Formal rules and rules as reasoning-in-action: playing games with reality in science education

Bonne and Higgins (2022) explore game playing and fluctuations in emotional climate at a classroom level of analysis using a social and phenomenological orientation. My aim in this forum paper is to extend upon their work by exploring the nature of both formal game rules and practical game rules as reasoning-in-action where science reasoning may be embedded. Rules as reasoning-in-action are considered from the perspective of studies of ethnomethods, which are the interactional methods people use in everyday situations to make sense of social reality. I apply these ideas to compare gamification of science learning with learning through authentic science practices by discussing similarities and differences in the way we might regard reality in game play and the application of emotions to the design of learning contexts. I suggest the need for future research to embed gamification more routinely in science teacher education, including raised awareness about emotions and aesthetics in learning science.