Toward a Theory of Game-Media Literacy

Abstract

This paper discusses varied ideas on games, learning, and digital literacy for 21st-century education as theorized and practiced by the author and James Paul Gee, and their colleagues. With attention to games as means for learning, the author links Gee’s theories to the learning sciences tradition (particularly those of the MIT Constructionists) and extending game media literacy to encompass “writing” (producing) as well as “reading” (playing) games. If game-playing is like reading and game-making is like writing, then we must introduce learners to both from a young age. The imagining and writing of web-games fosters the development of many essential skill-sets needed for creativity and innovation, providing an appealing new way for a global computing education, STEM education, for closing achievement gaps. Gee and the author reveal a shared aim to encourage researchers and theorists, as well as policymakers, to investigate gaming with regard to epistemology and cognition.

Information Uses and Learning Outcomes During Guided Discovery in a Blended E-Learning Game Design Program for Secondary Computer Science Education

“…Game design approaches have been noted in the learning sciences research literature for their potential to support CS and CT knowledge development, as well as traditional school subjects like science and math, in that students can create games about topics and themes, building constructively on their classroom learning [3]. Ways of knowing in game design include systems-based thinking, interdisciplinary thinking, user-centered design, specialist language, meta-level reflection, network literacy, and productive/tool literacy [10].…”

“…A national call to action has been issued in education policy, to offer more computer science (CS) opportunities in the lower grade levels [1], [2]). Game design has been described and studied as a high potential approach for cultivating CS knowledge and computational thinking (CT) as well as STEM subject area learning such as math or science in younger learners (e.g., [3], [4]). In summarizing the state of the computational thinking arena, Grover and Pea [5] note that game design is "ideal not only for motivating and engaging school children but for introducing them to computer science," offering a means for active student exploration of CT.…”

“…In summarizing the state of the computational thinking arena, Grover and Pea [5] note that game design is "ideal not only for motivating and engaging school children but for introducing them to computer science," offering a means for active student exploration of CT. Unlike traditional CS curriculum, which has tended to focus on principles-first learning of CS (not situated in a context), game design offers the opportunity for project-first learning --a more engaging way to introduce CS [3]. One key challenge in realizing the goals of CS and CT education in K-12, though, is the scarcity of secondary school educators who are trained to teach these subjects [1].…”

You Will Perish: A Case Study of Serendipitous Literacies and Novice Video Game Design

“…Indeed, the rich literacies at work in video game play have prompted scholars to argue for providing young people opportunities to produce games for themselves. “How,” Caperton (2010) asked, “can players’ system-understanding and literacy in the semiotic domain of videogame playing practices be complete without providing them (the players) with the opportunity to learn how videogames are made through engagement in the game production process?” (p. 8) Put differently, if reading and writing mutually reinforce one another in literacy development and expression, so too might playing and designing video games help learners better navigate video games as an expressive, semiotic medium. Such attention to the relation between game play and design aligns with Buckingham and Burn's (2007) call for attention to game literacy , which positions video games alongside other genres (e.g., narrative) to be read, interpreted, and composed.…”

Developing Resilience to Disinformation: A Game-Based Method for Future Communicators

“…The game is freely accessible on the internet under the title "Bad news game," with brief indications regarding the inoculation theory-a "vaccine against fake news"-role playing in producing fake news messages and guidance to post-game debriefing, to reflect upon the experience. Other models and games are described in literature [30], but the one developed and studied by Roozenbeek and van der Linden seems to be a forerunner.…”