REPORT 8:
Literature Review in
Games and Learning
A Report for Futurelab
John Kirriemuir, Ceangal
Angela McFarlane, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol
FOREWORD
| Computer games are today an important
part of most children’s leisure lives and
increasingly an important part of our
culture as a whole. We often, as adults,
watch in amazement as children dedicate
hours to acting as football coaches,
designers of empires, controllers of
robots, wizards and emperors. In the
past, computer games have been
dismissed as a distraction from more
‘worthy’ activities, such as homework or
playing outside. Today, however,
researchers, teachers and designers of
learning resources are beginning to ask
how this powerful new medium might be
used to support children’s learning.
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Rather than shutting the door of the
school against the computer game, there
is now increasing interest in asking
whether computer games might be
offering a powerful new resource to
support learning in the information age.
This review is intended as a timely
introduction to current thinking about the
role of computer games in supporting
children’s learning inside and out of
school. It highlights the key areas of research in the field, in particular the
increasing interest in pleasurable
learning, learning through doing and
learning through collaboration, that
games seem to offer. At the same time,
the review takes a measured tone in
acknowledging some of the obstacles and
challenges to using games within our
current education system and within our
current models of learning. It goes on to
propose some ways in which designers,
researchers and educational policy
makers might draw on the growing body
of research in the field to create learning
resources and environments that go
beyond a sugar-coating of ‘fun’ to the full
engagement that computer games seem
to offer so many children today.
We are keen to receive feedback on
the Futurelab reports and
welcome comments at research@futurelab.org.uk
Keri Facer
Director of Learning Research
Futurelab |
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CONTENTS:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SECTION 1
INTRODUCTION
SECTION 2
GAMES CULTURES
AND PLAY
SECTION 3
GAMES AND LEARNING
SECTION 4
KEY ISSUES
IN DEVELOPING
GAMES FOR LEARNING
SECTION 5
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
IN GAMES AND LEARNING
BIBLIOGRAPHY
END NOTES |
