classroom and consistently report
favourably, showing that this (and similar)
games enable group discussion and
experimentation, and often facilitate a
wider range of skills than immediately
apparent from the game (in the case of
Sim City, these include mathematical
skills, urban planning, economics,
engineering, environmental awareness and
a host of others that can be mapped
directly onto academic subjects).
Many other games on the market have
simulation potential. For example, Super
Monkey Ball, which involves rolling a
monkey around a maze without falling off
the sides, demonstrates (and allows
experimentation with) the concepts of
velocity, friction, acceleration and gravity.
The increasingly popular genre of fishing
simulation, in games such as Sega Bass
Fishing, allows players to fish in a variety
of locations. To be successful, the player
needs to acquire various information
(either from the manual or through trial
and error), such as where the fish lies
(deep or shallow, shaded or sunlit water)
and which bait is most effective for which
situation. Here the player, to be
successful, has to learn of the ‘ways of the
fish’; this knowledge accumulation is
continually examined/tested by playing the
game itself.
However, titles involving monkeys and
fishing are rarely if ever used in the
classroom, possibly because the
simulation and ‘learning’ possibilities
seem less obvious (and the game appears
to be more frivolous). One promising area
for the use of simulation is science, but
many products with apparent potential for
this subject are inaccurate or simplistic
and therefore not widely used (McFarlane
and Sakellariou 2002). It remains difficult
to predict how widespread simulation
games will become in education at school
level, but until simulations can reliably recreate
real world contexts using explicit
models that reflect those being taught,
widespread adoption remains unlikely.
5 FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN GAMES
AND LEARNING
5.1 WHERE NEXT FOR RESEARCH
INTO GAMES AND LEARNING?
In this report we have examined research
being carried out into the relationship
between computer and video games and
learning. There has, since the turn of the
decade, been a much wider acceptance of
the potential for such games in education.
Traditional agencies are increasingly
funding research for a number of reasons,
including a desire to keep up with
contemporary technologies; the hope of
tapping in to the large commercial rewards
of the gaming industry; and a small but
increasing number of games-in-education
success stories. This research is beginning
to provide insights into how games
might support learning both in children’s
day-to-day lives and in school.
In order to continue to develop understanding
in this field, the following
challenges now need to be acknowledged
and met:
• developments with technologies that
host computer and video games are
moving at a rapid rate, in often
unpredictable directions. This creates
problems with even short-term
research, where the nature of
contemporary games can change
significantly during the life of a research
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project. Researchers and publishers of
research will need to develop new and
flexible approaches to conducting and
communicating research rapidly
• the underlying and historical research
covers a very wide arena of subjects,
often containing competing, complex
theories and positions. Educationalists
themselves cannot agree on the
concepts of education and learning;
games researchers often have to learn
about educational theory from the
basics. To carry out rigorous research
without making conscious or accidental
assumptions in this field will require
researchers to develop a good - and
updated - working knowledge of games,
learning and education (all rapidly
evolving fields).
Despite these obstacles, research
attention to the educational uses of
mainstream games is both growing and
gaining momentum, as evidenced by the
number of publications, new academic
research groups, and conferences
dedicated solely to this field. It is
increasingly obvious that a key element in
maintaining this momentum will be an
increase in the rigorous investigation of
examples where computer and video
games have been used in educational
settings (both the school and home), in
order to add to models of how people learn
through gaming, and to provide justifiable
cases for others to examine and follow.
5.2 WHERE NEXT FOR DEVELOPMENT
OF GAMES FOR LEARNING?
There are three main directions we can
now take to the development of computer
and video games for learning:
5.2.1 The development of
educational games
Traditional edutainment titles of the
repetitive drill form embedded within
games are still being produced and
marketed to both schools and parents.
While such ‘drill and practice’ is a proven
principle of education and learning
(McFarlane 1996), it is questionable
whether such activities should occupy a
significant part of the school day, where
children have access to teachers,
resources and more demanding and
creative learning tasks.
There are, however, a growing number of
examples of more imaginative software
whose design is informed by educational
theory, practice and research; Kar2ouche,
the product of a collaboration between
academic and industry partners using
gaming technology, is one such example.
The high profile successes of more
rigorously researched and innovative
software may well result in a greater
proportion of educational games being
developed which are based on higher order
principles of education and learning.
Key to success in this area is likely to be
the development of effective collaborations
between both educators and those with
an in-depth understanding of games.
At present there are a number of barriers
to the games industry’s involvement in
such development, including:
• an awareness that producing software
for this market will require different
standards and requirements of content
and game
• developing and mass-marketing just one
product to a country or even a continent
is relatively cheap; more localised
requirements would push up the costs
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research
attention to the
educational uses
of mainstream
games is
gaining
momentum |
