Educating Gamers: Video Games as a teaching tool.

There is nothing new about using video games as learning aids. I remember, at the tender age of seven, being sat down in front of a computer with two other girls and having to try and guide Christopher Columbus across the ocean to America. The problem was, everything I did seemed to result in starvation (and mutiny) or being boarded by pirates (and then mutiny) or getting lost (and then mutiny). Sometimes, for a change, the crew would just mutiny for no good reason.

I’m not sure it taught me much about American history, but it did impress on me how difficult it was to get anywhere in the old world without running into a whole host of problems.

A couple of years later, I was given a similar game to play, except that this time I had to build a Norman castle and repel attackers. The game itself was on DOS, and had amazing stick-figure graphics. It was quite fun, however, in a (very) pared-down Civilization sort of way. You had to manage resources, and manage your people in order to get the castle built - and along the way it taught you what each part of the castle was called.

The truth, however, is that educational video games suffer from much of the same problem that educational movies suffer. Most of them are made by people who understand the subject, but don’t understand movies (or games).

That incredibly addictive games can be made out of things like balancing a budget (Sim City) or living a virtual life (The Sims or Second Life) is a testament to the power of interactive entertainment. If, somehow, we could harness the sheer energy and work people put into, say, World of Warcraft, and apply that to expanding their understanding of the world it would be a major plus for students and teachers alike.

The question is, what causes that energy?

I have to stand back here, and say that I am not a teacher, nor overly familiar with the educational theories that are currently being explored. I do know, however, that there are a lot of bloggers out there that are teachers, and do understand education - and are also gamers.

The main challenges that I can see are:

1. Presenting the ideas to be learned in a way that remains with the player, but in such a way that it does not disrupt the gameplay.
2. Making the information presented appear relevant to real life.

Some things are fairly easy to teach via interactive mediums. Flight and driving simulators, and sports games that teach tactics are both easily applicable to their real life equivalents.

In addition, using the college campus virtual land within Second Life has opened new ways of teaching - to an extent. Second Life still mimics traditional learning concepts, despite the creative avatars and educational backdrops.

Where things start to fall apart is where complex social history has to be explained. Whether it’s the slave trade or the Holocaust under the microscope, events need their context and effects to be explained in a sensitive, knowledgeable fashion. To a large extent, I think the only way that can be done is to have a teacher imparting the knowledge.

Equally, trying to teach literature via video games is somewhat clashing two mediums together. In the same way that making a film from a novel can completely alter it, so does making a video game out of a novel fall apart.

I think we have to realise that words, that books and textbooks are a necessary part of learning. You can get a depth of information and context into words that you could never get across clearly visually or interactively.

Having said that, I do think that games can augment current learning very easily. They are a superior method for teaching cause and effect, to a very sophisticated level. Games like Civilization and Sim City force players into an analytical frame of mind, since small decisions early on can have massive consequences later. Equally, they teach crisis management skills, since the situation rarely degrades to the point where it cannot be rescued by some quick thinking and ruthless action. It can take learning away from theory and place it into a realistic setting, making it feel far more relevant and intuitive.

What is your thinking on educational games? Are they a waste of time? Are they the savior of our educational system? Do you expect kids to be all jacked into the learning mainframe in a few years?

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6 Responses to “Educating Gamers: Video Games as a teaching tool.

Jo Iacovides Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

Hi Keira, cheers for letting me know about the new post.

First off, I think you’ve done a great job summing up the why educators are interested in games and the main challenges they face. A similar challenge that needs addressing though is to do with how well knowledge transfers between game and real life contexts. The issue of transfer seems less of a problem with respect to simulations, which have been designed to be as similar to real life as possible, but the ‘purer’ the simulation is the harder it gets to keep calling it a game - a whole other debate entirely!

I’m also glad you pointed out that the use of games in education is not really a new approach, and that it has suffered from a lack of understanding about what makes games motivational. I would like to think this has improved over the years, and that educators who are interested in games have a better understanding than they used too but there is still the problem of where the money needed will come from. Even if you manage to find some sort of funding, the resources available are unlikely to produce something that can realistically compete with the majority of mainstream titles.

I think the main point I would like to make though is that the study of games is causing us to reconsider our understanding of learning. So it’s not really a question of whether they will ‘save’ the current system but whether they help us rethink the system entirely. That said I doubt that games will ever replace the role of a teacher or the need for books, but according to people like James Paul Gee, it might be better if the education system was organised more like the “affinity groups” of players that spring up around different games. As a member of such a group you are likely to engage in a range of activities from playing the game, talking about it (on and off-line) with peers and experts, reviewing websites, designing your own mods, reading magazines or guide books etc which can all contribute to your success within the game and the development of all sorts of skills. Game play then is only a part of this learning process, though admittedly a central one.

So when it comes to teaching something like literature, the idea is not make the book into a game, but to get you to read the book as part of the game playing experience itself. I think this also relates to the idea that games can provide a stimulus for discussion, in much the same way novels and films are critically discussed. The difference with games their interactive nature and as such you could argue that they have the potential to provide us with more meaningful and powerful experiences than any other media.

So yes, I do expect kids to be plugged into some sort of mainframe in a few years time but I don’t expect that to be the only education they get!

Aaron Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

Montessori-style learning fits well with games. SimCity, Civilization, and Spore’s Creature Creator are good example. But the lessons players learn in this way are not automatically connected with non-gaming life or history. Something or someone has to trigger that connection.

What sometimes occurs is that a person remembers the game experience when confronted with something similar in reality, and that helps the person to take interest in the reality and remember it. Even the dumbest and most ignorant people can remember song lyrics and movie lines. Things we’re interested in are stored in memory, if not always easily recalled. Interest is occasionally the missing ingredient in education. You have to begin there.

But certainly learning should not always be fun. Games should never be the only medium of education, but that’s not to say that games must always be fun. Instead, games can be compelling as Schindler’s List is compelling; not joyful or pleasant, but captivating nonetheless.

I’ve been playing Civilization: Revolution on my Xbox 360 recently. I’m impressed by the Civilopedia feature. The gameplay gets the player interested in all of these people and civilizations. Then the player can see photographs and read about these realities without having to exit the game or search for the info. That strikes me as a good learning tool.

Write the Game » That’ll Larn Me: Do video games teach socially responsible lessons? Says:
August 1st, 2008 at 4:38 pm

[...] spoken a little about using games as educational tools before. Video games are an interesting media, because they have only recently made a push into the [...]

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November 13th, 2008 at 5:53 am

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Gregory Bialek Says:
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:40 am

Thanks for this post, I have learned a lot more now about world of warcraft! Your book was an huge aid. I wonder you will post more of your guides!.

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