games

that are apparently as yet unknown to the inside of any classroom, anywhere.

Part of the problem may be that teachers are reluctant to experiment with games

about which they know little, and have limited time to devote to learning more about

games (McFarlane et al, 2002; Gros, 2007). Charsky and Mims suggest that teachers

should not only play a game before incorporating it into the curriculum, but should also

purchase a strategy guide and research the game on websites and discussion boards

(Charsky & Mims, 2008). Researching a game across such a fragmented media

landscape, where the available resources are targeted towards recreational players rather

than the special concerns of educators, is a prohibitively costly proposition for most

teachers.

Providing teachers with information about games in a way that drastically limits

their time and energy investment in research and preparation holds promise as a solution

to this problem. As of this writing, there is no prominent website devoted to cataloging

information about games from the educator’s perspective. A well-designed website might

include a user-editable wiki for relevant information about a game (including alignment

to state standards and age-appropriateness), space for teachers to share game-based lesson

plans, and forums for interaction between educators, administrators and even students.

One possible model for such a site is “What They Play” (www.whattheyplay.com), a

website founded in 2007 which acts as a comprehensive resource for parents seeking to

learn about the games their children are playing. What They Play reaches out to parents

in a variety of ways—including through feature articles on gaming trends, a database

assessing the content and quality of thousands of new and existing games, newsletters, a

podcast and a blog—and is a rare example of a site dedicated to covering games whose

audience is not exclusively or even predominantly composed of gamers.

The rising interest in the use of commercial games in classroom settings has led to

a wealth of theory and speculation about how this exciting field could develop.

Hopefully, teachers and researchers will now apply this body of theory, along with the

lessons learned from previous pilot and case studies, in an effort to integrate more games

into classrooms in more ways. Only through continued real-world practice will games

move past something that we could be doing to something that is making a positive

difference in students’ lives.

References

Annetta, L. A. (2008). Video games in education: Why they should be used and how they are being used. Theory into Practice. 47 (3), 229-239.

Brown, H. J. (2008). Videogames and education. History, humanities, and new technology. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe.

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Carbonaro, M., Cutumisu, M., Duff, H., Gillis, S., Onuczko, C., Siegel, J., Schaeffer, J., Schumacher, A., Szafron, D., Waugh, K. (2008). Interactive story authoring: A viable form of creative expression for the classroom. Computers & Education. 51 (2), 687-707.

Charsky, D., & Mims, C. (2008). Integrating commercial off-the-shelf video games into school curriculums. TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning. 52 (5), 38-44.

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