Gee's essay about educational video games (both of the formally educational variety and the casual, leisure variety) raised some interesting points about the cognitive processes used to complete tasks and levels in a given game. While I had not previously discounted video games as uneducational, let alone useless or mindless, I am also not traditionally of the opinion that gaming for pleasure and gaming with the purpose of learning can be united. What's more, I'd go so far as to say that I don't think video games are capable of teaching both subject-area knowledge AND entertain the masses. Gee demonstrates the procedural knowledge that can be developed, but how useful is that alone in one's real life (if the conversation becomes about using video games in the classroom)?
On the other hand, if we talk about the practicality of supplementing classroom instruction with explicitly educational video games like some of the ones we were able to test out before this class, the questions becomes: "is this game worth it?" Games take time; the seemingly positive interaction that is implicit in using an interface requires time to interact with, as does setting up characters and reading instructions. Is the added benefit of entertainment worth the possible distractions that could arise?
One thing Gee said that I really liked was that video games offer up low-risk scenarios in which students are able to fail with little consequence. This is definitely one thing that video games offer that cannot be rivaled in traditional classroom instruction. The closest thing is when teachers allow students to re-submit assignments or tests to improve their grades, but this requires more time and the student still received a quantifiable measurement of his or her failure. Video game failures result in simply losing one of many lives, or being asked to continue from a last-saved point. In this regard, video games have a lot to offer a classroom, even if just in encouraging a mindset.
I especially find the integration of video games into education impractical when considering how they would be used in my own subject area (history). While I am a firm believer that history is fully alive, relevant, and even changing, my existing knowledge of types of video games does not produce a meaningful use for them in a history classroom. I had the opportunity to try out a few of such games before class today, and I found them to be extremely boring and slow. The "interaction" that is supposed to be a strength of video games was mundane and limited; it really wasted more time than it added entertainment or procedural knowledge. The only tasks were to read a short bit of information and then answer a question, which is not much different from a traditional in-class assignment other than that students could do so by watching the animated character of their choice traverse across a room and back. History can be shown to be all of those things I believe it is when history teachers use things like narratives and pictures to make the past come to life. Perspectives must be shown. Simply asking students to memorize knowledge the've read in a video game does not utilize the gaming interface nor enhance a history lesson.
Hopefully someday a designer more intelligent than myself will find a way to blend leisure and learning, but for now I don't anticipate "playing history" being a part of my initial pedagogical repertoire.
Hey Jimmy, great post! I also found Gee's point about risk-taking particularly interesting, as we see that so often in our Scarlett classrooms I believe too, no? I think your point about seeing value in video games, but not being sure about their practicality in the classroom is interesting and I think I may have to agree.
ReplyDeleteGee had talked about how with video games, players invested a large amount of their time into the games, which isn't really possible with a lot of the content games that were provided for us. I didn't play the history game personally, but that doesn't sound as engaging as some of the others. The math one you can save and move through levels, which may be better suited to those aspects of video games...but still, we don't have much time for those kinds of games.
Jimmy
ReplyDeleteI can definitely understand the point that education and video games can sometimes be really hard to intertwine. I often juggle trying to find a balance between the two, if there actually is one. Something that I thought was really interesting was how you said that Gee felt that video games in a way offer low risk scenarios in which students can fail with no consequences. I look at this in two extremes and don't neccesairly know if its good or bad. Yes its great to be able to test the waters with low risk scenarios but at some point shouldn't students fail and find the tenacity to dust themselves off and try again? If not couldn't this have serious repercussions later on in life outside of school? Something I am always pondering about. Anyways, you should definitely check out Assassins Creed, it may be an answer to finding an educational game for history!
Thanks for sharing!
Jimmy, I find it really interesting that nobody has come up with an effective and interesting history video game! I feel like something where you get to play as a certain character and then could see the consequences of choosing different actions could be interesting. Then, when they choose the option that actually happened history they can lean more in depth why that happened and what the results were. I feel like I have learned a little history from playing Civilization because the game gives you an introduction of the world leader that you choose and the resources you have are based off of some aspect of that leader's rule. However, then you're able to entirely do whatever you want in the game such as have Attila the Hun avoid war and win a diplomatic victory through peace. Maybe students could learn about a certain leader and then try to play the game based on the choices they think this leader would do based on what they know about them, and see what that leads to! I totally see why you think you won't incorporate playing history because it could distract from the actual material, but maybe an extra credit assignment could involve some gaming!
ReplyDeleteHey Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteYou offer some really interesting insights here. I had not considered the distractions of video games or how time consuming they are in terms of set-up, getting familiar with the interface and characters, and reading instructions. Also, I completely agree with your assessment of the current history games available online. They were dry and had few of the elements that Gee suggested a good video game should have. After reading Gee's article I had stars in my eyes dreaming of how I could use video games in the classroom; however, after playing a few of the history games online and reading your concerns about the utility of games in the classroom, I am concerned about their effectiveness. Perhaps in the future someone will design a game that can be both fun and educational. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I look forward to reading your next post!
I really enjoyed your post Jimmy! I completely agree that there needs to be more applicable history video games out there. The ones that I found were good at sharing basic information, but lacked the substance to really apply past 5th or 6th grade. think it is our mission as History majors to come up with a historical role playing game (because we have so much free time as it is right now, clearly we will be able to do this in the next 10 months).
ReplyDeleteWhat if we came up with a game that involved historical figures and the various important decisions or challenges that they faced. The person playing the game would have the opportunity to live out the life of that character; they would be faced with the decisions, challenges, and other era relevant problems. If we did something like this, it would be a good way to learn about history through key leaders and this way they would not be memorizing the information they would be living it vicariously through history.
The problem I see would be the aspect of determining a winner or elaborating on the life of the historical figure further. What if no one has been able to develop a history video game because it is so difficult to come up with a game that deals with different outcomes that what has already happened? If you deal with different outcomes then it is no longer relevant. If you, how would you design a history video game?
Betsy Rae!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you brought up Civilization! It's an amazing game. I started playing it a million years ago with the very first Civ. Civilization II is still the best of all of them in my opinion. In any case, I realize that it's not necessarily historically accurate. But, you still have to understand a ton of important concepts. Keeping people fed, happy, being diplomatic, warfare, trade, politics, competition, learning technology and the list goes on... It's truly a great game. I love it. Even though I think it's an awesome game, I think it would be difficult to incorporate into the classroom. Maybe, there's a way, but it's probably something a student would have to do on their own time.
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