GAMES
Game based learning is a type of game play that has defined learning outcomes. Generally, game based learning is designed to balance subject matter with game play and the ability of the player to retain and apply said subject matter to the real world. Game based learning describes an approach to teaching, where students explore relevant aspect of games in a learning context designed by teachers. Teachers and students collaborate in order to add depth and perspective to the experience of playing the game. Good game-based learning applications can draw us into virtual environments that look and feel familiar and relevant. Within an effective game-based learning environment, we work toward a goal, choosing actions and experiencing the consequences of those actions along the way. We make mistakes in a risk-free setting, and through experimentation, we actively learn and practice the right way to do things. This keeps us highly engaged in practicing behaviours and thought processes that we can easily transfer from the simulated environment to real life.
The use of simulations and digital games in learning and assessment is expected to increase over the next several years. Although there is much theoretical support for the benefits of digital games in learning and education, there is mixed empirical support. Educational games are games explicitly designed with educational purposes, or which have incidental or secondary educational value. All types of games may be used in an educational environment. Educational games are games that are designed to help people to learn about certain subjects, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play. Game types include board, card, and video games. An educational game is a game designed to teach humans about a specific subject and to teach them a skill. As educators, governments, and parents realize the psychological need and benefits of gaming have on learning, this educational tool has become mainstream. Games are interactive play that teaches us goals, rules, adaptation, problem solving, interaction, all represented as a story
Some benefits of using Game-Based Learning
- Get students attention:Students easily engaged to game activities due to their willingness in playing.
- Students get a positive experience about learning:The use of games encourages students to keep learning and to erase the idea that learning is boring.
- Rememorize concepts or facts:Activities such as solving a crossword or alphabet soup are activities more engaging than a regular test. Prepare some contests such as “Who wants to be a millionaire” or “The wheel of fortune”. Encourage students to work in teams to achieve the goal where their knowledge is the clue to succeed.
- Reinforce and consolidate knowledge in a friendly environment:The most effective way to turn content in something meaningful is to find out where and when to use it. With games students can reinforce and consolidate their knowledge through practicing and getting reward for their achievements.
Negatives:
- Cost – A fully game-based curriculum, or even one that relies heavily on games, represents a substantial increase in cost over standard book/paper/pencil education.
- Distraction from other objectives – The idea that playing games pulls learners from other more valuable skills must also be addressed. The underlying premise here is that games are fairly limited in their content and the context that they present for learning. This is true. Currently there is a shortage of really engaging, educationally focused games that integrate with existing curriculums and teach directly useable skills. This does not mean that such games are not possible from game designers dedicated to education, or that engaging in the flip side of GBL, game design/production by students, does not teach real skills. It does.
- Social isolation – One of the biggest ongoing criticisms of games, and technology in general, is that it promotes anti-social behaviour and isolates individuals. While some of this may have been true prior to the explosion of Web 2.0 technologies, it certainly is not any longer. The focus of most new games is in social play. While players may not be interacting face-to-face they are interacting nonetheless. In fact, these technologically mediated interactions mirror much of the real-world communication that drives our personal lives and business. The process and social norms taught by these interactions represent very real and useful skills that translate perfectly outside of games.
- Shortened attention span – This is the criticism of all modern media, and probably was a criticism of books when Guttenberg first started mass producing them. New technologies necessitate new ways of viewing the world and the nature of knowledge. Computer games are no different. The often rapid pace of action and the immediate feedback can make people expect the same kinds of fast-paced, instantaneous response of all things.
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