According to Dr. James Paul Gee, a professor at Arizona State University and a leading authority on literacy and the potential of educational games, “Your brain’s important, but not all that important”. What does he mean by this? What we’d assumed about the importance of brain functions – following rules, logic, and calculating – are no longer relevant. There has been a revolution in the learning sciences and the new theories say the human beings learn from experiences, that our brains are capable of storing every experience we’ve ever had, and that’s what informs out learning process. Following the logic, Gee says, the best kind of learning comes as a result of well-designed experiences.
Gee, who spoke at the Learning and the Brain conference, used this theory to launch into research-validated reasons why gaming is good for learning. Here are 10 truths on gaming according to him:
1. Feed the Learning Process
The best learning experiences have the following values: motivation, clear goals, interpreted outcomes, and immediate and copious feedback. Gaming has all of these components. Kids play games for fun with the goal of progressing to the next level and eventually conquering the opponent, whether that’s another player on the computer. What’s more, the social aspect of gaming: sharing tactics, experiences, and explanations, helps cement what they’ve learned.
2. Obviate Testing
The current assessment system forces teachers to teach to the test. Gaming holds out a different way of thinking about assessments: namely, that we don’t need it. Compare a student who’s taken 12 weeks of algebra classes to one who’s played the video game Halo on the most challenging setting. The algebra student must take a test to assess what he known on the day of the test. The Halo player has mastered the skills needed to get to the final level – and that’s his ultimate goal. There’s no need for a test in that context. “Learning and assessment are exactly the same thing,” Gee said. “If you design learning so you can’t get out of one level until you complete the last one, there is no need for a test. There would be no Bell Curve. It’s unethical to test a student based on one day’s knowledge. We have to change the attitude about testing on a government level.”
3. Build on Experience
With every new game, the knowledge and expertise pocked up in previous games can be applied to a new experience, a fundamental part of learning.
4. Redefine Teachers as Learning Designers
Game designers create well-designed experiences and social interactions. Teachers are designers of learning, and can create experiences tailored to suit their outcome. If we “re-professionalize” teachers as designers, they can create their own scripts for what they want their students to learn. This type of learning is based on good teaching, not curriculum per se.
5. Teach Language Through Experience
The biggest problem with using scholastic language is that it’s not used outside of school. “The language you learn at school is not the one you use at home,” Gee said. The best way of learning language is not from a book or a dictionary, but from applying it to an experience. A good example of this is when kids can decode even the most cryptic game manual after they play the game because they’re experiencing every image, action, and dialogue that’s described.
6. Entice Kids to Love Challenges
The gaming industry is making a killing selling toys and games that are difficult to master. “They’re selling stuff to kids that are complex and hard. And because it’s outside of school, it’s virtually addictive.”
7. Motivate Learning
If a student isn’t motivated to learn, learning is non-existent. It’s hard to motivate student to learn something like algebra without context, without motivation and the gratification that comes with mastering a video game.
8. Teach Problem-Solving
When it comes to problem-solving, research shows that if you teach and test facts and formulas, student learn facts and formulas. This doesn’t correlate to solving problems. But if you teach through problem-solving, students learn problem-solving skills, plus they learn the facts for free.
9. Encourage Risk-Taking
If the cost of failure is high, as it is in schools, then student are discouraged to explore and take risks. If the cost of failure is made lower, such as in games where players die and start over again, students are motivated to explore all their options. They rethink goals over and over again, and try out new tactics if something’s not working. That type of learning, risk-taking, can’t happen if the cost of failure is too high.
10. Provide Valid Learning Model for Schools
“We should use the learning principles built into good games in and out of schools, even if we are not using games. The learning principles can be built into many different curricula”.
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