What are Educational Games?
Some people call them learning games. Others call them serious games, or educational games.
Whatever the title, they are all games that have one basic thing in common: they are electronic games (for our purposes here) that were developed to help people learn a subject or a skill.
And, sometimes, they are electronic games that were developed for another purpose (say, entertainment) that clever people have found a way to use in teaching people a subject or a skill.
You've been playing games all your life.
What's a game, anyway?
You've been playing games all your life.
- Active games like tag and dodge ball and soccer and baseball.
- Board games like Monopoly and checkers.
- Pencil-and-paper games like hangman and tic-tac-toe.
Perhaps some of you have even played video games on consoles and computers … getting involved in electronic games from Pong and Pac Man to the complex World of Warcraft.
And, of course, there’s always that Solitaire game on your Mac or PC. (PS: which can also be used to teach mouse skills – who knew?)
So you know what a game is, right?
"A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome."
Rules of Play, Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman
It’s a kind of competition or conflict that has a set of rules.
Points (and, sometimes, other stuff like weapons and charms) are often accumulated.
The goal of the players is to win.
And to have fun.
(perhaps not in that order).
So . . . what's that got to do with education?
Educators have been using games for many years in the classroom. Spelling bees, for example, have been going on in U.S. classrooms since the 1820s or earlier.
Is it time to use electronic games to teach? A growing number of people think so.
Why?
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