Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Educational Gaming
Educational Gaming
Educational Gaming
Educational Gaming
Adam Jernigan
Coastal Carolina
EDIT 704
The growth of educational technology throughout the recent past has grown into one that
has attempted to blend the realm of educational learning and fun. The emphasis being put on this
level of educational technology is that of incorporating educational curricula with the traits of the
gaming world that a majority of students relate to and enjoy. This is part of the relatable part, to
help create more drive and emphasize features of a class that might be overlooked in a regular
classroom environment. This report will focus on providing descriptions of the conclusions
reached by scholarly researchers on the topic of educational gaming and its effect.
Research Evidence
Computer & Education: An International Journal contains the article “Reviewing the
need for gaming in education to accommodate the net generation”. This article tests the concept
of gaming in order to advance education. This study compared the performance of what they
classified as net generation participants and non-net generation participants while employing
gaming concepts toward learning new information. This study found that “although there is no
difference between the representatives and non-representatives of the net generation, there is a
correlation between learning preferences and the use of gaming” (Bekebrede and Warmelink,
2011). This outcome provides a suggestion that gaming may have a greater effect on certain
learning types, but that the active nature of the gaming concept did have an impact on the
average learner.
Viewing this concept from another view point comes from the Review of Educational
Research publication citing an article named “Our Princess Is in Another Castle: A Review of
Trends in Serious Gaming”. Here we see research conducted by reviewing many different
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EDUCATIONAL GAMING
academic journals and scholarly articles in order to develop a culminating concept of the effect
of gaming on education. The consensus reached by these authors suggests that in certain
subjects there are “promising impacts that video gaming can have on school achievement”
(Young, Slota, Cutter, Jalette, Mullen, Lai, and Yukhymenko, 2012). They went on to conclude
that with the advances being made in technology that the effect gaming has on education would
continue to increase.
titled “Video Games, Reading, and Transmedial Comprehension” focuses the effect that gaming
in education has on literacy. This presentation operates based on the premise that the literary
experiences that students face outside of the classroom are more different from what is being
learned in the classroom than it ever has been. The incorporation of gaming has been seen as a
way to bridge the gap between these two literary events, however, this article shows that “only a
few of them had developed the skills we had hoped with the video games, and that students who
were poor comprehenders and poor decoders with traditional text also struggled with the games”
(Ferdig, 2008). The conclusion that the researchers arrived at was that gaming as it relates to
literacy did not have an overwhelming effect on meeting educational goals but did have an effect
The article “Gaming Research for Technology Education” found in the Journal of STEM
Education focuses on the use of gaming in the educational fields of science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM). The author uses this research to investigate the hypothesis that
gaming helps to influence the motivation of learners in the area of STEM. The researcher
worked to develop a survey instrument that would provide insight into the attitudes that students
have towards the use of gaming in the educational environment. The results from this survey
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EDUCATIONAL GAMING
demonstrate that “many would invite gaming to become a part of the pedagogy used in our
schools and as a means to reinforce what is being taught” (Clark and Ernst, 2009).
is focusing on the empirical evidence available that focus on five fundamentals gaming in
education is presumed to feature. The fundamentals are that educational gaming is built on
sound learning principles, provides more engagement for the learner, provides personalized
learning opportunities, teaches 21st century skills, provides an environment for authentic and
providing immediate feedback to allow students to modify their responses and research the
correct avenue to achieve the goal at that moment. The personalized learning opportunities can
be derived from gaming in the form of evaluating a student’s performance and choices that were
made to determine the educational level of the player, as well as, the game being adapted based
on the needs of each individual student. Boredom is one enemy of education and gaming has
been proven to help with the motivation level of students. Gaming itself is a 21st century skill,
but it also helps to create interactions that develop the learner by incorporating tools that will be
needed in future endeavors. Gaming is a built-in assessment tool that evaluates learners progress
continually and offers feedback as interactions through game play. The consensus reached by
this article is that digital game play in the educational environment can have a profound effect on
student engagement, but there was very little evidence to prove the effects on academic learning
alone. “Perhaps what is most unique about digital games—as opposed to any other learning
and data collection that can’t be achieved at scale any other way” (McClarty, Orr, Frey, Dolan,
technology. Given the previously presented articles it appears that the evidence provided shows
Evidence does not say that educational gaming is perfect for every learning situation, but it does
state that the majority of learning opportunities can find benefit in the incorporation of gaming.
One overarching theme that has become apparent is the fact that there is very little evidence that
states that gaming in education has any academic value, but I would propose that the effects that
it has towards the motivation of students does provide academic value. Having a hook, a method
of catching the attention of a student and having them focus on one concept willingly changes
the entire dynamic of the learning environment. Once students are willing participants the
educational strain can be lifted, and academic value would increase. Educational gaming just
helps to meet the student where they are, based on what they like to do, and incorporate that into
Bekebrede, G., Warmelink, H. J. G., & Mayer, I. S. (2011). Reviewing the need for gaming in
education to accommodate the net generation. Computers & Education, 57(2), 1521-
1529.
Clark, A., & Ernst, J. (2009). Gaming research for technology education. Journal of STEM
Education, 10(1).
IGI global.
McClarty, K. L., Orr, A., Frey, P. M., Dolan, R. P., Vassileva, V., & McVay, A. (2012). A
Young, M. F., Slota, S., Cutter, A. B., Jalette, G., Mullin, G., Lai, B., ... & Yukhymenko, M.
(2012). Our princess is in another castle: A review of trends in serious gaming for