In this paper the authors ask the question, ‘How can we use the power of video games as a constructive force in schools, homes and the workplace?’ They present an argument that video games are more than just a popular form of entertainment for young people. ‘..they (video games) create new social and cultural worlds: worlds that help people think by integrating thinking, social interaction, and technology, all in service of doing things they care about.’ Shaffer (2004) Throughout this paper, they refer specifically to the engagement of reality games as providing much of the core skills, habits and understandings that underpin current educational trends.
Rich (2008) notes that video games are the, ‘best educational teaching tool because the nature of the medium means the gamers are active players not passive observers.’ Shaffer (2004) agrees, and throughout the paper, discusses the opportunity afforded to students because they are able to view the world in a variety of ways that remain meaningful, interesting, engaging and educational.
Shaffer (2004) espouses that video games especially virtual reality games such as Sims and Lineage are rich powerful learning environments where the player is able to learn about situations through their play. The learning intent is the understanding gained through the gaming experience and the ability to transfer this new knowledge to different situations. The authors refer to the ‘Epistemic Frame’ – games that give students a virtual world that mirrors that real world. Students are able to learn the job of a ‘town planner’ through design and problem solving. In this way students learn how to think like a town planner and will transfer the knowledge learnt in the game to their own environment. McGonigal (2010) agrees, ‘Gamers are a human resource that we can use to do real-world work and games are a powerful platform for change.’ The authors note, ‘..by creating virtual worlds, games integrate knowing and doing. But not just knowing and doing. Games bring together ways of knowing, ways of doing, ways of being, ways of caring: the situated understandings, effective social practices, powerful identities and shared values that make someone an expert.’ Shaffer (2004) However, Squire (2002) warns that studies have shown that not all students transfer this knowledge successfully, ‘…the process of interpreting game play of drawing analogies between symbolic representations in the game and their real life analogy is one of active interpretation.’ I would argue that this may well be the case especially with young children and adolescents. Just because gamers are playing the game successfully, does not automatically mean that they will transfer correct or even useful information to the real world. Put simply, gamers may misinterpret the basic knowledge base and draw miscued interpretations. When one discusses good learning and teaching models, it is important to ensure that the model includes scaffolding for the desired learning outcomes.
Gee (2005) supports the notion forwarded by the authors that video games provide the opportunity for students to learn through virtual worlds. ‘A good instructional game, like many good commercial games, should be built around what I call "authentic professionalism." In such games, skills, knowledge, and values are distributed between the virtual characters and the real-world player in a way that allows the player to experience first-hand how members of that profession think, behave, and solve problems.’ Shaffer (2004) further purports the notion that through video games, students participate and cooperate with a number of other people who give instant feedback on their progress and furthermore students do not have to learn useless facts or knowledge to achieve this end. A good video game’s knowledge base is integral to the game and gamers learn in context. This is conducive with good teaching methodologies as employed by Education Queensland. (DET, 2009)
As Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee (2004) explain, for students in a school environment, the real audience for discourse is the teacher while a virtual reality audience can be the world. They purport that this makes the learning experience more powerful and meaningful to students thus creating an environment for better learning. Teachers have long espoused to aligning current curriculum with real life situations. Mathematics investigations, currently in the fore front of maths teaching in Queensland Queensland
According to Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee, educators struggle to recognise the educational potential in games because they view learning as memorising facts and regurgitating sets of knowledge, while the virtual worlds of games aren’t about recalling facts. I think this is very unfair criticism levelled at teachers. The reality is many of today’s classroom teachers already struggle with an overpopulated workload, constant criticism in the media, increasingly bad behaviour from students and parents and the publication of national testing results. Much criticism of national testing, led by teachers themselves, is that the testing results are poor indicators of student’s ability and the results give parents and politicians distorted views of the learning that occurs in schools. I don’t think teachers themselves are so narrow minded that they can’t see the educational value in video games, it is just that the current educational climate dictates that scoring better results in testing, is more valued. Shaffer (2004, 16) agrees, ‘many ‘mavericks’ have grown frustrated with the archaic view of governments who equate good learning and thus teaching with test results that rely on little more than memory and recall of facts.’
Shaffer raises many more questions than they answer in this paper. Where does this leave educators and teachers currently? Even if teachers are convinced of the educational value of video games they are still governed by the ethos of the current government and parent bodies who largely dictate the learning pedagogy in classroom. Shaffer (2004, 15) concludes, ‘The next challenge for gamers and school designers alike is to understand how to shape learning and learning environments based on the power and potential of game- and how to integrate games and game based learning environments into the predominant arena of learning – schools.’
Reference:
Department of Education and Training (DET) (2009) The Road Map for Teaching, Assessing and Reporting in Years 1-9. in Teaching and Learning.
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Dickey, M.D. (2005) Engaging by Design: How engagement strategies in pop culture and video games can inform instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development Volume 53, Number 2, 67-83, DOI: 10.1007/BF02504866
Access 12/9/10 from
Gee, J.P. (2005) What would a state of the art Instructional Video Game Look Like?. Innovate 1 (6). Accessed 20/9/10 from
McGonigal, J. (2010) Gaming Can Make a Better World
Accessed 8/10/10 from
Rich. M. (2008) How Video Games Affect Behaviour. Children’s Hospital Boston
Accessed 20/9/10 from You Tube
Shaffer, D.W., Squire, K.R., Halverson, R., Gee. J.P. (2004) Video Games and the Future of Learning. University of Wisconsin-Madison and Academic Advanced Distrubted Learning Co-Laboratory. Accessed 17/10/10 from
Squire, K. (2002) Cultural Framing of Computer/Video Gaming. In Game Studies Volume 2 Issue 1 Accessed 17/10/10 from
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