“I Just Don’t Know Where to Begin”: Designing to Facilitate the Educational Use of Commercial, Off-the-Shelf Video Games

Caldwell, Kyrie Eleison H.; Osterweil, Scot; Urbano, Carole; Tan, Philip; Eberhardt, Richard

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51645-5_27

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Thus, despite numerous publications that identify links between videogaming and learning standards (cf. Caldwell et al, 2017;Engerman et al, 2015;Stufft & Gillern, 2021), videogames, at best, remain on the periphery of most state and national discussions about standards and student learning in L1 (or L1-related) contexts.…”

Section: L1 Literacies and Games: Different National Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Videogames in and beyond the L1 classroom

Abrams¹,

Hanghøj²

2022

L1-ESLL

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youth hover around the Nintendo Switch to play a game about milking a cow. The smell of Doritos permeates the room...youth are sitting against the back wall, playing on a Switch. Two are playing; five are watching. Another runs over to watch. Approximately eight [additional] youth are watching game play on the large screen...As I write this, the combination of players and observers shifts; someone stands, someone moves, someone crouches." (Field notes, youth videogaming in a public library in the northeastern United States) "I think it all just depends on what type of game you play because some games could be like how to survive. You need to collect a certain amount of stuff to be able to do some things. You have to figure out how much of it you need to be able to build all of these different things. Then some games, you just need to figure out how do I…what's the secret way...to get through something to do it right and fast...There have been some times where I'm in a class, and we'll be talking about something. I'll think of a game I've played and like, 'Yeah. This relates. This is similar to this.' I like World War II games and World War games. Going to history, it [videogaming] helps me realize and know stuff that some other people don't know" (Interview with Tervain, 1 a high school student in the northeastern United States) "When you think of games, you don't think of Danish [as a subject], you simply don't" (Interview with Jasal, a secondary student in Denmark)

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Section: L1 Literacies and Games: Different National Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Videogames in and beyond the L1 classroom

Abrams¹,

Hanghøj²

2022

L1-ESLL

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“…Still, it is difficult to create a computer game for a specific educational content, which can be globalized to cover the cost for the development of such game [ 19 , 25 , 26 ]. Similarly, it is rather challenging to use available commercial computer games in the educational process [ 21 , 23 , 24 , 38 ], since typically their focus is on rich gaming experience and not on educational prospects. On the other hand, each region has its own traditional games, which can be used for educational purposes, while the integration of these games will shift the pedagogical approach from teacher-centered to student-centered environment [ 35 , 39 , 40 ].…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It can be rather difficult to select or create proper game that can be used on a specific topic in different classes. Some studies research the use of off-the-shelf computer games that have educational potential [ 12 , 23 , 24 ], indicating that the designers of commercial computer games are not interested in providing a learning tool, but are more focused on a powerful gaming experience. On the other hand, it can be rather challenging to design and create a computer game especially for education [ 15 , 25 – 28 ], which has educational content that can be shared and globalized to cover cost charges for development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional games in elementary school: Relationships of student’s personality traits, motivation and experience with learning outcomes

et al. 2018

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This study promotes a novel teaching approach for integration of children’s traditional games in elementary school program. It gives description of six traditional games and their educational prospects, implemented in six learning sessions in five elementary schools in Macedonia, involving 102 students. The comparison of learning achievements between these learning sessions and standard classes revealed increased students’ learning performance on comparable topics. To understand the reason for improvement, we have surveyed students after each session and tested the gathered data set via the development of a structural equation model that examines the relationships between student’s personality traits, motivation and experience with learning outcomes. The findings show that students’ achievements were directly influenced by students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors, as well as perceived experience. Additionally, the integration of traditional games in the elementary school classroom was equally accepted among all students, since their personality traits did not directly influence their experience or learning outcomes. Still, the link between the students’ personality dimensions and motivation revealed that introvert children might have slightly increased motivation and possibility to open up during game-play in such collaborative environments.

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“…While integrating commercial video games in education seems promising, a common key issue is how to best align gaming with existing formal educational settings (Mayer, 2019). In line with previous works that highlighted benefits of using commercial video games in education (van Eck, 2009;Becker, 2017c;Caldwell et al, 2017), effective integrations into formal educational settings require appropriate instructional approaches. Arnseth et al (2018) explicated that teachers need to enable students to reflect on what they do and experience in video games.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Thus, for most secondary school students, gaming is a typical leisure activity and part of their everyday life. Beyond their popularity, video games are a cultural good, and the high potential value of using commercial video games in formal education has been articulated for years (e.g., Sandford et al, 2006 ; van Eck, 2009 ; Becker, 2017a , b , c ; Caldwell et al, 2017 ; Arnseth et al, 2018 ). Using commercial video games in school teaching allows teachers to develop students’ media literacy, a key topic of formal education ( Squire, 2008 ) and a cross-sectional and cross-curricular goal relevant to all teachers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Commercial Video Games in School Teaching: Two Mixed Methods Case Studies on Students’ Reflection Processes

Rüth

Kaspar

2021

Front. Psychol.

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Commercial video games are popular entertainment media and part of students’ media reality. While commercial video games’ main purpose is not learning, they nonetheless could and should serve as objects of reflection in formal educational settings. Teachers could guide student learning and reflection as well as motivate students with commercial video games, but more evidence from formal educational settings is required. We conducted two mixed methods case studies to investigate students’ reflection processes using commercial video games in regular formal high school teaching. In a double lesson, 29 students of a 10th-grade biology course (Study 1) and 17 students of a 12th-grade advanced course on history (Study 2) played and discussed a commercial video game related to the current curricular topic. We examined the reflection processes of students in terms of their reactions to the teachers’ game-related statements and questions. Regarding teachers’ statements, students discussed several topics related to game enjoyment and the games’ representation of topic-related content. Regarding teachers’ questions, students discussed multiple goals in each game, how the games represented topic-related content, and how the games could be appropriate for learning. In Study 2, students additionally discussed emotions, stereotypes, violence, and the narrative related to the digital history game. We found that the discussions provided students opportunities to reflect on their game experiences and the current curricular topic as well as to practice media criticism. We further provide quantitative results on students’ perceived topic knowledge, on several facets of their learning motivation, and on their acceptance of video games. Overall, our findings illustrate the educational value of using commercial video games as objects of reflection.

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“I Just Don’t Know Where to Begin”: Designing to Facilitate the Educational Use of Commercial, Off-the-Shelf Video Games

Cited by 9 publications

References 16 publications

Videogames in and beyond the L1 classroom

Videogames in and beyond the L1 classroom

Traditional games in elementary school: Relationships of student’s personality traits, motivation and experience with learning outcomes

Commercial Video Games in School Teaching: Two Mixed Methods Case Studies on Students’ Reflection Processes

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