Report on the educational use of games

Angela Mcfarlane (1) , Anne Sparrowhawk (2) , Ysanne Heald (2)

1 Graduate School of Education
2 Sparrowhawk & Heald

This paper explores, through a survey of teachers experiences with game use in classrooms and students experiences with game use at home, the notion that digital games lead to a higher level of engagement which is lacking in school activities. It aims to: identify particular types of games that contribute to learning; consider the match and mismatch between these skills and those recognized as valuable in traditional educational settings; and identify valuable collaborations between games developers and education professionals. Many of the skills valuable in game play are only implicitly valued within a school context. Learning supported by games can be divided into three types learning as a result of tasks stimulated by the games, knowledge developed through the content of the game, and skills arising as a result of playing the game. Children themselves often reported that they learned to work in a team through the games they played. Their level of engagement was influenced by an appropriate level of challenge, the inclusion of practical or personally relevant knowledge, and a lack of time pressure. The paper concludes by reviewing implications for the design of games software for the classroom. (Sarah Ellinger) (http://educationarcade.org/files/videos/conf2005/Angela%20MacFarlane-2.pdf)

Mots clés: game-based learning

Domaines: Environnements Informatiques pour l'Apprentissage Humain; Education

Angela Mcfarlane, Anne Sparrowhawk, Ysanne Heald. Report on the educational use of games. 2002. ⟨hal-00699812⟩