Game Changer: Learning through computer games

In the 1980s I was the proud owner of a Commodore 64 and spent many hours shut away in my room playing games and even more hours in my room waiting for games to load. We are told that children today spend longer playing on games than they do watching television and the games they play are in many ways unrecognisable from those which grabbed so much of my attention as a child. Many see gaming as a pursuit largely followed by teenage boys and socially-challenged men and educators are often very dismissive of gaming focusing more on the damage it causes through exposure to inappropriate material and the loss of time that could be vastly more productive. But can computer games actually be embraced by education? Should we not be tapping into this medium which motivates and engages young people so effectively? Was it Benjamin Franklin who said, ‘we do not stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing.’?

In an interesting article in The Guardian ‘News as Games: Immoral or the Future of Interactive Journalism’, Keith Stuart explores how more interactive approaches could be used to engage the public in current affairs instead of the more passive forms of traditional reporting. The stumbling point with journalism seems to hinge on the moral issues of encouraging people to play games that relate, for example, to the complicated situation in Syria. But complicated and moral issues have been the subject of computer games for generations, and the potential to learn from these is quite exciting.

I remember playing lots of games in the 80s which either directly (Missile Command) or indirectly referenced the Cold War. I learnt more about this topic in front of my computer than through any activities at school.  I learnt about the American Civil War by playing a game called North and South which I didn’t spend my hard earned paper-round money on because of its historical connections, but through playing the games I picked up on the industrial prowess of the northern states and importance of the railway for communication. Ollie Bray (@olliebray) has talked about the importance of designing ‘contextual hubs’ for learning by building educational opportunities around computer games rather than on simply expecting games to educate without any structure and support from the teacher. James Gee, author of Learning Theory, Video Games and Popular Culture believes that gaming can introduce students to more complex and rich information than they could ever learn in a traditional school setting.

The explosion of online games and mobile apps means that gaming is not reliant on expensive consoles which schools are unlikely to purchase in large numbers. Educational games have always been eyed with suspicion by both students and teachers, perhaps because of the misplaced concept of what constitutes a learning tool – surely games have no place in servicing learning? But if the game is part of a carefully constructed series of teaching episodes it could be a valuable asset. I am currently teaching a Year 7 History unit on Medieval Conflict and intend to try out some of these ideas. I have come across a game created for Channel 4, www.1066online.co.uk, which puts the player in charge of the Normans, Saxons or Vikings during the key battles of that year. This could reinforce learning about the techniques and tactics used and even lead to a richer understanding about what motivated people to fight and the wider implications of such conflict.

Teachers should tap into this potentially valuable learning resource and remember how important game playing is to the development of young people. Children spend hours playing video games, most adults don’t and sometimes we can be too quick to dismiss the link between gaming and learning. Social media opens up so many varied gaming opportunities; we would be foolish to continue to play the wrong game.