Educational Games Research

Teaching Difficult Concepts Through Videogames

As mentioned earlier, I’m honored to have been invited to a conference held by the Center for Children and Technology last week. The title of the conference was Making Games That Teach Difficult Concepts, and it brought together game designers and academics to discuss issues perplexing to both.

We broke into small groups to focus on games for middle school science, middle school social studies, and early childhood. I was in the social studies group, admirably led by Bill Tally at CCT, where among other things he is the PI for evaluation studies of Mission US, a history game focusing on revolutionary America.

One of the challenges of history games we mulled over is the question of game mechanics. As I’ve opined elsewhere, good game mechanics involve key learning elements. The classic example is traditional dominoes, which requires players to count by fives in order to succeed, making it a great game for teaching basic arithmetic to children.

In history games, though, the primary learning dynamic often takes place through text. Narrative action is thus often the key mechanic in which learning takes place. This led to much discussion regarding the problem of compelling game play, with fascinating insights from participants such as Bert Snow, lead designer and VP at Muzzy Lane, and Tracy Fullerton over at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.

Conferences such as this one are important in bringing together multiple perspectives. Knowledge and understanding gleaned from these discussions further preparations for research and development of future educational games. My thanks to all the good people at CCT who made this conference possible.

Tags: Bert Snow, Bill Tally, CCT, difficult concepts games, difficult games teach, games complex subjects, Mission US, Muzzy Lane, Tracy Fullerton

Educational Conferences, Game Discussion | John Rice | November 5, 2011 11:19 am

10 Comments

By soma GVSU619, November 30, 2011 @ 4:03 pm

I have start of believe in the power of the video game since I try it to learn something in my own .. great idea you are present..
By Renee, March 11, 2012 @ 1:11 am

John,

I find the idea of teaching through video games to be very interesting. While I am not say that as an educator I am a skeptic, but I admit have questions at every layer of this idea. Do you happen to know if the absence of secondary-school aged students as a focus was intentional? If so, do you know why this would be? You note a difficulty in game play, specific to history due to primary learning often occurring through text. Do you feel that same holds true for literature? In what academic areas do you see game play as an essential contributor to student learning? I am slowly ‘warming up’ to the idea of game play in education, but also realize that the implementation must be carefully calculated. Your thoughts are appreciated!

-Renee
By Arjuna, March 16, 2012 @ 11:08 am

Great blog! Very informative, thanks.
By John Rice, March 23, 2012 @ 8:26 pm

Renee, this particular conference was more focused on the elementary grades than the upper grades. There is certainly considerable educational gaming effort for the secondary level.

Literature gaming has an interesting cousin in literacy. Things that require repetitive exposure, such as basic literacy, seem to benefit in a videogaming environment. Understanding great works of literature through videogaming has a more diverse set of exemplars, including gaming worlds built on Dante’s Inferno and the works of Shakespeare.

Finally, I think game play can benefit most all areas of academic areas. But, I’m rather biased. Implementation has increased, and I think the next trend we’ll see are mini-academic games built into digital textbooks to help reinforce content.
By Moayad Taibah, April 30, 2012 @ 9:59 am

John,
This topic is of great interest to me. Is there detailed information/documentation on the points discussed at the conference? If so please share them if possible.

Thanks
By John Rice, April 30, 2012 @ 8:56 pm

Moayad, most of the details are over on their site, http://possibleworlds.edc.org/