Learning Games are designed to teach humans about a specific subject and to teach them a skill. I love this definition because it leaves so much open to interpret. I believe that games in and of themselves are education. There’s a concept known as "kishōtenketsu" which has been a core element of the Super Mario series for years, in which the game as a whole, but also individual levels perform these steps:

1.       Introduce a topic or idea

2.       Develop it

3.       Give it an unexpected twist

4.       Bring it to a conclusion.

I find that this mirrors how we learn: we’re introduced to something, we study it, we are asked to expand on it, and we sum it up. I also find that it’s a wonderfully thorough, satisfying, and immersive way to examine information and learn to make future predictions based on this knowledge. Granted, Super Mario experiences are, on the surface, limited to running and jumping, but there’s a lot that can be done with this structure if it’s applied to something like history, science, technology, or other valuable subjects.

Consider the affect the Assassin’s Creed series has on sneaking history into gameplay. Developer Ubisoft keeps a historian on staff. Games in this series are often set in historically rich periods, such as Renaissance Italy, the French and American Revolutions, the Golden Age of Piracy, and more.

By immersing players in worlds that look, sound, and feel like pieces of the past, we can learn a great deal about history. Also, players are frequently rewarded in the games by exploring the world and offered a chance to explore and read excerpts about historical landmarks such as the Roman Colosseum, Big Ben, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and St. Peter’s Basilica to name a few. Not only are the landmarks interesting, but contextualizing them with stories about the people, philosophy, religions, and languages all help those who enter the world gain a deeper understanding of it.

Set during World War 1, Valiant Hearts so effectively and eloquently blurs the line between entertainment, critical thinking, and history that it could be incredibly effective in the classroom as a “historical text”.

Joel Levin has famously incorporated Minecraft into his curriculum as a transformative way to promote collaboration, creativity, and problem solving with his students. It’s been so successful that there is now a Minecraft: Education Edition.

Outside of history, we can learn about different human experiences through games. Much has been said about last year’s That Dragon, Cancer. I can’t hope to understand, nor do I want to understand the firsthand experience of having my son battle cancer, but through this immersive experience, I can gain an insight to the experience in a way that a book or film wouldn’t have allowed me to.

By moving away from the “Gutenberg Press” model of “text here, images there“ education into a new multimodal method that embraces this affordance to leverage synesthesia and embrace new meanings, we can create a new generation of lifelong learners. The intertwining of education and entertainment is an exciting prospect, and when done carefully, can create amazing new experiences. Imagine the feeling of visiting a foreign country for the first time and knowing your way around it. We are living in that age.