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Video Games in Education – Boon or Bane?

Video Games in Education – Boon or Bane?. Nor Hidayah M. Amin College of Education Lehigh University. Contents. Introduction: Development of educational media Video Games in American Culture. Educational settings: Using video games to understand engagement

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Video Games in Education – Boon or Bane?

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  1. Video Gamesin Education – Boon or Bane? Nor Hidayah M. Amin College of Education Lehigh University

  2. Contents Introduction: Development of educational media Video Games in American Culture • Educational settings: • Using video games to understand engagement • Pac-Man vs. traditional schooling • Games: Drill & practice • Simulations & strategy games • Aggression & social mal-adjustment • Future of video games in education

  3. Introduction Educational potentials of gaming:Most research done focused on the social consequences of gaming. Educators have ignored cognitive potential of games especially in:▪ Interactive stories▪ Digital authoring tools▪ Collaborative worlds

  4. VG in US culture Video games are a powerful force in the entertainment & economic sector.Price Waterhouse Cooper: US sales of entertainment software reached $8.2 billion in 2004. Sales in 2009 are expected to reach $15 billion. Video games have pervasively influence the American culture. Most of the studies conducted about video games in education are done in the Nintendo age - limited & outdated.

  5. Engagement Malone (1981) generated 3 main elements that make video games fun: Challenge, Fantasy, CuriosityEducational programs should have:1. Clear goals that students find meaning2. Multiple goals structures & scoring to give feedback3. Multiple difficulty levels4. Random element of surprise5. Emotionally appealing fantasy & metaphor

  6. Engagement Bowman (1982) uses Csikzentmihalyi’s discussion of “flow”: Pac-Man is an action system where skills & challenges are progressively balanced, goals are clear, feedback is unambiguous, and relevant stimuli can be differentiated from irrelevant stimuli.

  7. Csikzentmihalyi Csikzentmihalyi (1990) describes “flow” as:- a State of Optimal experience,-- whereby a person is so Engaged in activity - that Self-consciousness disappears,- Time becomes distorted- and people engage in complex, goal-directed Activity- not for external rewards- but simply for the Exhilaration of doing.S.O.E.S.T.A.E.

  8. PM vs. T Schooling

  9. PM vs. T Schooling

  10. Boon Commercial games – military, pilotsEdutainment products

  11. Drills & Practice Popular because they can easily be integrated into a didactic curriculum as “enrichment” exercises during independent study time.Video games – support student’s exploration of microworlds or as a construction tool (Papert, 1981).

  12. Simulations Hi-fidelity: to model every interaction in a system in as life-like manner as possible.E.g.?Low-fidelity: simplify a system to highlight key components of the system.E.g.?

  13. Tools for Learning Manipulate otherwise unalterable variables –SimEarth2. Enable students to view phenomena from new perspectives - Hidden Agenda3. Observe systems behavior over time - Civilization4. Posehypothetical questions to a system - Antietam5. Visualizea system in 3 dimensions - Digital Weather Station6. Compare simulations with their understanding of a system - SimCity

  14. Bane Provenzo (1991):1. Violent, aggressive behavior2. Destructive gender stereotyping3. Unhealthy “rugged individualistic” attitudes4. Stifle creative play

  15. Research findings Violent, aggressive behaviorResearch thus far has been inconclusive.Calvert & Tan (1994) – video games cause some increase of violent thoughts.Lin & Lipper (1987) – no correlations between regular video play and violence.In summary, research on video games has failed to show that video games cause violent, anti-social or aggressive behavior or poor school performance.

  16. Research findings Destructive gender stereotypingFew women protagonists have been featured in video games; most women characters in fighting games resemble adolescent male fantasies.Female gamers = 20% of video games players.Barbie: Fashion Designer sold 500,000 copies.Thus, video games creator must focuson character development & collaboration in order to attract girls.

  17. Research findings Unhealthy “rugged individualistic” attitudesImage of “lone ranger” is prevalent in video games. Games like Asteroids & Doom capitalize on making the player isolated, taking the world alone. MUDs (Multiple User Dungeons) & MOOs (a MUD object oriented) are text-based online virtual reality system where players can collaborate in groups to slay villains etc. Other examples: Avatar, Everquest

  18. Research findings Stifle creative playChildren are not passive consumers of video games. They ‘reappropriate’ it into their own play:1. They talk about a game on the bus.2. They act out scenes from a game in the playground.3. They discuss games on bulletin board.Ellis (1983) – video games like popular media become the building blocks of children’s world.

  19. Future Since 1980s, gaming technology has improved tremendously. But there is much room for the study of how designs can be incorporated into student centered learning environment.Many educators have been using edutainment products. We need more empirical research into how these environments work. Interactive fiction and online games are 2 areas that have not been studied at all – instructional technologists can research on how online environments support community development.

  20. References Bowman, R. F. (1982). A Pac-Man theory of motivation. Tactical implications for classroom instructions. Educational Technology, 22(9), 14-17.Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optical Experience. New York: Harper Perennial.Calvert, S. L., & Tan, S. (1994). Impact of virtual reality on young adults’ physiological arousal and aggressive thoughts: Interaction versus observation. Special Issue: Effects of interactive entertainment technologies on development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 15(1), 125-139.Ellis, G. J. (1983). Youth in the Electronic Environment: An Introduction. Youth and Society, 15(1): 3-12.

  21. References Lin, S. & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Correlates of children's usage of video games and computers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17. 72-93.Malone, T. W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, (4), 333-369.Papert, S. (1981). Mindstorm: Children, computers and powerful ideas. Brighton: Harvester Press.Provenzo, E. F. (1991). Video kids: Making sense of Nintendo. Cambridge, MA: Harvard.

  22. Q & A

  23. hidayah.amin@lehigh.edu

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