Gaming in Education

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Games
If I have one regret at NECC it is that I didnt attend more of the gaming presentations. I really do believe that games are going to be the new 21st century curriculum strategy. Ok I have two regrets-- wish I had attended the Edubloggers Meet Up.

I did get to attend one however given by Mark Wagner entitled Context, Inquiry, and Collaboration: Video Games as Contructivist Learning Environments.

The overview of his presentation is as follows:

Overview & Objectives
Computer and video games show a great deal of potential as teaching and learning tools.
They can provide a context for learning, opportunities for inquiry, and frameworks for cooperative learning. They are also deeply motivating and engaging for today’s students. More importantly, players are learning difficult to teach 21st century skills such as adaptability, self-direction, risk-taking, interactive communication, prioritizing, planning, and managing for results.

There is little doubt that a good deal of incidental learning is taking place when students play these games, but why not harness this powerful new media for intentional learning in formal education?

The purpose of this session is to introduce participants to cutting edge theories on digital game-based learning, including the benefits, drawbacks, and controversial issues. During the session, participants will have the opportunity to articulate and discuss these points. Participants will leave with a clear vision of how to incorporate existing games into their curriculum and how future developments in game design and instructional design might revolutionize their field of teaching.

Relevant research includes the work of Jean Piaget, Seymour Papert, David H. Jonassen, Marc Prensky, James Paul Gee, Clark Aldrich, Chris Dede, and others. The session will also cover recent research by graduate students such as Nick Yee, Kurt Squire, Constance Steinkuehler, Fionna Littleton, and others, including the presenter.

Several games will be discussed or demonstrated, including free web-based games, Food Force, Virtual Leader, Civilization III, Making History, Unreal Tournament, Neverwinter Nights, World of Warcraft, Second Life, and more. The use of additional games will also be mentioned: Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, Morrowind, The Sims, SimCity, Zoo Tycoon, Myst, and others.

4. Overview

Piaget, Papert, Prensky
and more...

5. Purpose/Rationale
Digital Natives & Digital Immigrants (Prensky, 2001)
Incidental vs. Intentional Learning (Jonassen, 2002)
Engauge 21st Century Skills (NCREL, 2003)
Here Mark pointed out that these skills are really more life skills than 21st century skills That these skills would have worked for any generation.
Digital Age Literacies
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Constructivist Learning Environments...
Context, Choice, Collaboration (Wagner, 2005)

6. Relevant Theorists - It was very effective the way Mark took us through  various educational theorist views as a way to lay the foundation for using games in education. Since most of the work he mentioned are my favorites-- it really worked for me.
Jean Piaget (1929 to 1976)
Seymour Papert (1980, 1993, 1996)
Marc Prensky (2001)
Meet kids where they are at-- gaming is clearly working for the military and corporations.
James Paul Gee (2003, 2005)
Has 36 learning principles that using video games for instruction embody that typical classroom instruction does not. Mark pointed out that by learning the code of the conduct and culture of the game and the ethics to win the game-- kids are learning valuable leadership skills and ethics that will transfer over into other areas and job contexts.
Clark Aldrich (2004, 2005)
Has various simulations for teaching leadership.
Graduate Students...

7. Jean Piaget 
Cognitive Structures & Schemes
Functional Invariants
Adaptation
Organization
Adaptation
Assimilation
Accommodation
Stage Theory

8. Seymour Papert
Mindstorms, 1980
The Children’s Machine, 1993
The Connected Family, 1996
www.papert.org

9. Marc Prensky
Digital Game-Based Learning, 2001
marcprensky.com
games2train.com

10. James Paul Gee
What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, 2003
Why Video Games are Good For Your Soul, 2005

11. Clark Aldrich
Simulations and the Future of Learning, 2004
Learning by Doing, 2005
Learning Circuits

12. Graduate Students
Nick Yee
Kurt Squire
Constance Steinkuehler
Fiona Littleton
Mark Wagner
And more...

13. Experience an Educational Game
The WFP’s Food Force

14. Reflection Questions -- have kids play then blog about it...
? What was your experience like as a player?
? What relationships do you see between this game and the theories we discussed?

15. Games in Your Classroom
What can you use on Monday?

16. Web-based Games
Browser based
Mostly FREE
Engaging and content related
Great for younger students

17. Civilization III
Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS)
Real Time Strategy (RTS)
Systems Content
Social Studies Concepts
Kurt Squire’s Dissertation

18. Making History
Designed for education!
Assessment features
Successfully piloted

19. Unreal Tournament
First Person Shooter
Mod-able
Used to teach chemistry!

20. Neverwinter Nights
Role Playing Game (RPG)
Toolset for user-made content
Teachers can be gamemasters (GMs)
MIT’s Revolution Mod

21. MMORPGs
Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
Context, Choice, Collaboration
Guilds!

22. Teen Second Life
13-18 year olds
Avatar customization
User created content
In game economy

23. And More...
Age of Empires
Age of Mythology
Rise of Nations
Morrowind
The Sims
SimCity etc...
Zoo Tycoon etc...
2 Myst

24. Think, Pair, Share
What are some possible uses for games in your class?

25. Lesson Planning
Outline a lesson plan incorporating a game into your class.

26. What would a state of the art instructional video game
look like? (Gee, 2005)

27. Just do it! (Aldrich, 2005)

28. Go forth and do great things!

Presenter Background & Qualifications
Mark Wagner is working toward a Ph.D. in Educational Technology at Walden University. His research is exploring the potential applications of massively mulitplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) in formal k12 education. He is also a coordinator of educational technology at the Orange County Department of Education, a position he has held previously at the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, and at Estancia High School, where he began his career in education as an English Teacher. This is his first presentation at NECC, but he has presented several times at the CUE conference in California, and for the past year has taught, presented, or webcast an introduction to the use of video games, especially MMORGPs, in k12 education at every opportunity he could.

Comments

[adam]

Online games are popular among kids so it wud be a gud idea if they r given assignments where in they can learn subject in the form of game.

http://wonderwhizkids.com