By harnessing the power of games, we have the potential to create dynamic learning environments that motivate and inspire learners of all ages and backgrounds. This approach can not only enhance student engagement and knowledge retention but also promote collaboration, creativity, and adaptability. Through the integration of educational games into curricula, we can unlock the full potential of learners and cultivate a lifelong love for learning. This opportunity allows us to bridge the gap between traditional teaching methods and the evolving needs of 21st-century learners, enabling us to prepare students for a rapidly changing world and equip them with the skills necessary to thrive in a complex and interconnected global society.
Games are no longer though of as a waste of time or unproductive. As you will learn, there are excellent games designed to educate, challenge, and promote teamwork. Join us as we seek to discover the power of game based learning.
Opportunity Statement:
Game-based learning presents a unique opportunity to revolutionize education by engaging students in interactive and immersive experiences that foster deeper understanding, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
OER Website:
Please take a look at our GBL Website for tons of great games you can use in your classroom.
OER Game-Based Learning & Gamification Website
Games are still largely considered as ‘entertainment’, but why do we find them so entertaining? In my experience, a high quality game does an excellent job of creating a problem solving environment that is satisfying to the player(s). Frequently, games will not have explicit instructions, but will guide the player to become more skillful at the game through clever scaffolding and implicit teaching that is embedded within the gameplay. Think of any game you have played – as the game progresses, the difficulty also progresses which leads you to be naturally more skillful at the game. This has a huge potential to be utilized for educational purposes. I am not referring to the common educational ‘games’ that are just equivalent to doing a worksheet on a computer. I think there is a significant opportunity in our classroom to utilize real, satisfying, and challenging games as a learning tool. Some teachers are already using games such as Minecraft, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Portal 2, and Civilization 6 to teach meaningful, engaging classroom lessons. I believe this highly opportunistic industry will explode over the next couple decades. A game is not the right tool for every lesson, but it is certainly the best tool for some lessons and I look forward to more teachers and students benefiting from it’s application.
If you are interested in Digital Game Based Learning, you can check out this database of games with links to lesson plans that my group built for our 510 Design Project.
https://thegamestheyplay.notion.site/thegamestheyplay/The-Games-They-Play-c17c2d2bda914ba3ba4f478618c80390
Game-based learning has many opportunities for education. It’s always interesting to hear students talk about the various games they play. They often talk about the critical thinking skills or how collaborative they need to be with other players. Game-based learning allows the student to engage in life-long learning because there is an investment. School tends to be traditional and I applaud the many teachers that do their best to take the “dry” learning and make it enjoyable for the students. I think if we can take it a step further, cater game-based learning that can tackle all kinds of students that have designations. This might be a lot to unpack but if we can create learning that is truly and genuinely fun, all students can look forward to learning as fun and not a chore.
As a classroom teacher, I am constantly looking for ways to gamify content, with the intent of providing a fun and engaging lesson that students will interact with in a meaningful way. Animals, especially at a young age, use Play as an adaptive tool to practice certain behaviours, develop necessary skills, and learn how to interact with others and the foreign world. I find that games, whether in the classroom or otherwise, is a form of Play that can provide productive learning experiences. I am not much of a gamer myself, but through friends and family members I have witnessed their unintentional learning of various topics. For example, I witnessed my brother become an expert in Norse mythology due to his incessant gaming of “God of War: Ragnarok.”
Game based learning is definitely an exciting way to engage a classroom full of students of any age. If done correctly, game based learning can be such a dynamic tool to use within a classroom. The learning that takes place as soon as a teacher brings forth a competitive and exciting element is immeasurable. Students are not only reviewing particular content of a topic but they are also developing skills associated with collaboration, resiliency, and critical thinking. Most educational games also automatically bring a positive mindset to a classroom as students feel the fun aspects of the course topic. I would like to implement more game based learning in my teaching but I don’t want to do it just to play games but to have them meaningful and polished. Although it would take time for educators to find that perfect match I think it would definitely pay off in the long run.
Game-based learning is something that is not just growing but, I believe, is also gaining a lot of support. Some applications cater to the mobile aspect, such as Blooket and Kahoot, while some video games incorporate education editions, such as Minecraft. I have worked in a school that used Minecraft Education as one of its courses, and it seemed to work quite well in allowing the students to learn. However, as games are considered more of an entertainment and there are concerns about the risks with games, such as addiction, appropriateness of ages, and if it may cause myopia, it seems like it could hurt its potential to stakeholders. Overall, I believe there is a lot of upside to it in the classroom as it can be a motivating factor, allowing greater understanding and deeper learning.
The world view on gaming is changing its views on gaming. But, was the view on gaming really that bad to begin with? As someone who grew up in the era of video games as we know them (post 1983 crash), I have seen the positive influence that gaming can have. From an early age, I have witnessed things such as an improvement in hand-eye coordination, as well as development in social skills as the result of collaborating with my friends. We would all work together as we worked our way through Super Mario Bros. 3. Realistically speaking, these were just seen as the beginning. Gaming has so many applications worth exploring. I think specifically of engaging students’ interest, and possibly showing them, through gaming, lessons that can be taught using possible real life applications.