Video Games in Education

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Video Gamesin Education Boon or Bane?

• Nor Hidayah M. Amin
• College of Education
• Lehigh University

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Contents

• Introduction
• Development of educational media
• Video Games in American Culture

• Educational settings
• Using video games to understand engagement
• Pac-Man vs. traditional schooling
• Games Drill practice
• Simulations strategy games
• Aggression social mal-adjustment
• Future of video games in education

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Educational potentials of gamingMost research
done focused on the social consequences of
gaming. Educators have ignored cognitive
potential of games especially in? Interactive
stories? Digital authoring tools?
Collaborative worlds
Introduction
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Video games are a powerful force in the
entertainment economic sector.Price
Waterhouse Cooper US sales of entertainment
software reached 8.2 billion in 2004. Sales in
2009 are expected to reach 15 billion. Video
games have pervasively influence the American
culture. Most of the studies conducted about
video games in education are done in the Nintendo
age - limited outdated.
VG in US culture
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Malone (1981) generated 3 main elements that make
video games fun Challenge, Fantasy,
CuriosityEducational programs should have1.
Clear goals that students find meaning2.
Multiple goals structures scoring to give
feedback3. Multiple difficulty levels4.
Random element of surprise5. Emotionally
appealing fantasy metaphor
Engagement
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Bowman (1982) uses Csikzentmihalyis discussion
of flow Pac-Man is an action system where
skills challenges are progressively balanced,
goals are clear, feedback is unambiguous, and
relevant stimuli can be differentiated from
irrelevant stimuli.
Engagement
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Csikzentmihalyi (1990) describes flow as- a
State of Optimal experience,-- whereby a person
is so Engaged in activity - that
Self-consciousness disappears, - Time becomes
distorted - and people engage in complex,
goal-directed Activity - not for external
rewards - but simply for the Exhilaration of
doing.
S.O.E.S.T.A.E.
Csikzentmihalyi
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PM vs. T Schooling
Pac-Man Traditional Schooling
Player controls how much he plays Students learn at 1 pace, little freedom to control content of learning
Players engaged in quick and varied activity Students passively absorb info in routine activity
Players can take all the time they need to master the game TS holds time constant, allowing achievement to vary
Players have feeling of mastering environment become more skilful Students learn knowledge abstracted by teacher and regurgitate
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PM vs. T Schooling
Pac-Man Traditional Schooling
Players work together, sharing tips and secrets Students perform in isolation, and cannot use one another as resources
Performance is criterion based, each player competes against his ability to master the game Students are graded normatively, graded against each other
Games are played for intrinsic reward for playing them Schools are structured around extrinsic rewards such as good grades or fear of failure
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Commercial games military, pilots Edutainment
products
Boon
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Popular because they can easily be integrated
into a didactic curriculum as enrichment
exercises during independent study time.Video
games support students exploration of
microworlds or as a construction tool (Papert,
1981).
Drills Practice
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Hi-fidelity to model every interaction in a
system in as life-like manner as
possible.E.g.?Low-fidelity simplify a system
to highlight key components of the system.E.g.?
Simulations
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Manipulate otherwise unalterable variables
SimEarth2. Enable students to view phenomena
from new perspectives - Hidden Agenda3.
Observe systems behavior over time -
Civilization4. Pose hypothetical questions to
a system -
Antietam5. Visualize a system in 3 dimensions
- Digital Weather Station6. Compare
simulations with their understanding of a
system - SimCity
Tools for Learning
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Provenzo (1991)1. Violent, aggressive
behavior2. Destructive gender
stereotyping3. Unhealthy rugged
individualistic attitudes4. Stifle creative
play
Bane
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Violent, aggressive behaviorResearch thus far
has been inconclusive.Calvert Tan (1994)
video games cause some increase of violent
thoughts.Lin Lipper (1987) no correlations
between regular video play and violence.In
summary, research on video games has failed to
show that video games cause violent, anti-social
or aggressive behavior or poor school performance.
Research findings
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Destructive gender stereotyping Few women
protagonists have been featured in video games
most women characters in fighting games resemble
adolescent male fantasies.Female gamers 20
of video games players.Barbie Fashion
Designer sold 500,000 copies.Thus, video games
creator must focuson character development
collaboration in order to attract girls.
Research findings
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Unhealthy rugged individualistic
attitudesImage of lone ranger is prevalent in
video games. Games like Asteroids Doom
capitalize on making the player isolated, taking
the world alone. MUDs (Multiple User Dungeons)
MOOs (a MUD object oriented) are text-based
online virtual reality system where players can
collaborate in groups to slay villains etc.
Other examples Avatar, Everquest
Research findings
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Stifle creative play Children are not passive
consumers of video games. They reappropriate
it into their own play1. They talk about a
game on the bus.2. They act out scenes from a
game in the playground.3. They discuss
games on bulletin board.Ellis (1983) video
games like popular media become the building
blocks of childrens world.
Research findings
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Since 1980s, gaming technology has improved
tremendously. But there is much room for the
study of how designs can be incorporated into
student centered learning environment. Many
educators have been using edutainment products.
We need more empirical research into how these
environments work. Interactive fiction and
online games are 2 areas that have not been
studied at all instructional technologists can
research on how online environments support
community development.
Future
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Bowman, R. F. (1982). A Pac-Man theory of
motivation. Tactical implications for classroom
instructions. Educational Technology, 22(9),
14-17.Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow The
Psychology of Optical Experience. New York
Harper Perennial.Calvert, S. L., Tan, S.
(1994). Impact of virtual reality on young
adults physiological arousal and aggressive
thoughts Interaction versus observation. Special
Issue Effects of interactive entertainment
technologies on development. Journal of Applied
Developmental Psychology, 15(1), 125-139.Ellis,
G. J. (1983). Youth in the Electronic
Environment An Introduction. Youth and Society,
15(1) 3-12.
References
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Lin, S. Lepper, M. R. (1987). Correlates of
children's usage of video games and computers.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17.
72-93.Malone, T. W. (1981). Toward a theory of
intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive
Science, (4), 333-369.Papert, S. (1981).
Mindstorm Children, computers and powerful
ideas. Brighton Harvester Press.Provenzo, E.
F. (1991). Video kids Making sense of Nintendo.
Cambridge, MA Harvard.
References
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Q A
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• hidayah.amin_at_lehigh.edu