Journal #10- Changing the Game: What Happens When Video Games Enter the Classroom?

Squire, Kurt (2005, August/September). Changing the game. Innovate, 1 No. 6, Retrieved May 6, 2009, from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=82&action=article

In the past 30 years video games have transformed from a novel social outcast, to a multi-billion dollar Juggernaut embraced by the media and now even educators. e-Educators, in particular, have a lot to learn from video games as online courses are becoming more popular. e-Learning often has the reputation of being boring and ineffective with little to offer other than "online course notes". Video games, on the other hand have developed a reputation for being fun and engaging, as well as requiring complex problem-solving skills. While online courses have a very low completion rate, gamers spend hundreds of hours mastering games and even teaching others to play. The challenge is harnessing the excitement and appeal video games provide and applying it to an educational setting.

In order to bridge the game between gaming and education, the author Kurt Squire spent two years researching the educational uses of the game "Civilization III", a widely popular turn-based historical strategy game. One of the neat features of Civilization III in particular that make it a great game and potential teaching tool is it's complexity, flexibility, and replayability. Players are able to take control of a civilization and over the 6000 year span the game covers make decisions regarding government (democracy, republic, monarchy, communism, anarchy...), territory terrain (mountains, rivers, woods), economic and military considerations, technological research and development and more. The choices the players make in regards to these different aspects affect the success or failure of a particular civilization, and in tern help students understand the consequences of their decisions.The teachers at the schools were primarily concerned with finding an alternative for students who were alienated from school and uninterested in traditional teaching methods.

One would expect that when introducing games to a classroom setting, they would be at least be motivational, even if they were not educational. However, the author soon discovered that games created as many motivational problems as it solved, as students questioned to why they were even playing the game and were dubious to how a game could teach them about history. Twenty-five percent of the students participating in the program elected to withrdraw and participate in another structured activity because they believed the game was 'too hard.' However another 25% (particularly academic underachievers) were highly engaged and loved playing the game as it provided opportunities to replay history, and to consider possible alternative scenarios (ie, what if the Native Americans resisted European colonization?)

Through the study, the author discovered that while educational gaming appealed to some students, not all students embraced the curriculum. Students who were successful in traditional schooling felt their skills and knowledge were not valued in a gaming classroom, while often many students who were failing at school demonstrated complex understanding from a game-based curriculum. This study brings into light, who benefits from traditional education, and who does it fail?

Question #1 Besides teaching students individual subjects, such as history, what other benefits does gaming provide?
Gaming encourages and develops critical thinking, problem identification, hypothesis testing, interpretative analysis, and strategic thinking skills. Many of these skills are learned and developed from initial failure, and challenges gamers to try new strategies in order to be successful. In addition, mass multiplayer online games (MMOs) also develop leadership, teamwork, corporation and group coordination. Each of these skills are important and highly valued in the 21st century workforce.

Question #2 What are the disadvantages of a game-based curriculum?
Just as traditional educational methods are not effective with all students, a game-based curriculum will alienate other students, primarily students who are successful in a traditional classroom. Mastering any game takes time and requires the development of specific game skills that is enjoyable and challenging for some students, while frustrating for others.