Games for learning

One possible challenge for anyone trying to get their head around the role of games in education is the semantics.  Which words should we use to describe learning that involves games? What’s the difference between “educational games” “serious games”, “gaming”, “game design”, or “gamification”?

Last year I wrote a blogpost called “games OR learning?”.  At the time, I was pondering over some of the data we’d seen coming through in NZCER’s 2015 national survey of secondary schools. One year on, we’ve now got some new national survey data, this time from the 2016 national survey of primary and intermediate schools. I’m sure you have all been waiting patiently to find out what new information we have about the role of digital games in Year 1-8 classrooms! 

 I want to talk about boxes, curiosity, mystery, research, and the intriguing journey down the rabbit-hole of games for learning. 

Of the many questions about games and learning that we’re exploring in our project, perhaps two obvious questions to ask are: “Do games actually help learning?” And “What’s the research evidence for this?”. They might seem like simple questions, but the answers are far from simple. In this post I explore some of the research on games for learning,  and discuss why answers to the simple question “do games help learning?” remain fascinatingly complex.

The teachers in our project see lots of potential for games and play to support meaningful learning. But do they harbour any doubts or insecurities in relation to their game-related practices? Yes, some do. We asked teachers to talk about the source and substance of any anxieties they felt. 

In today’s post we will look at one final motivation shared by some teachers in our study: the use of digital games and game design in the classroom as a vehicle for the development of students’ digital capabilities and potential future prospects in STEM-related careers. 

In this blog Sue McDowall explores the perplexing question of why students are prepared to tolerate failure when playing games but not at school.