Educational Gaming; Friend or Foe?
Erica Babb Beach
November 23, 2010
MEDA 5400
Michelle Childress
For many decades education and video games were not discussed in the same sentence. Since technology has evolved into the thriving heart of the entire world, why would the classroom be any different? Technology rules everything about every part of our lives. In recent years technology has began to take a revolution in the school systems throughout the world. Thus making it easier to provide very current and futuristic classrooms and combining classes from one school to another. Technology even plays a vital part in physical education through various games and equipment. Gaming has taken the world over by storm and is no different in the classrooms.
Literature reviewed indicates and confirms that young people’s lives are predominantly ruled by technology and show great enthusiasm toward technology and its use (Papastergiou, 2009) . Furthermore research indicates a number of reasons that students and educational gaming or e-learning can be beneficial in the classroom such as problem based learning, activation of prior knowledge, immediate feedback, self-assessment and socialization (Papastergiou, 2009) . Educational gaming can be a beneficial tool in learning by providing entertainment and education simultaneously (Moreno-Ger, Burgos, Martinez-Ortiz, Sierra, & Fernandez-Manjon, 2008) . Gaming in the classroom provides students the opportunity to work at their own pace and abilities while providing the instructor will valuable feedback throughout the gaming experience. Equally important is matching the player’s skill ability with the game level (Kiili, 2005) . In the classroom while gaming is taking place or at any time during the experience, the instructor can assess learning and provide discussion and reflection among the students.
Some of the issues related to gaming and gaming in the classroom are centered around the impact it has on students’ health. Some of the negatives provided in the literature reviewed are seizures, tendon injuries, aggression and social introversion (Papastergiou, 2009) . Another negative presented by (Burgos, Tattersall, & Koper, 2007) is the concern of using generic gaming and how that fits in to the pedagogy. Throughout the research, the positives to gaming in the classroom definitely outweigh the negative.
Gaming in the classroom also pertains to physical and health education. Such games in this discipline are relevant and popular. Sport video games based upon football, basketball and tennis to name a few are available and are being used in the physical education classroom (Papastergiou, 2009) . These types of games can provide students some physical activity while gaming; hence the term “exergames” (Papastergiou, 2009) . These types of games allow the player to move about during the game and are controlled by the body’s movements/actions. The biggest debate centered on games and gaming in the classroom are the cost and implementation in to the curriculum (Moreno-Ger, Burgos, Martinez-Ortiz, Sierra, & Fernandez-Manjon, 2008) .
Although educational gaming is not a ‘new’ approach to learning, it has grown into such a frenzy that classrooms use this means of learning more and more to appeal to the interests and needs of the 21st century. There is such a vast amount of games suitable for the classroom; instructors must learn how to implement those games into the discipline in an effective and educational manner. One would assume the most complicated part of the implementation is the cost of the game and equipment needed for play. On the upside, once the game or the equipment has been purchased, it can be used over and over.
We have seen games such as Dance Dance Revolution in the physical education classroom for some time now, but other ‘interactive’ games have been emerging in the gymnasium also. Games that simulate sports such as basketball or baseball are great in teaching rules and strategies of the game to those with little or no experience. For the students with experience in such sports can build upon prior knowledge by allowing students to make their own offensive or defensive plays and incorporating those in the games to test their validity. Students of all backgrounds, skill levels, and prior knowledge can participate at their own level and move throughout the games at a pace suitable for the individual. Wii Fit has been able to successfully manufacture games and activities that go way beyond the traditional way of playing video games by sitting on the couch and utilizing only the hands/arms to using whole body movements in a coordinated way to participate in the games/activities.
I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to implement some of these games/learning approaches into my curriculum. I believe that teaching children is about connecting with them in some way in order to be effective. Students of this generation and for those to come live a life centered on technology and I think this gives a viable way in which to reach students who may be shy, interested, extremely skilled, or proficient at games/sports. In other words, there is something for everyone in technology and gaming in the classroom. Also by using technology, it will lessen the load of manual record keeping hence making my job a little easier.
In reviewing the literature about educational gaming in the classroom, it made me think outside of the box and I learned about several ideas, games and approaches that I was unaware of before research. If I obtain a position in a school system with little or no monies for technology products, I would seek money from grants available to educators. I was a part of a process at a previous observation and learned how easy it can be to obtain technology equipment if willing. I count that experience as a positive one and I feel like I could write a grant myself to obtain resources for my school and classroom. Overall, I am becoming less and less worrisome of implementing technology into the physical education classroom.
Works Cited
Burgos, D., Tattersall, C., & Koper, R. (2007). Re-purposing existing generic games and simulations for e-learning. Computers in Human Behavior , 2656-2667.
Kiili, K. (2005). Digital game based learning; Towards an experiential gaming model. The Internet & Higher Education , 13-24.
Moreno-Ger, P., Burgos, D., Martinez-Ortiz, I., Sierra, J., & Fernandez-Manjon, B. (2008). Educational game design for online education. Computer in Human Behavior .
Papastergiou, M. (2009). Exploring the potential of computer and video games for health and physical education: A literature review. Computers & Education , 603-622.
