Games in Learning, Design, and Motivation

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Innovations in Selected Standard Practice: Action Principles for State and Local Education Agencies

Abstract

Games in education have been studied for the last 40 years (Abt, 1970, Loftus & Loftus, 1983, Egenfield-Nielson, 2007, among others), with no definitive conclusion on the impact on learning. The Pew Internet and American Life project noted that to describe the typical “teen gamer is to hold a mirror to the population of teens as a whole” (Lenhart, et al, 2008, p.7). For schools and teachers to determine whether games of any form meet their curricular goals, they must first know what they mean by a “game.” This paper explores definitions and classifications of games or playing a game, looking at digital and non-digital games, exploring how games have been used in education to date, and then suggesting how games can be used by State Departments of Education, local education agencies, and schools to address student learning and motivation to learn.

Abt, C. (1970). Serious games. New York: Viking Press.

Egenfeldt-Nielson, S. (2007). The educational potential of computer games. New York: Continuum Press.

Lenhart, A., Kahne, J, Middaugh, E., Macgill, A. R., Evans, C., & Vitak, J. (2008, September). Teens, video games, and civic: Teens’ gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement. Washington, DC: Pew Internet & American Life Project. Retrieved January 24, 2013, from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2008/PIP_Teens_Games_and_Civics_Report_FINAL.pdf.pdf

Loftus, G. R., & Loftus, E. (1983). Mind at play. New York: Basic Books.

Author

• Catherine C. Schifter, Temple University