Video: Games and Education Scholar James Paul Gee
Talks about changing the tests and assessment to challenge the learners.
Games can be used to enhance learning and engage learners.
What games do you play?
- Skip Bo
- Candy Crush
- Dots
- Word cookies
Games can be used for a range of things - time filler, as a relaxation tool, education etc.
The link between games and learning
The link between games and learning is not a contemporary phenomenon, nor a digital one. ...Froebel’s invention of kindergarten in 1840 was premised in large part on the integration of learning through games and play. (Salen, 2007).
What type of player are you?
Are you are a griefer/killer (hack / cheat / heckle), achiever (win / challenge / compare), socializer (share, comment, help) or explorer (investigate, create, discover)? Test your "Gamer Psychology" with the Bartle Test: http://tinyurl.com/TMLGamer
Even if you don't play online games, you can still see what you would prefer to do in such an environment.
Reflection on playing games
Read through the spreadsheet that has the responses from the 'before class' survey on Playing a Game. Discuss what it is about games that makes them engaging.
Reflection on flipped preparation
On a scale from "No, does not inform at all" <- - - -> "Yes, informs fully",
where on the spectrum of one of these 4 key points from the homework reading do you individually stand in relation to your teaching practice? What is your justification?
- Time on task = quality of learning
- Rewards (dopamine release) are important in learning
- Setting the right level of difficulty sustains motivation
- Learners must know skills before moving on to next level
Game thinking
Marczewski (2016) explores the following types of game thinking:
- Game inspired design: This is where no actual elements from games are used, just ideas such as user interfaces that mimic those from games, design or artwork that is inspired by games or the way things are written.
- Gamification: Extrinsic gamification is the sort that most people are used to, where game elements are added to a system. Things like points, badges, progress bars etc.Intrinsic gamification is more about using motivation and behavioural design to engage users.
- Serious games: These may be teaching/learning games that teach you something using real gameplay, simulators that provide a virtual version of something from the real world that allows safe practice and testing, meaningful games that use gameplay to promote a meaningful message to the player, or purposeful games that create direct real world outcomes.
- Play (games / toys): Play is free form and has no extrinsically imposed goals. It is done for fun or joy. Games add defined goals and rules to play (such as challenges). Toys are objects that can be used in play or games.
Some examples of serious games
- Sparx
- Quest2teach.
- Tinnitus game)
- Cancer Research UK's game Play to Cure: Genes in Space
- Gamefroot
- Sploder
Educational game model
According to Amory (2007), Educational computer games should:
- Be relevant, explorative, emotive and engaging
- Include complex challenges, puzzles or quests
- Be gender-inclusive and non-confrontational
- Provide appropriate role models
- Develop democracy and social capital through dialogue
- Support authentic learning activities
- Support the construction of tacit knowledge
Educational games need all the usual qualities of games, plus they should not contain any socially undesirable features (racism. sexism, violence, etc) but provide positive models, plus they have to have some embedded pedagogy. Maybe this explains why successful educational games are so hard to create.
Kupu Hono
You can try out a basic demo of Tyne Crow’s Kupu Hono Maori language learning game that is an example of a learning game designed for mobile devices that uses a virtual game world.
Where could you employ some aspects of gamification?
Playing games are positive and good and can encourage children's learning.
One teacher used Minecraft for Maths Measurement to replicate their school..
Video where a child used a famous poem and Minecraft to retell the poem.
The Fiction Engine
One school used 'Does gaming help you learn?' as a hypothesis for a Science Fair topic.
Action Bound - Great tool to use for spatial awareness, games, fun, quizzes, group or individual games..
SCRATCH - Create a school studio where all the children can look at it.
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