Bobby Miller
Writer Website
Gaming to Learn: How Educational Games Benefit Students
1,200 words
When someone’s playing a game, whether it’s a physical sport or a video game, the amount of concentration they show is amazing. It’s as if the entire world is reducible to that game—everything else is blocked out. And the best of the best don’t hesitate to practice for hours a day in order to maintain their skill.
If only we could get students to show that level of commitment to their schoolwork. So often, poor grades aren’t the result of plain incompetence, but rather a lack of motivation to study or finish homework. In order to inject students with motivation, some teachers use educational games in their classrooms.
Searching for an “educational game” on Amazon yields over 67,000 results, clearly showing that there is a huge market for them.
I have personally seen how effective these games can be. Before every test in my ninth grade history class, we would play a Jeopardy-style review game. People took it so seriously that each team had t-shirts made for the occasion, and some people even had dreams about it.
However, as was the case there, most teachers only use games in the classroom to assess how much students have learned. According to Hatice Sancar Tokmak and Sinan Ozgelen of Mersin University, it’s rare for instructors to use games for actual teaching. They’re leery of picking any computer games that involve material the students haven’t learned yet because, to them, games are primarily meant for reviewing or testing.
In order for an educational game to teach children new material effectively, it must have three key elements. A team of researchers from Madrid’s Complutense University believe a game must have “the possibility for evaluation, adaptability and ease of integration.” Different school districts have different curriculums, so it is helpful when a teacher can easily manipulate a game to fit the students’ needs. The researchers also point out that it is beneficial if students can play the game at home and if teachers can track their progress. Finally, a game is more effective if it adapts to each students’ needs. For instance, if a student seems to be struggling with a certain part of the material, then the game should focus on improving their performance in that.
One game that meets these criteria well is DimensionM. This computer game blends math problems with more traditional gameplay elements, such as a storyline and a 3D world to explore. It also features multiplayer components to further motivate students.
DimensionM gives the player math problems to solve as they explore a 3D world.
According to the game’s official website, using it for fifteen minutes of class time twice a week for five weeks results in “increased exam scores, fluency and excitement about math.” It is easy for educators to use because they can access a detailed analysis of how well students are performing, and they can customize it with “curriculum packs.” In fact, questions related to literacy instead of math can be downloaded. Plus, as is important for educational games, it’s compatible with a variety of operating systems. It can be played on Macs and on PCs using any OS from Windows 2000 onward, making it a viable option for schools without cutting-edge technology.
Studies have verified the effectiveness of games as an educational tool. A team of researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of North Texas concluded after two studies that “using a technology-based game in the classroom [is] beneficial to students of all ability levels in learning arithmetic skills.” So a game can help honors students, struggling students and everyone in between. The technology-based game used in the study proved more effective than a paper-based game because it was more engaging and more easily adaptable to each student’s needs.
Of course, a game can be used to teach more than just math. For example, Science Daily has reported that there are computer games in Uganda meant to educate students on HIV and AIDS, namely, how to prevent the ailments from spreading.
The website Avert.org shows that just about anything can be turned into an educational game.
In addition to adaptability, ease of integration and the possibility of assessment, there are many other criteria we can use to evaluate how effective an educational game is. A team of scientists led by J.C. Hong of National Taiwan Normal University devised a list of seven areas in which an educational game could enhance a student’s performance. To begin with, a game can improve a student’s “mentality,” giving them more perseverance, better planning skills and more. It can also lead to “emotional fulfillment” in raising self-esteem and cooperation skills.
The ability of games to improve self-esteem has also been noted by Dr. Mark Griffiths, a psychology professor at Nottingham Trent University. He believes that the instantaneous feedback and rewards students earn provides a sense of accomplishment “and may inspire them to take productive risks in other areas of their lives as well.”
Hong and the other Taiwanese researchers go on to note that an obvious criterion we can use to evaluate an educational game is how much it provides in the way of “knowledge enhancement.” Basically, does a vocabulary game actually increase a student’s vocabulary like it should? Does a music game help students play or compose music more efficiently? Those sorts of questions must be taken into account.
Games can also lead to “thinking skill development” by increasing memory capacity, imagination, problem-solving skills and more. “Interpersonal skills” can also be influenced by games that encourage helping and trusting others through effective communication. Kwan Min Lee, Eui Jun Jeong, Namkee Park and Seoungho Ryu published a study that verified how games are more effective when played with others. According to them, “students evaluated the learning method more positively when they interacted and competed with other people (online condition) than when they played games alone (off-line condition).”
In addition, Hong notes that games can benefit “spatial ability development” by helping a person create mental maps more quickly. Finally, games with action can improve “bodily coordination” by testing dexterity. Aside from hand-eye coordination, games with motion controls can test the player’s ability to coordinate their whole body.
It should also be noted that educational games can be particularly helpful for students with mental impairments. “Recent evidence suggests that people with ADHD have plenty of attention,” Jonah Rehrer of Wired asserts. “That’s why they can still play video games for hours, or get lost in their Legos, or devote endless attentional resources to activities that they find interesting.” So an educational game can hold their interest in a way that more basic forms of instruction cannot.
Finally, a game does not have to be specifically designed as educational to benefit students’ cognitive abilities. According to LiveStrong.com, a chess master named Peter Dauvergne has published a study concluding that “teaching children chess strategies helps prepare them for future decision making.” When playing any sort of strategy game, it can be helpful to point out the different moves available and allow the student to consider the consequences of each one. Also, games such as Simon, Perfection and Mastermind can improve a student’s memory. Other games, such as Pictionary and Cranium, can encourage creative skills, as LiveStrong.com goes on to note.
Since games truly engage the player with the material, they can benefit a student’s motivation to learn. Although it can be difficult to compete with more traditional games, educational ones are capable of being both fun and rewarding at the same time.
Bobby Miller originally wrote this article for the digital magazine Nvate in August of 2013. Due to its age, some of the information or links in the article may be outdated.