See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/324123182

Teaching Social Studies With Games

Article  in  International Journal of Game-Based Learning · April 2018

DOI: 10.4018/IJGBL.2018040106

CITATIONS READS

2 1,611

2 authors:

Polona Jančič Hegediš Vlasta Hus

University of Maribor University of Maribor
18 PUBLICATIONS   7 CITATIONS    50 PUBLICATIONS   79 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

VA.E Visual Arts in Education View project

Convocatoria de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía (P10SEJ -5823) "Audiovisual competente of Andalusiam citizenship. Strategies of media
literacy in society of digital leisure" View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Vlasta Hus on 25 April 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

International Journal of Game-Based Learning
Volume 8 • Issue 2 • April-June 2018

Teaching Social Studies With Games

Polona Jančič, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Vlasta Hus, Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia

ABSTRACT

Social studies is a class students encounter in the fourth and fifth grades of primary school in Slovenia.
It includes goals from the fields of geography, sociology, history, ethnology, psychology, economy,
politics, ethics, aesthetics, and ecology. Among other didactic recommendations in the national
curriculum for teaching, social studies include experiential learning with games. Game-based learning
enables an optimal learning environment for students. The purpose of this article is to examine
representation of games in social studies in primary school. The research sample consisted of 290
students of the fourth and fifth grade, 177 teachers teaching fourth and fifth grade, and 56 observed
social studies lessons. Results showed that teachers rarely use didactic games in social studies. Results
show that teachers rarely use game-based learning in teaching social science. Depending on the type of
a game, the most commonly used one is a role-playing game. Most respondents’ students like game-
based learning in social studies and also estimate games are not played often enough in social studies.

Keywords
Didactics, Learning, Games, Primary School, Social Studies
INTRODUCTION

Social studies cannot be taught like a “closed box” – it should reflect interaction between school
learning and what a student learns through everyday experiences (Mishra, 2015). Especially in their
early years, children best gain experiences through playing. For children, playing can be serious
learning. In recent years, the interest in games within classrooms has increased. Bognar (1987),
Roskos & Christie (2000), Ginsburg (2007), Cenčič, Cotič & Medved Udovič (2008), Miller & Almon
(2009) and Juriševič (2012) are only some of the authors that have researched the effects of games on
teaching and learning. They studied and researched effects of games in educational process among
different age groups of children and positive effects on different educational stages. After reviewing
the literature, we discovered that games in social studies at this stage of primary school and its effects
on students’ knowledge and competences is quite a non-researched area. In this research paper, we
present the subject of social studies in Slovenian primary schools and its didactic recommendation
for teaching with experiential learning and games. This research paper continues by presenting the
research in games with its results and conclusion with discussion at the end.

SOCIAL STUDIES

In Slovenia, social studies is a class students encounter in the fourth and fifth grades of primary
school. A total of 175 hours of class time are dedicated to it – 70 in the fourth grade and 105 in the
fifth grade. It includes goals from the fields of geography, sociology, history, ethnology, psychology,
economy, politics, ethics, aesthetics, and ecology. The emphasis of classes is on learning about the
relationship between the individual, society, and the natural environment.

DOI: 10.4018/IJGBL.2018040106

Copyright © 2018, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.


68
 International Journal of Game-Based Learning
Volume 8 • Issue 2 • April-June 2018

In this course, students develop:

• Understanding of their social, cultural, and natural environment in time and space;
• Awareness of the interaction and the interdependence of cultural, social, natural processes,
phenomena and the importance of sustainable development;
• Social, communication, research skills and abilities in addition to knowledge that enable them
to effectively perform in the environment;
• Attitudes and values in the context of environmental, civic, and patriotic education as well as
education for democracy and human rights; and cognitive, emotional, social abilities, skills and
strategies involved in lifelong learning (Budnar et al., 2011).

Teaching Social Studies in Primary School

The didactic recommendations for the teaching of social studies suggest teachers should derive
strategies from students’ prior knowledge, skills, and interests, as well as take into account students’
individual potentials when they plan lessons. It can be summarized that the National Curriculum for
the Subject of Social Studies is based on and comes from the constructivist theory of learning and
teaching. The constructivist approach emphasises students’ active roles in the education process, as
well as their capability of developing their own knowledge by themselves based on experience and
previous knowledge. A teacher must create favourable conditions for the learning process, including
an encouraging environment and social atmosphere so that the processes of active and independent
knowledge acquisition can begin (Maxim, 2010; Woolfolk, 2002). The strength of constructivism
is that it unifies a lot of teaching strategies and, consequently, teachers can choose from an array of
strategies within constructivism (Colburn, 2000). Teaching strategy is, by definition, a concept-based
planned order of practical learning operations or activities which lead to a certain goal (Blažič et al.,
2003). If a teacher is aware of which strategies effectively involve students in the learning process,
they will be able to choose the appropriate one to achieve the objectives of the curriculum. Among
other appropriate teaching strategies, a recommended strategy of teaching the subject social studies is
experiential learning (Budnar et al., 2011). As games are one of the methods of experiential learning,
this strategy was chosen as the centre of our research.
Experiential learning is a teaching and learning strategy that attempts to integrate the emotional
and sensory experience of the students and their thinking into a whole (Marentič Požarnik, 2003).
In the case of experiential learning, experience is understood as the student’s previous knowledge,
which enables easier following of the class and learning (Ivanuš Grmek & Hus, 2006). A key
element of experiential learning is the student being personally involved in this pedagogical approach
(Wurdinger & Carlson, 2010). The importance of the active involvement of children in the learning
process is emphasised by several studies, namely by the following authors: Pianta, Laparo & Hamre
(2006); Leavers (2005) and the study NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (2003, 2005) (as
in Tankersley et al., 2013).

Game-Based Learning
Children learn best through play. Through play, all areas of a child’s development can be enhanced.
Play positively supports children’s social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and language skills and is
essential to a child’s overall healthy development (Boocock, 1971 as in Bognar, 1987; Ginsburg, 2007).
Some benefits of playing games for young students:

• Games enhance student’s creativity and problem-solving (Smith & Simon, 1984)
• Games contribute to the development of self-regulation and social skills such as turn-taking,
collaboration, following rules, empathy, and motivation (Bodrova & Leong, 2007)

69
 10 more pages are available in the full version of this
document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart"
button on the product's webpage:
www.igi-global.com/article/teaching-social-studies-with-
games/201873?camid=4v1

This title is available in InfoSci-Select, InfoSci-

Communications, Online Engagement, and Media eJournal
Collection, InfoSci-Educational Leadership, Administration,
and Technologies eJournal Collection, InfoSci-Select,
InfoSci-Select, InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines
Library Science, Information Studies, and Education, InfoSci-
Journal Disciplines Communications and Social Science.
Recommend this product to your librarian:
www.igi-global.com/e-resources/library-
recommendation/?id=61

Related Content

VR-Based Gamification of Communication Training and Oral Examination in

a Second Language
Liesa Reitz, Aline Sohny and Gerrit Lochmann (2016). International Journal of Game-
Based Learning (pp. 46-61).
www.igi-global.com/article/vr-based-gamification-of-communication-training-
and-oral-examination-in-a-second-language/151553?camid=4v1a

Introducing Integrated E-Portfolio across Courses in a Postgraduate Program

in Distance and Online Education
Madhumita Bhattacharya (2007). Cases on Global E-Learning Practices: Successes
and Pitfalls (pp. 95-107).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/introducing-integrated-portfolio-across-
courses/6246?camid=4v1a
 A Case Study of Social Interaction on ANGEL and Student Authoring Skills
Ruth Xiaoqing Guo (2012). Interactivity in E-Learning: Case Studies and Frameworks
(pp. 254-273).
www.igi-global.com/chapter/case-study-social-interaction-
angel/61692?camid=4v1a

Behavioral Evaluation of Preference for Game-Based Teaching Procedures

Leonardo Brandão Marques and Deisy das Graças de Souza (2013). International
Journal of Game-Based Learning (pp. 51-62).
www.igi-global.com/article/behavioral-evaluation-preference-game-
based/77315?camid=4v1a

View publication stats