The Value of Computer Games in K-12 Education
Author: Rick Phelan
Published: 07.08.14
Some parents and educators express concern about the amount of time young people spend with computer games. Anxiety is frequently expressed about the amount of time spent in mindless pursuits, with limited social contact, that reinforce negative personality traits. Little value is ascribed to gaming.
Jane McGonigal sees things differently. McGonigal studied gaming as part of her doctoral dissertation at the University of California, Berkeley. She maintains that computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy. McGonigal disputes commonly held perspectives on computer gaming in her book, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. She argues that “gaming” is a worthwhile endeavor that could provide solutions to many of the world’s serious problems.
McGonigal states that games have a long history. Ancient games that gave humans a sense of power and structure in chaotic environments, while today’s games stoke our appetite for engagement, pushing and enabling us to make stronger connections and contributions to the world around us.
Articulating her reasons for these claims, McGonigal analyzes how games work, why humans are drawn to them, and how games can help improve education.
Four Traits of a Game
All games have four traits that define them. They are:
- Goals | Players focus on a common outcome; attention to the goal is ongoing and orients player participation.
- Rules | Rules define the methods and limitations for how players achieve the goal. McGonigal states that rules “unleash creativity and foster strategic thinking.”
- Feedback System | Feedback provides information on how close players are to goal achievement. Real-time feedback offers hope about the possibility of goal achievement and offers motivation to keep playing.
- Voluntary Participation | All game players knowingly and willingly agree to the goal, rules, and feedback. Accepting the agreement establishes a common ground for multiple people to play together with the understanding that all players have freedom to enter or leave the game at will. This ensures that the “… intentionally stressful and challenging work is experienced as safe and pleasurable activity.”
As part of her doctoral dissertation research, McGonigal documented at least 10 positive emotions people derive from games. These emotions include joy, relief, love, surprise, pride, curiosity, excitement, awe and wonder, contentment, and creativity. McGonigal maintains that computer games are an avenue where different age groups and genders across the world are finding meaningful engagement. She provides photos of young people playing games to backup some of her findings.
Engagement Crisis
McGonigal observes that more than half of U.S. workers report not being interested or engaged in their work. Her analysis holds that game playing fills the void for meaningful “real world” activities.
McGonigal expresses concerns about traditional K-16 education models in the United States. She reports that the longer you stay in school, the less engaged you become. She cites studies showing 76% of kindergarteners being engaged compared to only 44% of high school students. McGonigal notes that college students spend more hours playing video games than learning in classrooms. She maintains that “... today’s born-digital kids are the first generation to grow up with the Internet ... most of them have had easy access to sophisticated games and virtual worlds ... and they take high intensity engagement and active participation for granted.”
Education Games
Schools have begun looking at education games as a way to increase active engagement and motivation in students. Games that link strong education content with good game design are excellent choices for 21st century schools. In fact, the 2014 Horizon Report sees “gamification” as a mid-term global trend that will likely be part of mainstream K-12 schools within two to three years.
Surveying the landscape of Sonoma County schools, games are finding a place in local classrooms. Two education games that stand out:
- Dreambox is a math-focused game for K-5 students. It is being used in classrooms in Petaluma and Santa Rosa.
- MinecraftEdu is a school remix of the popular Minecraft game played by over 30 million people worldwide. Cotati-Rohnert Park’s Technology Middle School has incorporated MinecraftEdu into their work with students. See a recent blog post about this.
Blog: Technology for Learners
