Ahead of the Game? - Games in Education - Alan Carpenter, Helen Windsor

The use of games within an educational context has been heralded as the next big thing for quite some time, but to date, many have remained unconvinced. This might all be about to change as, for the first time, a select few British solution providers attended the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the world's leading trade event exclusively dedicated to showcasing interactive entertainment, educational software and related products.

Alan Carpenter, creative director at 3T Productions, a leading interactive media design and development agency for education, and one of three companies that attended E3, explains further.

Early Days

Despite much discussion and experimentation, the use of games within a learning context has been bit slow on the uptake. There are various reasons for this:

• There is a lack of available bespoke products.
• There is a natural caution about adopting gaming as a learning aid, and a degree of scepticism as to what can be achieved in the classroom.
• The purchase of products is seen as a bit of a gamble when competing with alternative products that teachers are used to and comfortable with.

These are all natural concerns, but the benefits that gaming offers to both students and educators far outweigh the negatives. Games require the use of logic, memory, problem solving and critical thinking skills, visualization and discovery. The use of gaming technology requires that players manipulate objects using electronic tools and develop an understanding of the game as a complex system. Collaborative game playing necessitates the development of social skills, for example in order to decide on, define and agree goals.

More recently though, a shift in opinion amongst educationalists has been detected, and gaming is being introduced by stealth into learning content. The result is that there is now not a gaming or education conference without a session on the combining of both industries. There is no doubt that it is an exciting time ahead, but it is important to recognize and discuss the barriers that need to be broken down in order for both industries to work successfully together.

Education vs. Play?

In reality, the design of computer games for use in educational settings should be no different from those for any educational software. Software should incorporate a sound educational philosophy, and should have clearly stated educational objectives and content. It should also be designed to be inclusive of a wide range of aptitudes and abilities, providing support for the learner and some guidance for teachers planning to use the software.

Games with good educational potential are those which are task-driven, but with multiple ways of achieving your aim. This is because it develops a depth of experience which will in turn bring with it a greater potential for learning, retaining information and understanding complex concepts through trial and error. For example, through experimentation, students can make observations, draw conclusions and suggest explanations by demonstrating the knowledge they have learned.

Although many of the products produced by 3T Productions are geared specifically to an educational market, mainstream games can also be beneficial, but the context and mode of use has to be appropriate. Off the shelf games with the greatest educational value tend to be those of a more open ended nature with a large number of variables and parameters to experiment with. Relatively linear games are less practical for students to interact with in any great depth, so they tend to be quick hits. But even then they can be used as an excellent classroom starter to set the scene for a subject such as history.

The ideal and most effective educational game would be designed for this very purpose from the outset and from the ground up. One of the biggest factors that determines whether a teacher will choose to incorporate content into a lesson is its fitness for purpose. Given the pressures to spend time on tasks, it is important for teachers to draw on content that clearly focuses on the learning outcome they intend to achieve. If a teacher finds it difficult to see the relevance of a particular game in the context of the curriculum, it is likely to be deemed inappropriate.

However, mainstream games are obviously entertainment driven, which can often result in inaccuracies in content and aspects of gameplay that are perceived as padding or superfluous to requirement.

What About the Curriculum?

For games based learning to work effectively within the classroom, and to enable teachers to embrace the technology, it is vital that the software is linked directly to curriculum objectives. With teachers and students under increasing pressure to deliver specific results, neither will invest the time or effort in a solution that does meet the curriculum requirements.

Sonica Spanish is a prime example of a piece of gaming software that has developed to meet a specific curriculum requirement. The curriculum in the UK is going through something of a shake up at the moment, and one of the most recent initiatives to be launched by the British Government is the Primary Literacy Strategy. This means that by 2010 all primary schools are required to teach a modern foreign language to all seven to eleven year olds.

While this initiative has the potential to enrich children’s education, open up avenues of communication and encourage broader cultural understanding, it also brings its own set of challenges for primary school management teams tasked with implementing the strategy. For primary head teachers it means finding the best way to implement a sustainable and effective language teaching strategy for their school, and the reality is that many teachers will not have any knowledge of languages or of language teaching.

Sonica Spanish was developed to help combat this problem. Sonica is a fully supported language service designed to help teachers who are not Modern Foreign Language specialists deliver Spanish language teaching within their current curriculum lessons. Commissioned by the Department for Skills and Education and developed by 3T, the language package aims to teach the language via a number of gaming methods. It is aimed at primary school children and pushes the boundaries of kinaesthetic learning by using 240 activities ranging from interactive games, dance mat activities and karaoke, to word-to-picture matching games, conveyor belt memory games, and target shooting. The adoption of commercial gameplay, coupled with the use of the dance mat, motivates and enthuses students to engage with the game without feeling that it is a compulsory chore.

Sonica is not simply an e-Learning application, but a highly innovative learning resource that motivates everyone to learn. Activity teacher support notes contain ideas for how that activity can be used in other areas of the curriculum, e.g. using the tune from a karaoke activity in a music lesson to create a new song using different Spanish vocabulary. All content has been based on the expected learning outcomes from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) Scheme of Work for primary Spanish.

Dispelling the Myth

It is solutions such as Sonica Spanish that should ease the concerns of those who are worried that gaming for learning is just having fun and displays no real learning outcomes. During the trials for Sonica, classes buzzed with activity, the pupils were challenged and there was collaboration and competition, with the children pushing each other on to attain higher scores.

As one teacher commented, “Sonica immediately engages and stimulates learners, capturing their imaginations. In particular, the karaoke activity has produced an unprecedented reaction, with children participating only once or twice before picking up the tune, which is so memorable that they are still singing it days later. The dance mat is also extremely popular and the children adore trying to beat each others score.”

The teacher added: “However it is not only the children who have been inspired by the introduction of Sonica into the curriculum, the teachers have also benefited. Everything that a non-specialist teacher needs is provided by the application; it is easy to use, motivating and has an excellent teacher support mechanism.”

The Only Way Is Up

Although the use of games for educational purposes is still in its infancy, evidence from the classroom has revealed that gaming technology demonstrates not only clear benefits in engagement, attitude and learning intensity, but it also encourages collaboration, healthy competition and detailed learning discussions. What is more encouraging is that use of gaming is helping to transform children’s classrooms into vibrant, energetic and crucially learning focused places to be, actually helping children want to learn.