Asking the right questions can help games make a positive impact in the classroom
You’d have to live under a rock to be unfamiliar with the rise of game-based learning in classrooms across the nation in recent years. Integrating a game into an instructional unit may seem daunting, but four key implementation questions should help educators use games to support teaching and learning and help drive student engagement.
Games offer opportunities for collaboration and inquiry-based, self-directed learning. They also support skill development that students need under Common Core math and Next Generation Science Standards.
It’s first important to define what is not a learning game, said Susannah Gordon-Messer, curriculum and professional development specialist at the MIT Education Arcade, during an edWeb webinar on gaming implementation strategies.
(Next page: Essential questions when considering games in learning)
“What we try to avoid is edutainment, where the play becomes the reward for doing the problem,” she said. “This leads to chocolate-covered broccoli—it gets the kid to eat the broccoli, but it doesn’t promote healthy eating, and what happens when the chocolate goes away?”
When used correctly, “gaming is fun, but gaming is hard,” she said. Merging games’ potential with learning opportunities, then, can take learning to another level.
Games can be used in a traditional in-class approach, which is good for extra monitoring. They also can be used at home for extra practice or as assigned homework in a flipped style. Teachers might use games to introduce a new topic, or might opt for group game play as part of core instruction on a particular concept.
Educators should identify how they plan to use games in their instruction. Four key questions, with supporting follow-up questions, can help educators with their implementation planning.
Why
- Will you use games:
In a pre-instruction context setting
For post-instruction applications
For post-instruction practice
For formative assessment
To boost engagement
What
- What kind of game is most appropriate or will have the most impact?
Short play games
immersive role-playing games
Puzzle-based games
Board games
Where
- In what settings will you use games?
At home
In class
At the library or in a computer lab
How
- How will games be played and how will they be integrated into teaching and learning?
Formal lesson plans for individual students, groups of students, or for the entire class
For free individual, group, or whole-class play and exploration
As homework
For enrichment or extra credit
For competition
Often, games offer a chance for students to engage in playful explorations of complex concepts.
One such game is Radix Endeavor, an immersive virtual learning game for high school math and biology students. The game was created by MIT’s Education Arcade and Scheller Teacher Education Program, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In the game, students explore a virtual island world with unknown plants and animals. They investigate and collect evidence to help inhabitants solve some of the island’s problems. In many cases, there are no “right” answers, forcing students to explore, use trial-and-error, and be self-sufficient in the game.
Lure of the Labyrinth is another MIT Education Arcade game, this one targeted to middle school math students.
“Part of solving problems is discovering what problem you’re solving,” said Carole Urbano, outreach specialist at the MIT Education Arcade. “Textbooks tend to outline a problem in a methodical way and give us all the information we need to solve the puzzle.”
But getting students to the point where they can identify the problem before solving it is an important 21st-century skill.
Lure of the Labyrinth aims to help students strengthen strategy and problem-solving skills through playful exploration and patient problem solving.
“We don’t want to encourage teachers to use playful learning and then tell kids what the answers are,” Urbano said. “We want to provide teachers with the tools to be that guide on the side.”
“Games are a lot of fun, but they’re also often handed to teachers in a vacuum, and they’re only effective if teachers are comfortable using them and if they understand their value,” Gordon-Messer said.
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