Gee, J. P. (2008). Cats and portals: Video games, learning, and play. American Journal of Play, 1(2), 229.
Description: Gee (2008) argues that well made commercial games must effectively promote learning in order to be engaging and rewarding; however, commercial game designers do not necessarily draw on the learning sciences or academic domains but rather strive to promote mastery within the game world, and as such, sharp distinctions should not be made between entertainment and “serious” games as they both require sound principles in designing problem spaces. Placing too heavy an emphasis on “serious” games can detract from the essential element that makes commercial games such effective learning experiences: play, specifically the aspect of discovery, and using Portal as an example, Gee demonstrates that by placing emphasis on using tools to produce an action, players must learn to understand and manipulate physics even though learning physics as an academic discipline is not the goal of the game. Gee further utilizes an example of a young woman who blended the virtual and real world by turning real clothes into virtual clothes in The Sims and becoming a “Pro-Am” – passionate amateurs who have become experts by utilizing online resources and communities of practice and subsequently channeled that expertise into economic benefits and real-world skills, further demonstrating that games do not need to be “serious” or reliant on academic disciplines to inspire further learning and growth within the context of the game and the real world.
Analysis: Gee’s description of the niche words/terminology, community, rules, discussions, and ability to articulate knowledge of games all seem to describe the cultural contexts that surround games and gaming in general; however, Gee does not delve into how these cultural contexts may overlap or be purposely blended with school cultures that often reject commercial games as “non-educational.” Furthermore, Gee’s emphasis on Portal and the young woman that found success in designing clothing for The Sims at times gave the impression that the author was not acknowledging that not all games are equally rewarding educational experiences that are transmissible to the real world; however, it should be noted that his primary argument that play and discovery are valuable learning experiences that should not be lost in schools is still valid.
Question: If educational or “serious” games stand to benefit from adopting many aspects of commercial games, namely narrative, exploration, discovery, interaction, immersion, and the ability to fail without consequences- all of which contribute to constructivist and constructionist learning theories- how do we reconcile learning through play with the antiquated assessment practices that are still often used in education?
Gee, E., & Gee, J. P. (2017). Games as distributed teaching and learning systems. Teachers College Record, 119(11).
Description: Throughout this article, Elisabeth Gee and James Paul Gee (2017) continuously highlight the ability of the human mind to construct mental simulations, which is foundational to consciousness and sociality, in preparation for learning and subsequent action. This ability draws on past experiences which have been edited and stored through our social experiences and have been mediated by the tools we use in the real world and possibly virtual worlds. Conversation and the co-construction of language, either socially or in more primal conversations with the world, are also critical for developmental learning and video games offer new virtual worlds in which to have conversations, contrasting with literacy which has historically been static.
Analysis: The authors contend that digital games externalize our innate ability to simulate and play games in our head and encourage players to conduct model-based reasoning to master the game world; however, it should be noted that in doing so we are not truly externalizing our own simulations and imagination, but are operating and seeking to problem solve within the confines of a game that was developed by another mind and must progress through a linear progression, even if some player choices are offered along the way. Additionally, I think the example of Amanda was important to demonstrate that socio-economic status and social interactions can play a vital role in fostering interest in distributed teaching and learning systems (DTAL) and issues surrounding access and equity should be highlighted if digital games are to play a larger role in education.
Question: If science and other academic disciplines offer similar tools, experiences, and conversations for problem solving in the real world as opposed to the digital, how do we foster similar interest in these disciplines and reconfigure our education system by offering more freedom for learners to choose, explore, and organize through affinity spaces rather than be organized through academic boundaries and age group?
Concluding bridge: The second article by Elisabeth Gee and James Paul Gee (2017) further expands on Gee’s (2008) article concerning the cycle of trial and error that players undertake as they learn to understand, navigate, and predict a game’s rules and notably, the game does not necessarily need to be academic in nature to be a rewarding learning experience. The gaps concerning how to overlap and integrate gaming cultures with school cultures I identified in the previous article was further expanded on in the second article, as the authors offered more solutions such as fostering interest-driven learning beyond school walls, networking DTAL systems while striving to appreciate that different forms of experience are situated within broader systems, and providing learners with greater agency in curriculum design.