Conduct
a Google search for online games, simulations, and virtual worlds, and you are
bound to be met with a vast array of choices.
Where should one begin? With so
many choices available, it becomes increasingly difficult to select a
particular game that can be interesting and lesson-friendly at the same time,
and one that all the students in a class can enjoy and learn from. However, while pondering this issue, I remembered
two statements in Squire (2011) that resonated with me. The first is related to mutual interest. Squire (2011) recounts how he took an
interest in a student’s hobby in order to reach out and connect with him. Previously, the student had been reluctant to
participate in activities and do his assignments. Squire befriended the student through gaming,
and researched the student’s hobby, in this case, a love of Great Pyrenees
dogs, in order to engage him in conversation and reach out to him. This show of interest forged a connection
that enabled the once reluctant student to excel.
From this anecdote, I was reminded of the importance of
teacher interest in students. When
planning to use games, we really need to keep our students in mind. A game I found stimulating and fun may not
evoke the same feelings in my students.
Furthermore, interest needs to exist at the outset. If I do not like video games and have no interest
in them, it would not make sense to try to employ them in class. Firstly, I would probably have no idea what I
was doing, and, secondly, it would be highly dismissive to tell the students to
just play a game and do such-and-such activity; this kind of behavior does not
foster an inclusive atmosphere in class.
In short, teachers need to be into gaming if they want to use games in
class.
The second item that struck me from Squire (2011) was his
discussion of the Montessori system of education, specifically, its focus on
the normal development of children and how creative problem solving is an
essential, though not singular, component of this development. Reflecting on creative problem solving, I
thought about purpose in
learning. Solving a problem is an
objective and teachers need to provide such an objective when incorporating
games in their lessons. Again, teachers
cannot be dismissive and send students off to play games as if they are being
sent away to recess; students need a purpose.
If students end up asking themselves what’s
the point of all this? then something needs to be reworked.
It would seem, then, that a requisite for using games in
class is teacher interest. If teachers
are not interested in games and gaming, this can also be used: Teachers can ask
students to convince the teacher that gaming is interesting. Such an activity can help students practice reasoning
skills. Also, an assignment can be
designed around learners teaching teachers how to play games. Again, such an assignment can be used to get
students talking and participating in class.
Therefore, in a language learning context, the
opportunity to practice narration, instruction, and discourse become the focal
points of teachers’s learning objectives.
If this seems like a simplistic approach to incorporating games into
classroom curricula, then it probably is.
What we need to keep in mind is that to become a gamer, in other words, someone fluently capable with games of all
sorts, requires years of familiarity with the gaming world. If I were to compare myself to Squire, I am a
novice. True, I have played a number of
games over the years, but my exposure to gaming pales in comparison to what
Squire has in mind. Therefore, if I were
to choose a game, I would need to choose something that both learners and I can
easily familiarize ourselves with. Ideally,
the students would already be familiar with the game, and I would need to catch
up with them.
In circumstances where I am not very familiar with a
game, I would use my ignorance to create a teachable moment where students play
the role of instructor and teach me how to play a game, but they must not,
under any circumstances, take control over the game either by snatching the
joystick from my hands or by asking me to scoot over so they can sit at the
keyboard; they have to explain to me, orally, what it is that I need to do in
the game. If the students and I are both
familiar with a game, then I would design a scenario in which I am stuck at a particular
juncture in the game. They have to
provide me with a walkthrough to get through the part that I am stuck in. This would work better if I told students
that I was stuck on a particular level and they had to provide me with a
walkthrough for that entire level. The
best thing about games these days is that there is more than one way to get
through a level, so I can tap into some competitive spirit by challenging the
students to come up with the best walkthrough.
Bonk (2009) tells us that almost all teenagers play video
games. If as many learners are
passionate about video games, then we have struck gold because “identifying
students’ passions and using them as a vehicle for relating academic content,”
(Squire, 2011, p. 46) can have a significant impact on students’s learning: “When
passionate about a topic, students will willingly read and write texts that are
far more complicated than texts about topics they are not passionate about” (Squire,
2011, p. 46). However, we cannot assume
that all students are passionate
about games and gaming. Therefore, we
return to a common theme of the past several weeks: incorporating games into
our classes does not necessarily mean that we exclude other forms of learning;
just as incorporating technology in education does not mean we completely
replace the old ways of doing things.
Which games would I choose? During the first week of classes, as we are
building a healthy learning community, I would ask students to tell me which
games are their favorites. Then, I would
prepare learning activities based on the feedback I get. This way, I can be (almost) sure that the
learning related to games would be both interest-driven and passionate.
References
Bonk,
C. J. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing
education. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Squire,
K. (2011). Video games and learning: Teaching and participatory culture
in the digital age. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
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