Can games be used as an educational tool

Within this paper I will discuss how the world and students are changing and if games can be used as tool of education to a new 21st century generation. I will explore the current effect games have on children and if games are a suitable or possibly better alternative to traditional classroom teaching. I plan to investigate games as a general topic not just what is aimed towards being an educational game, I feel this will give me a better overview of what impact games are having on the education of children. Digital games as an industry is in its infancy and with this new initiative ideas will change the path that the industry can take. A key path for educational games could be within the schooling system. Schools must prepare students effectively for life in the 21st century, this means they must be ready to work in a much more technologically driven, interconnected and competitive open world. As the world changes so must the approache to teaching, as Bill Gates (2005) noted in his address at the National Educational Summit on High Schools, Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about todays computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. Its the wrong tool for the times. The next generation of jobs will be characterized by increased technology use, extensive problem solving, and complex communication (Levy & Murnane, 2004). These are skills that go beyond typical reading, writing, and arithmetic of years past. Its not only what students need to learn that is shifting, but also how and when they learn. Students of today are growing up with laptops, tablets, cell phones, and video calls, and they expect to use this technology in their daily interactions (NCREL & Metiri, 2003). The movement towards the use of educational digital games as learning tools in schools is a promising area, in fact the Federation of American Scientists, the Entertainment Software Association, and the National Science Foundation brought together nearly 100 experts to consider ways to develop next generation learning games. They found that many of the skills required for success in games such as thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills are also sought by employers (Federation of American Scientists, 2006). Not only governments and schools are addressing the topic of education within games, Primer Labs a small independent game studio has created a game with the sole intention of aiding the learning of Javascript. CODE HERO is a first person shooter that requires the player (or student) to use the scripting knowledge he gains to progress through the game. The game was designed to teach the player enough to be able to create a game using the same software it was made in. This direct approach of teaching code literacy makes the player use what he learns and understand its impact on the digital environment, this is an example of how games can give immediate feedback which is lacking in traditional classroom teaching.
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The fast growth of the digital age we currently live in, and the increasingly sophisticated technologies we use on a daily basis mean we must adapt the ways we live, work and learn. Children grow up surrounded by technology, by the time the average child is 21 they will have spent over 10,000 hours playing digital games (Jane Mcgonigal, 2010). With so much time being invested at a young age the digital games can have a massive effect on the skills children pick up. It is proven that digital games increase hand eye coordination, the ability to dynamically solve problems and work as a team, an example of this is the MMORPG World of Warcraft played by millions it requires groups of players to work in teams to defeat strong enemies (Jane Mcgonigal, 2010). Learning how to work as a team with people you may not know is a powerful skill and World of Warcraft is not even designed as an educational tool, this shows the potential that games truly have. Although a players actions may demonstrate learning within the game, it is unknown if the learning can be re-applied to a different context. For example Gee (2005) describes how the game World of Warcraft reflects key 21st century skills such as individual specialization within cross-functional teams working collaboratively to meet goals. Although this type of specialization and collaboration is important within the game, it is still unclear how much these behaviors transfer outside of the game world. Of course there are some situations in which you would not expect behavior from a game to transfer (e.g. driving or sports simulation games). But even within these circumstances knowledge can be gained about the subject such as learning rules or tactics from sports games which would give the player a theoretical understanding of the subject. Games have a unique all encompassing quality that means they are suitable for all types of learning, they mix auditory, visual and kinetic interaction. This allows different learners to gain knowledge quickly from games. This provides a more engaging method of teaching for the learner. Traditional schooling has often been labeled as boring for many students. In fact, nearly half of high school dropouts said a major reason for dropping out was that the classes werent interesting, and 70% said they were not motivated or inspired to work hard (Bridgeland, Bilulio & Morison, 2006). The level of engagement within digital games allows a learner to keep focused and motivated over a longer time period, ...particularly with more challenging learning tasks (Gee, 2003, 2008; Rupp, Gushta, Mislevy, & Shaffer, 2010). Engagement is just one component of learning but if a student manages to connect with the subject they are much more likely to have a positive reaction and increase the possibility of learning. Games are built with clear goals and provide immediate feedback (Dickey, 2005), this allows players to understand how their actions affect their performance and learn from the mistakes they make. This is a much faster and easier way to translate a students performance into constructive feedback that the child can understand than the traditional classroom feedback, as the reward for doing well is progression in the game.

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A key element of healthy child development is play, this includes learning development. Children learn through imaginative play, digital games can contain large expansive environments for which to play in. This can be considered an integral part of learning and intellectual development. Though some violent games are accused of influencing violence within the players, a child playing soldiers in his garden with toy guns gains the same developments from play as a child playing a war simulator, the real debate falls to when such topics should be introduced to the child. As with any learning experience the subject cannot be to blame but instead the time and means of application. The idea that education should meet students where they are is not a new one, although it has several variations: differentiated instruction (Tomlinson, 1999), whole-person learning (Snow & Farr, 1987), individualized instruction (Switzer, 2004), and personalized learning (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006). Personalized learning is described as the way that schools tailor education to ensure that every pupil achieves the highest standard possible (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report suggests personalized learning in schools through five processes: (1) knowing the strengths and weaknesses of students, (2) developing teaching and learning strategies based on student needs, (3) engaging curriculum choices, (4) supportive school organization, and (5) community, local institution, and social service support. (Katie Larsen McClarty, 2012) Personalized learning can be seen within digital games, the players strengths and weakness can be indicated by their performance in the game tasks. Many well designed games will adapt to teach a player how to overcome a task by slowly introducing information via levels, progressing from easy too more complex tasks, this is an example of developing teaching and learning strategies based on the students needs. We have already proven that games can be a very engaging medium as they involve the player in lots of interaction. An interesting game aimed towards educational purposes is the Blood Typing Game, based on the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded for the discovery of human blood groups in 1901. The purpose of this educational game is to learn the basics about human blood types and blood typing, as well as understanding one reason for its importance, to be able to save lives performing safe blood transfusions. Another purpose is to offer a game experience that is challenging and fun. I find it a very clever way to cover an important and tough subject in a way that can entertain whilst inform. I believe games like this will become more frequent as more people become computer and code literate.
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To conclude I have shown that games not only can be used as an educational tool, but that they are already being used as such. I believe in the coming years digital games will be far more dominant within the schooling of children as they have the ability to teach many skills and help to create and develop the computer literacy of the generations that will be expected to use digital tools in almost every element of their lives, from work to play. As the application of education from games becomes stronger, games will be even more closely designed to the purpose of teaching, meaning that they will become far more effective. I also believe that the ability of teamwork that is gained from many multiplayer games will help prepare children for an open, possibly international work environment in later life. Digital games are a large part of our society and will continue to affect how we live, learn and play, but as we change so will they. As I stated earlier in this paper games as an industry is in its infancy this is one of many steps into the future.

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Bibliography
Bridgeland, J. M., Bilulio, J. J., & Morison, K. B. (2006, March). The silent epidemic: Perspectives of high school dropouts.Retrieved from http://www.ignitelearning.com/pdf/TheSilentEpidemic3-06FINAL.pdf Dickey, M. D. (2005). Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games and inform instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 53, 6783. Federation of American Scientists. (2006). Summit on educational games: Harnessing the power of video games for learning.Retrieved from http://www.fas.org/programs/ltp/policy_and_publications/summit/Summit%20on%2 0Educational%20Games.pdf Gates, B. (2005, February 26). Prepared remarks. National Education Summit on High Schools. Retrieved from http://www.admin.mtu.edu/ctlfd/Ed%20Psych%20Readings/BillGate.pdf Gee, J. P. (2005). Good video games and good learning. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85(2), 3337. Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 1(1), 14 Levy, F., & Murnane, R. J. (2004). The new division of labor: How computers are creating the next job market. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. North Central Regional Education Laboratory [NCREL], & Metiri Group. (2003). enGuage 21st century skills: Literacy in the digital age. Retrieved from http://pict.sdsu.edu/engauge21st.pdf McClarty, K.L., (June 2012) A Literature Review of Gaming in Education (pg.13) Retrieved from http://www.pearsonassessments.com/hai/Images/tmrs/Lit_Review_of_Gaming_in_E ducation.pdf Mcgonigal, J. (2010) Gaming can make a better world. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html
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OECD (2006). Personalising Education. Retrieved from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Web site http://www.oecd.org/document/49/0,3746,en_2649_39263231_36168625_1_1_1_1, 00.html Snow, R., & Farr, M. (1987). Conative and affective process analysis (3rd ed.) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates. Switzer, D. (2004). Individualized instruction. In F. P. Schargel & J. Smink (Eds.), Helping students graduate: A strategic approach to dropout prevention (pp. 225233). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Prentice Hall.

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