Video game discourses and implications for game-based education

Increasingly prevalent educational discourses promote the use of video games in schools and universities. At the same time, populist discourses persist, particularly in print media, which condemn video games because of putative negative effects on behaviour and socialisation. These contested discourses, we suggest, influence the acceptability of games and limit critical analysis of their effectiveness as pedagogic tools. This article focuses on the representation of video games in media discourse. We present insights from a small-scale study of the construction of video game discourses in the UK print media in 2013, and discuss three areas that emerged. First, the assumptions inherent in the representation of the ‘video game’; second, the implied lack of agency in the behaviour of ‘the gamer’; and third, the way in which blame is manipulated. Finally, we consider the implications for game-based education.     

Girl gamers: the controversy of girl games and the relevance of female-oriented game design for instructional design

Digital games have typically been considered a male leisure activity; however, recent statistics indicate that increasing numbers of females are now playing games. The purpose of this review is to investigate how the influx of girl gamers and the emergence of female‐oriented game design can inform instructional design for the construction of interactive learning environments. This review presents an overview of digital games and gender, an outline of girl games and ‘pink’ software, a discussion of the controversy of girl games, and a review and discussion of the research and implications of female‐oriented game design for instructional design. The goal of this review is to examine the influx of girl gamers into a male pastime and to analyse the implications of this for the design of interactive learning environments.     

Gender differences in preschool children’s recall of competitive and noncompetitive computer mathematics games

This study investigated whether competitive and noncompetitive educational mathematics computer games influence four‐ to seven‐year‐old boys’ and girls’ recall of game‐playing experience. A qualitative analysis was performed to investigate what preschool children may have learned through their selective recall of game‐playing experience. A difference emerged in six‐ to seven‐year‐old boys’ and girls’ recall after playing a competitive computer mathematics game, such that boys tended to first recall the consequence of ‘winning and losing’ whereas girls of the same age focused on ‘friendship among animated characters’ in the game. Thus, the qualitative results suggest the possibility that selective attention or selective recall might be partially influenced by gender schemas. Based on the recall sequences, educational noncompetitive computer mathematics games may lead to a better learning outcome for older boys.     

Students as designers and creators of educational computer games: Who else?

In the companion article, Spirit of the Game: Empowering Students as Designers in Schools?, author Cher Ping Lim puts forth strong arguments supporting the creation and use of curricular, educational games in our schools and education. His essay ends with the question ‘Can students build such games?’ This paper responses to this question and provides examples of how students can design and build games within the school curriculum to enhance engagement in the classrooms. Two approaches are suggested: Mini‐game‐based curriculum and complex game for entire course.     

What digital games and literacy have in common: a heuristic for understanding pupils' gaming literacy

This article argues that digital games and school‐based literacy practices have much more in common than is reported in the research literature. We describe the role digital game paratexts – ancillary print and multimodal texts about digital games – can play in connecting pupils’ gaming literacy practices to ‘traditional’ school‐based literacies still needed for academic success. By including the reading, writing and design of digital game paratexts in the literacy curriculum, teachers can actively and legitimately include digital games in their literacy instruction. To help teachers understand pupils’ gaming literacy practices in relation to other forms of literacy practices, we present a heuristic for understanding gaming (HUG) literacy. We argue our heuristic can be used for effective teacher professional development because it assists teachers in identifying the elements of gameplay that would be appropriate for the demands of the literacy curriculum. The heuristic traces gaming literacy across the quadrants of actions, designs, situations and systems to provide teachers and practitioners with a knowledge of gameplay and a metalanguage for talking about digital games. We argue this knowledge will assist them in capitalising on pupils’ existing gaming literacy by connecting their out‐of‐school gaming literacy practices to the literacy and English curriculum.     

Translocal assemblage and the practice of alternative media toward racial justice: a pedagogical perspective

There is a growing cultural and social movement among youth who draw on spoken word poetry and documentary style videos to participate in the new media landscape. Many multimedia poems have appeared on social media sites such as YouTube and Vimeo as a form of participatory politics. In this article, the author takes up a discussion of translocal practices and ‘translocal assemblage’ wherein individuals and groups engage in the exchange of ideas across space and time. One example is a multimedia poem about the underrepresentation and invisibility of racialized minority students at a major American university. This viral multimedia poem remixed elsewhere based on students’ experiences at another university demonstrates not only the potential of translocal assemblage in participatory politics but also the practice of alternative media in the movement toward racial justice. That is, young people are finding civic resources and building on each other’s work to challenge the social order. Pedagogically, the author built on the theoretical underpinning of translocal assemblage to shape work with students in the college classroom who, in turn, produced other genres of alternative media. The resultant video documentaries about locally unjust social arrangements make evident the subtle nature of cultural flows that have direct consequences for critical studies in education.     

基于设计思维的教育游戏设计方法研究

为了设计出兼具教育性与趣味性的教育游戏,使设计出的游戏充分考虑到学习者需求,既重视游戏方式和内容的科学性,又强调游戏方法和形式的趣味性,基于斯坦福D.school设计思维模型,结合“趣思维”游戏案例设计过程,从游戏设计前期分析、内容及方向确定、游戏设计与制作、反复测试再调整等方面,具体阐述教育游戏设计方法。“趣思维”案例的成功设计表明,该设计方法能够运用于具体教育游戏设计中,可以设计出更贴合用户想法、兼顾教育与趣味的教育游戏。基于设计思维模型五环节提出的教育游戏设计方法,能够充分了解用户需求,使设计思路更加清晰,设计出内容丰富、条理明确、更有市场的教育游戏,初步实现设计思维与教育游戏的结合。     

Using a games console in the primary classroom: Effects of ‘Brain Training’ programme on computation and self‐esteem

It is known that computer games are motivating for children, but there is limited direct evidence of their effects on classroom learning. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the effects of a commercial off‐the‐shelf computer game on children's mental computation skills and on aspects of self‐perceptions. A pre–post design was employed. The participants were 71 primary school children (10–11 years old) from three classes. In School 1, a class of 21 children used a games console for 20 minutes each day, running a ‘brain training’ game. Two comparison groups were used. In School 2, 31 children used ‘Brain Gym’ techniques in their class over the treatment period. In school three, a class of 19 children acted as no‐treatment controls. The treatment period was 10 weeks. Significant pre–post gains were found in the games console group for both accuracy and speed of calculations, while results for the two comparison groups were mixed. The games console group showed significant gains in global self‐esteem, but not in other aspects of self‐concept. The comparison groups showed no significant gains in any area of self‐perceptions. There is a need now for upscaling to investigate generalisability.     

REJOINDER

In this paper, we explore the influence of the teacher on the language games being played in a Grade 3 mathematics classroom. The kinds of listening strategies used by the teacher seemed to have an impact on the kind of language game being played as a small group of students engaged in a problem‐solving activity. Understanding classroom conversation from a language‐games perspective is used to explore the kinds of sense‐making, student engagement, and new understandings evolving through classroom discourse. Language games may also be important for encouraging students to extend and transform their understandings. We describe how learning to ‘teach etcetera’ as a way of helping students ‘see‐as’ and move beyond narrowly defined predetermined content may entail playing more open‐ended language games and learning how to ‘listen’.     

Voice,empowerment and youth-produced films about ‘gangs’†

This article explores the dissonance between the expansive discourses imagined by the advocates for youth media as helping foster ‘empowerment’ and ‘voice', versus the more circumscribed realities of participatory media production. I focus on a two-part case study – considering both a film-making project for ‘at risk’ young people in South London and the English national government funder that provided the resources for the young people to take part. This case study allows for an exploration of the political economy of youth media, and the relationship between youth media funding and how and why young people in my research often chose to make films about ‘gangs', a striking topic of concern across 11 youth media case study sites. I use this empirical example as a means to analyse how ‘empowerment’ in youth media projects, understood as both critical media literacy and youth voice, moves from abstract discourse to on-the-ground practice.     

Competition and students’ perceptions in a game-based language learning environment

Although educational games have become quite popular in recent research, only a limited number of studies have focused on the effectiveness of these games. While numerous claims have been made about the effectiveness of games, the studies that examine educational effectiveness often contain flaws resulting in unclear conclusions. One possible solution for these shortcomings is to focus on separate game elements rather than on games as a whole. A second solution is to take into account students’ perceptions of instruction as they are likely to affect students’ interpretations and learning outcomes. This study investigated whether the addition of the gaming element ‘competition’ to a computer-based language learning environment is related to students’ motivation, perceptions and learning outcomes. Additionally, this study probed into the effect of instruction, i.e., the instruction of a gaming or learning environment, on students’ perceptions of the environment, their motivation and learning outcomes. 83 students participated in this study, all working in a game-based learning environment for learning business English conversation skills. The results demonstrate that competition is not significantly related to students’ learning gains and only partly related to students’ motivation. Moreover, the majority of students perceived the environment as a learning environment, even when they were instructed to be playing in a gaming environment. To conclude this paper, the practical and theoretical implications for the fields of instructional design and educational games research are discussed.     

Enactivism and teacher instructional game building: an inquiry of theory adoption and design consideration

In this study, teachers are giving an opportunity to design and develop their own educational games. The following three questions guide the research: (1) What are the characteristics of teacher designed and developed games? (2) What theories do teachers use when they make games for educational purposes? (3) What are the design considerations when teachers engage in game authoring experiences? Framed in a qualitative, naturalistic case study perspective, this paper explores 83 teachers’ experience and thinking grounded in enactivism. Participating teachers are enrolled in a graduate course focusing on game based learning. Data sources include: teacher written assignments, teacher created digital artifacts, instructor’s reflective journal, and learner feedback after class. The analysis of the data show that teachers tend to create quiz games using the software they are familiar with, prefer collaborative design process, and math is a popular subject for games. They like to author games that are customized, with detailed storylines, and are appropriate for the local contexts. Implication and recommendations are also discussed.     

Jiselle and the Royal Jelly: Power,Conflict and Culture in an Interdisciplinary Game Design Course

With the rising popularity of digital games, a growing number of universities are developing programmes in various areas of digital design and interactive media to meet the needs for game‐related courses. Faculty of this emerging field are grappling with the complexity of developing curricula which integrate art, design and technology and of finding methods of integrating students from these diverse fields. The purpose of this article is to present a case study of an interdisciplinary undergraduate course in game design and to highlight some of the unforeseen challenges and issues that arose when attempting to integrate diverse students from various art, design and media fields with students from computer science. Specifically, this article addresses issues of (a) power, (b) conflict and (c) gender that arose among students during the development of a student‐created game.     

Difficulty and self-efficacy: An exploratory study

Serious games are becoming increasingly popular due to their association with increased learning outcomes when compared to traditional self-regulated learning activities. However, the majority of research examining the outcomes of serious games has focused almost exclusively on learning outcomes. This has resulted in a lack of research examining why these types of games result in increased positive outcomes, such as engagement or performance. This study seeks to address this gap in existing research by examining the relationship between game difficulty and participants’ engagement, performance and self-efficacy in a Pacman style maze navigation game. This required the use of hidden difficulty variations which participants were randomly assigned. Participants engaged with the game over a 5-days practice period. Results from this study suggest that difficulty plays a considerable role in influencing participants’ self-efficacy for the task. Self-efficacy has been consistently linked to positive outcomes such as increased engagement and performance. This highlights the importance of difficulty as a game design factor as well as providing an insight into the manner in which serious games could be further refined in order to increase user’s self-efficacy and associated positive outcomes. Implications for future serious games and self-efficacy research are discussed.     

Taking educational games seriously: using the RETAIN model to design endogenous fantasy into standalone educational games

We are witnessing a mad rush to pour educational content into games in an ad hoc manner in hopes that player/learners are motivated simply because the content is housed inside a game. A failure to base educational game design on well-established learning and instructional theories increases the risk of the game failing to meet its intended educational goals, and yielding students who are entertained but who have not acquired any academic skills or knowledge. Our review of standalone educational games has shown that they are not always based on sound educational principles and theories. We contend that, if academic learning is to take place, a new design paradigm must be developed. This article discusses the RETAIN design and evaluation model for educational games that was developed to aide in the evaluation of how well academic content is endogenously immersed and embedded within the game’s fantasy and story context, promoters transfer of knowledge, and encourages repetitive usage to that content becomes available for use in an automatic way.     

Dynamic,Playful and Productive Literacies

This paper reflects on recent projects in a variety of media forms, in both formal and informal educational settings, discussing ways of expanding our notions of literacy practices which reflect their place in the wider lived experience of digital culture. We have collected these reflections under three headings. The first of these, Dynamic Literacies, presents an overarching view of literacy as both ideological, following the ‘new literacy studies’, and dynamic, incorporating both semiotic and sociocultural versions of literacy in ways which reflect the changing nature of lived experience in the digital age. The second strand, Productive Literacies, constructs an argument around digital making practices with younger learners which views these as media crafting, critique and artistry. The third strand, Playful Literacies, explores recent projects which are located in games and game-authoring practices as a specific example of connecting pedagogy to contemporary media forms and learner agency in formal and informal settings. Taken together, the three perspectives allow for common ground to be established between multimodal production practices, whilst providing suggestions for framing literacy pedagogy in response to the pervasive use of media and technology in contemporary digital culture.     

Examining the effects of combining self-explanation principles with an educational game on learning science concepts

Educational researchers have indicated that although computer games have the potential to promote students’ motivation and engagement, the work on how to design effective games that fulfil educational purposes is still in its infancy. This study aimed to examine how integration of self-explanation into a computer game affected primary schoolers’ acquisition of light and shadow concepts. The participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group and played a computer game with or without self-explanation prompts individually as a treatment. Students’ conceptual understanding was evaluated through a pretest and a posttest administered right after the treatment. The results revealed that by controlling the pretest scores, students who played the game with self-explanation features did not outperform those who played the game without any prompts in the posttest. Further analyses of the experimental group students’ responses to the self-explanation prompts also indicated that the students with more correct responses to the prompts did not perform better than those with lower accuracy rates. The deficits in the use of self-explanation prompts are identified, and possible improvements to enhance the function of self-explanation in educational games are proposed.     

The applicability of social network analysis to the study of networked learning

In this study, the aim was to examine how small-group collaboration is shaped by individuals interacting in a virtual multiplayer game. The data were collected from a design experiment in which six randomly divided groups of four university students played a voice-enhanced game lasting about 1 h. The ‘eScape’ game was a social action adventure developed as a part of the study. In the analysis of the video data, students' discourse functions during the game were analysed with content analytic methods for studying the nature of their interaction. An effort was made to analyse the data on both group and individual levels, and therefore the participants' prior social ties and experience in gaming were studied as well. The results showed that the students' main discourse functions in their conversation were Question, Content Statement, Instruction or Order and Response. It was found that individual students, especially those with prior knowledge of gaming or prior social ties, can have a major impact on the social interaction and the outcome of collaboration. It can be concluded that the eScape game allowed the students to engage in true and constructive collaborative activity, and in the future multiplayer games could be used, for example, to promote group cohesion and development, when employed in a pedagogically meaningful manner.     

儿童家庭游戏信息化特征、影响及引导策略

信息化游戏产品趣味性强对儿童吸引力大,但多以“静态游戏”“人机互动”为主,包含信息量大但内容成人化,缺少人与人、人与自然的交流。儿童家庭游戏信息化在为儿童的生活、游戏、学习带来便利的同时,使得传统儿童家庭游戏面临“失传”可能,影响儿童身体和心理的健康成长,对儿童意志力、思维能力、认知能力的提高具有一定的负面作用,也可能导致儿童家长“榜样力量”的缺失,甚至传导形成青少年时期的“网瘾”。因此,引导儿童有限度的接触家庭信息化游戏,重视玩伴的力量,提高儿童的传统家庭游戏比重,制定“家规”营造良好的家庭生活环境,将有利于儿童家庭游戏的科学开展。     

The convergence of gaming practices with other media forms: what potential for learning? A review of the literature

Nowhere in the current digital technology landscape is the process of ‘blurring the lines between media’ more apparent than with the uses and applications of gaming practices and technologies. Here the overlaps between new media and media interfaces are becoming significant as games technologies and practices are becoming more pervasive as commonplace social practices. This article reviews literature for evidence of these trends of convergent media forms as a starting point for a wider debate for using games technologies and practices to support learning practices. The article outlines convergences between gaming and cinema, gaming and the Internet, and gaming and emergent technologies and interfaces (e.g. mobile phones and social software). The article aims to foreground major dimensions of convergence in relation to the potential of innovations in educational practice and activities. The article concludes that variant forms of gaming are widespread. But while the converging forms of gaming with other media forms provide potential for supporting educational practices, these new forms still need to be considered in relation to clear pedagogic strategies, supported peer interactions and tutor engagement.