Instructional Gaming Best Instructional Practice Showcase

Instruction and Gaming… How do video games effect us? How have they impacted your life?

Overview What is Instructional Gaming? Instructional Gaming as a “Best Practice” Examples of games used for Instruction Evaluating a game to use for your classroom

What is Instructional Gaming? Gaming is defined as: …being separate from simulation and is defined, in a basic sense, as any overt instructional or learning format that involves competition and is rule-guided (Dempsey, Lucassen, Gilley, & Rasmussen)

What is Instructional Gaming? Instructional Gaming can address the following learning objectives:

Instructional Gaming as a “Best Practice?” Cooperative Learning Encourages critical and creative thinking Allows for storytelling and chunking of information Promotes a variety of measurement variables Achievement Problem Solving Attitude Motivation Retention

Examples of games used for Instruction Mark Lamia, the studio head of Treyarch, convinced his professor to let him teach a city planning class as TA using Sim City as course material. Joel Bleah used Sim City to teach geometry and civil engineering where he followed specific teaching standards for New Jersey Other games that have been used are The Sims 2, Knights of Honor and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3

Examples of games used for Instruction Sim city teachers guide and explanation “…we present complex information in a game format, which makes both teaching and learning more exciting. Our ultimate goal in creating SimCity 3000 (and other simulations) is to inspire the player to look beyond the simulation, transferring the insight gained from playing SimCity 3000 to the real world”

Examples of games used for Instruction Encourage and require imaginative thinking rather than rote learning. Students experience decision-making that allow them to quickly see the consequences of their decisions. Students become explorers that create and follow their own hypotheses Learning becomes student-centered rather than teacher-centered.

Examples of games used for Instruction SimCity 3000 can add excitement to math, statistics, ecology, history, geography, and even creative writing. Simulations can be used to engage Honor students At-risk students Students with learning difficulties or short attention spans Specific results may be inaccurate, but general trends, even with simple simulations, tend to be highly accurate.

Examples of games used for Instruction Sim City Teacher’s Guide Part 1: Teaching with SimCity 3000 Part 2: SimCity 3000 Simulations Part 3: Blackline Masters and Resources

Evaluating a game to use for your classroom Objectives: A good understanding and evaluation of the game is needed Game usability: Good game usability ensures that the player will have another enjoyable play session Engagement: In learning process, psychological needs and critical thinking should be addressed to develop student’s cognitive ability when they play games

Conclusion

References Bleah, Joel. "Using Simulations to Learn Principles of Geometry and Civil Engineering." BrainMeld.org. Sept Web. 18 Jan Edge Staff. "Study: Games Effective Teaching Tools | Edge Magazine." Edge Magazine - Video Games, Game News, and Gaming Jobs | Edge Magazine. Web. 18 Jan Helgeson, Matt. "Treyarch Taking the Lead." Gameinformer Nov. 2010: Print. Racoma, J. Angelo. "School Uses Video Games As Teaching Tool." Forever Geek. January 11, 2010 by, 11 Jan Web. 18 Jan "Teacher's Guide." SimCity. Web. 18 Jan Yue, W. S., & Zin, N. A. M. (2009). Usability Evaluation for History Educational Games. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Interaction Sciences: Information Technology, Culture and Human, Seoul, Korea,