Comment: What are the lessons educators can learn from games?
Make an Update: "Parse" an educational game or museum experience. How does it work to support the learning process.
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By learning through play, students can remember the teaching material faster and better. A game is something fun and not burdensome, so by combining learning and play we can achieve much better results, which more and more educators are realizing and trying to bring learning closer to students through games.
The videos mention learning through visiting museums, which is also presented to children as a game. By visiting museums, educators can facilitate children's learning and realize that learning through play is easier for both students and themselves. A good example of this is Aztuk, which is in the museum. Kids learn basic programming and circuit design, and they're also trying to capture electronic fish to experience a little bit of what a scientist might do in the field, trying to collect specimens and classify them. So Aztuk is an exciting exhibit based on collaborative research. So these kids have to work together and pay attention to each other and talk, and at the same time there are sound effects, really good graphics.
I have no doubt that self-directed learning is the future of education! I believe that the impermanence of the world in which we live, along with the globalized access provided by technological advances, will demand an increasingly dynamic, personalized and adaptable learners.
The learning experiences offered in games and museums, as presented by Professor Dr. H. Chad Lane, they're a great way to start this new way of learning!
We've heard a lot about lifelong learning and lifewide learning, about flow experiences and immersions aimed to engagement, but we're still keeping our children and teenagers inside closed rooms, sitting still, looking forward to a result that symbolizes their level of short-term memorization.
The interest generated by interactions - human and non-human - are the fundamental resource for the absorption of new knowledge, for the development of a more critical and plural thinking, as well as for development of skills that allow this gratifying feeling for learning to remain.
When games and museum visits are combined, learning opportunities become even more dynamic, allowing students to interact with the material in new ways and using repetition and discovery to reinforce important ideas. Furthermore, by offering immersive and interactive learning settings, the use of technology like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can further improve the educational potential of both games and museum visits.
Exactly @Syeda! We are living in a time where interaction is essential for engagement and fundamental in learning processes. Technology is a great ally to make this happen!
Learning through play is an essential concept that educators should engage in teaching. Not only does it enhance the retention of knowledge, but also engages students more actively. Such hands on experiences and visual stimulations are beneficial towards the acquiring of knowledge and thinking skills, rather than adopting traditional school practices such as worksheets.
I would say that all of the play and games mentioned to this point have been created for entertainment, with learning as an active ingredient. In fact, learning is the ingredient that makes these games interesting, but was not the main goal when creating the game.
I believe that regardless of the intention to create a game, it will always be a way of learning and developing skills, both individual and collective. The engagement provided by games and interactions, in spaces such as museums and parks, works as a real portal for the experience of learning... and also for the interest in learning all the time, and anywhere!
In my opinion, Self-Directed Learning requires extraordinary effort in creating a learning method. The facilitator has to do market research first to get comprehensive information about their target market, in which, for example, having concerns about how to embrace the different learning style.
It is about how a facilitator creates a learning method that provides information related to visuals, colours, pictures, maps, diagrams and other things that are suitable for the visual type of learning styles.
It is about how a facilitator creates a learning style that facilitates accentuation on all kinds of sounds and words, both created and memorized, that suits auditory learning styles.
It is about how a facilitator creates a learning method that is able to attract students with learning styles to be directly involved in the learning process for those who are into kinesthetics styles.
Even if a facilitator cannot facilitate all the learning styles mentioned above, at least the facilitator still provide enough options in delivering methods to attract students.
When the things above have been created well, then the next step is how to build engagement with the students (or participants) and make it going well and sustainable. And that’s how, in my opinion, a well learning process is going to happen.
Thats a real fact @Ika! Teachers must think and act as a facilitator first...I risk saying that a new training is needed for teachers, because that is a total change in behavior and a pattern that was structured many years ago. Perhaps, the proposal to teach who teaches is the very first step!
The use of games in learning is very interesting to develop. There are several advantages of educational games compared to conventional educational methods. One of its main advantages is the visualization of real problems. Students can simulate concretely what is conveyed by the teacher. Games that are made as learning media are expected to have an impact on students to learn actively during the learning process.
Some of the benefits of games in learning according to experts include:
1. Submission of subject matter can be uniformed
2. The learning process becomes more interesting
3. The learning process of students becomes more interactive
4. The learning process can occur anywhere and anytime.
5. The role of the teacher can change in a more positive and productive direction.
Among other aspects, educators can learn about motivation from games. Reward systems keep players motivated. One only need to look at the success of micro-transactions and loot crates for ample evidence.
If we can design our e-learning and instructional design experiences to provide some novelty to be earned, that can gamify and motivate students. For example, perhaps by answering 8/10 questions correctly, students have access to customize the menu screen colors. A 9/10 or perfect 10/10 might unlock avatar accessories or fun mini games to earn.
Motivation, specifically variable reward systems, is a huge component of why gaming is so engaging, and so too can our e-learning experiences be.
Learning through play is an essential concept that educators should engage in teaching. Not only does it enhance the retention of knowledge, but also engages students more actively. Such hands on experiences and visual stimulations are beneficial towards the acquiring of knowledge and thinking skills, rather than adopting traditional school practices such as worksheets. Different types of game play can target different areas of learning holistically such as motor skills, language as well as numeracy and many more. Indulging students in play through learning also conveys that learning can be fun and interesting, inviting them to participate actively and hones their critical thinking skills like problem solving. I especially like the implementation of Kahoot! in classrooms, which is a game-based learning platform that engages interactivity and application of knowledge in fun manners. I myself have played it in schools, and it is evident that it makes learning way more interesting and engaging when you see everyone focused on the screens, waiting in anticipation to answer the questions correctly, especially with prizes like snacks to be won.
Indeed, the use of active participation in the learning process is important. It goes beyond just passively receiving knowledge but stimulating one's own thought processes, gray matter, thought it.
Update: If you are interested in gamifiying a college writing class, this study provides some excellent information https://members.aect.org/pdf/Proceedings/proceedings20/2020/20_27.pdf
I agree that educators have always used games in education. I remember looking forward to poli sci Jeopardy in middle school. Nearly everyone is engaged, there were winners and losers, and it felt like a community activity, it sort of inadvertently fostered new connections between classmates. But if I really think back hard, the level of difficulty was an issue for some kids and it must have been an unpleasant experience for some, so the level of difficulty issue he spoke of seems important. I will admit that I have quit a game app for weeks at a time when the level was challenging enough to make me ask myself why I was wasting my time on something that didn't matter anyway. So since I teach what was once called remedial writing, I want to think of ways to engage learners who have already dropped out of the game, have already accepted that they are not invited participants or that the game is stacked against them.
Educators are all familiar with the zone of proximal development, and in gaming there are difficulty curves or sometimes spikes. These are important considerations when we gamify something.
How fast or slowly should students engage with more challenging material. Too much too soon would send them away. Too little too late would cause them to become bored and leave anyway. There's certainly a finesse to it.