« For many years the popular perception of digital games has been that they are solitary experiences enjoyed by those who shun social interaction, such as introverted teenage males, in so-called real life (a term common in the domain of virtual reality). These are mistaken assumptions, as digital games have evolved to be highly social environments that appeal to a much broader demographic.” (National Research Council, 2010) Today’s learners have evolved in the last years. They are naturally curious and one of the main way they learn is through play. When arriving at school, they, too often, loose that sense of play. Nonetheless, in an opportunity to recapture this sense of play and to make learning more engaging and fun, many schools are turning to digital games. Meluso et al. (2012) are stating that games can positively impact students’ learning by providing an intrinsically motivating and engaging learning environment for students.
Miller et al. (2011) also cited that the types of learning possible through serious games (games primarily focused on education rather than entertainment) cover a broad spectrum. STEM are no exception and in 2012, Meluso et al. (p. 498) noted that well-designed educational games have the potential to transform STEM teaching and learning because they can simulate real-world complexity and make learning more connected to students’ personal lives. Learners will find their way to STEM learning by multiple different reasoning and some of them may start a career in science or mathematics. The problematic here is: Is Game Based Learning a great potential or an unpromising trend for the classroom? This paper will be looking at how serious games can better engage and sustain self-efficacy for students in the classroom.
Selecting and finding articles
Towards the accomplishment of this analysis, three articles have been selected to support the problematic presented. These article were obtained from a search of the ETEC-533 library hosted on CiteULike and in the UBC Library. Through CiteULike, some keywords included :
– STEM and serious games
– Game Based Learning and STEM
The same options were searched in the UBC Library. These article are relevant as they identify good attributes towards the problematic exposed. The investigation demonstrated in these is showing evidences of the possible impact game based learning in education.
Annotated Bibliography
Young, M. F., Slota, S., Cutter, A. B., Jalette, G., Mullin, G., Lai, B., … & Yukhymenko, M. (2012). Our Princess Is in Another Castle A Review of Trends in Serious Gaming for Education. Review of Educational Research, 82(1), 61-89.
Young et al stated, in this article, « As both educators and gamers (not necessarily in that order), we hypothesized that educational video games, in general, would have a positive effect on a broad range of learning outcomes including engagement, motivation, content mastery, and sustained interest in the subject area. »(p.62) Supporting that thought, the authors looked at a large array of articles to demonstrate the possibility that video games could have a positive relationship with academic achievement for students in K-12 curriculum, looking at science and math inter alia. They took a conservative approach to conduct a meta-analysis of classroom studies evaluating experimental and comparisons groups to gain insight in the educational game world. « …academic journal articles, dissertations, thesis papers, and research reports on the use of video games in the classroom relating the use of video games to classroom achievement… » (p.62) were considered. However, in the absence of enough empirical research, they had to « use quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods designs.» It opened the field to multiple articles establishing connections between video gaming and achievement. The authors offer summaries of the trends in video game research and categorized them in subjects. 275 search results were looked at and color-coded tags have been applied. Tagged studies were then organized in K-12 subject matter.
« …because games have historically been used as tools for enculturation, the use of games in schools is often viewed through a sociocultural framework. Games and play are an essential part of child development. » (p.63) In the math and science fields, games need to be researched carefully to relate to the learning objectives, considering the collaboration among learners, game environment and classroom environment. Learning and game objectives have to be aligned in « a one-to-one correspondence »(p.68) Despite many years of research on STEM education, very little peer-reviewed literature has been published on game-based learning in science. However, «data indicated that middle school students (Grades 6–8) in the game-based version of the course performed significantly better on related standardized tests than did their peers in expository textbook and descriptive framing versions of the class, … » (p.70) They concluded by saying that there is not enough evidence of research to demonstrate the impact of the video games in science and mathematics. Through personal experience, I believe the concepts in science and math have been tackled with the games and should be easily connected to the real world. But there is plenty of room to undertake.
Meluso, A., Zheng, M., Spires, H. A., & Lester, J. (2012). Enhancing 5th Graders’ Science Content Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Through Game-Based Learning. Computers & Education, 59(2), (497-504).
Games have the potential to positively influence students in STEM learning in providing an intrinsically motivating and engaging learning environment where classrooms cannot. This study of Meluso et al. looked at how game based learning would emphasize self-efficacy and improve science content knowledge in a Grade 5 classroom. They selected a Grade 5 group of 100 students, from a culturally diverse elementary school, in the South Eastern Part of the U.S. Students were randomly assigned, in a specific game called Crystal Island, to either single-player or collaborative gameplay condition. Pre-test and post-test have been used to assess the students sample, looking at self-efficacy and content knowledge only. The study was done on four days. Out of the 100 participants, only 70 completed the 4 quizzes and were used for data analysis.
« This study investigated the effects of collaborative and single game player conditions on science content learning and science self-efficacy.»(p.502) The research showed no differences between the two conditions, when together, but when collapsed, there is evidence of improvement. Meluso et al. stated that, even if the literature on the subject is very limited, game based learning has a positive impact on students’ learning and on self-efficacy. However, issues arise as students sample was limited to grade 5 and in only one school. Therefore, generalizability is complex. Nevertheless, it demonstrates positive potential towards more study and opportunities.
Miller, L. M., Chang, C. I., Wang, S., Beier, M. E., & Klisch, Y. (2011). Learning and motivational impacts of a multimedia science game. Computers & Education, 57(1), (1425-1433).
When in collaboration mode, students will improve their engagement towards learning and self-efficacy. As Miller et al. stated, « given the urgent need for more students, particularly from minority populations, to enter the STEM pipeline, serious games may provide a vehicle for accomplishing both education about and motivation for pursuing STEM careers. »(p.1425) They thought that «… roleplaying games expose students to professional roles that they typically do not encounter in school. » Miller et al. looked at gains in knowledge about science and science carreers as a consequence of playing a forensic science roleplaying game online, based on the original series C.S.I. The two goals of this study were teaching aspects of basic forensics and motivating adolescents to consider STEM carreers. For this research, the sample of participants has been selected through online teacher solicitation. After selection, the different geographic regions were reflected. 735 students from 13 schools and 12 states participated; they have been assigned one of the three cases available.
The results were positive in terms of demonstrating the gains acquired by the students. The goal of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the game C.S.I. :Web Experience as a learning tool. The report revealed reliable knowledge acquisition by the students. « These findings suggest that the CSI games are efficacious in school environments. » They demonstrated, with a fairly large sample of students, in multiple regions across the United States, that « games afford students the apprenticeship or situated learning that may not be accessible to them in the real world. » That is one of the great affordance of the game based learning opportunity, the option to virtually live the experimentation, without the risks. It also creates and develop interest in learners’ minds.
Conclusion
In an effort to elucidate characteristics attributed to game based learning towards STEM, each article has been selected to demonstrate the potential of gaming in education. Two undercurrents prevailed throughout all three articles:
– the limited literature available for the Game Based Learning opportunity in science and math;
– the evidence of improvements in students learning
Though, one aspect that stands out the most when game based learning is implemented is the increased levels of engagement from the learners. « In some sense, serious games share similar traits of problem-based learning (PBL). »(Miller et al., 2011) Learners are motivated by the objective and they just don’t realize they learn, as it is applied right away. Novelty is probably another aspect that students crave. Game Based learning is new in schools, and it is a reason for the lack of literature, still. Involvement outside of school, in different types of multiplayer games is certainly another reason explaining the sudden engagement and great interest in learning while supported by games. Meluso et al. (2011) stated that «several studies have indicated that collaboration has many beneficial effects on the learning process, such as increasing reflective thinking and more effective problem solving» Collaboration is one of the great affordances of constructivism theory and it is greatly implemented and discussed in the schools these days. Game based learning offers and expect collaboration with peers to create, think, invent… STEM education interests a certain type of learner, but with these opportunities to experience life through gaming, it brings a whole new dimension, a different world of interests. Much more students and teachers see potential in education in the gaming world community. For example, one website that is gaining momentum and interest : Fold.it . It is a new revolutionary computer game where the player is trying to make sense of a puzzle. When it is achieved, it did help the scientists to figure out another aspect of a disease. The community uses the website as a game, but it is really helping the science. Concerning the literature development, as years go by, literature, research and infatuation will grow and the subject will gain in interest. It will be easier to discover great experimentations. Going back to the problematic, does it have great potential or is it an unpromising trend? Following the review of the three articles, it is believed to have great potential for the learners where it is bringing their tools and interests in the classroom. How will it evolve? Will science and math become gamers field and why? Questions still need to be answered.
References
National Research Council (US). Committee on Modeling, Simulation, and Games. (2010). The Rise of Games and High-performance Computing for Modeling and Simulation. National Academies Press.
Meluso, A., Zheng, M., Spires, H. A., & Lester, J. (2012). Enhancing 5th Graders’ Science Content Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Through Game-Based Learning. Computers & Education, 59(2), (497-504).
Miller, L. M., Chang, C. I., Wang, S., Beier, M. E., & Klisch, Y. (2011). Learning and motivational impacts of a multimedia science game. Computers & Education, 57(1), (1425-1433).
Young, M. F., Slota, S., Cutter, A. B., Jalette, G., Mullin, G., Lai, B., … & Yukhymenko, M. (2012). Our Princess Is in Another Castle A Review of Trends in Serious Gaming for Education. Review of Educational Research, 82(1), 61-89.