Within the education sector, I see a huge benefit to using gaming as a resource in classrooms. Games help with:
- Engagement of students– If the educational games are fun, interactive, and tailored to the level of your students, there could be huge potential for ‘buy-in’ from students in the class. This can be really helpful because there are always so many levels of learning needs in the class, and students could help each other.
- It could improve retention– personally, I know if I play a fun educational game online I am more likely to remember the information I learned when playing the game.
- Usually gives instant feedback– Most games today are very quick at telling you when you have been right or wrong and could stop the player from going to the next level. This would be great for gaining more information on what your student is potentially lacking in their education, pinpointing the issue, and hopefully using that data to then help those students needing more explanation.
- Enhance collaborative learning– Depending on the game, there can be multiplayer options which would allow students to work together. This could also work for a single-player game, and having two students working together to get to the next level. By having students work together they are building skills in learning how to collaborate and work in groups.
while there are some great benefits to using games in the classroom there are also some negatives. Some problems with playing educational games in the classroom are:
- Not the exact content- Games may not cover the exact content that you are teaching in class or could teach it in a different way than how you instructed the students to solve the problem. This can confuse students in the classroom if they are still lacking a full understanding of a concept.
- Potential for distraction- While a good number of the students would be taking the time for the educational games, there are always some students who see educational games as a time to do other things, like checking their favourite youtube channel, or seeking other games that are more enjoyable. Is it hard to ensure all students are actually working on the games you have provided?
- Lack of Assessment– With some of the educational games on the internet, do lack helpful assessment tools for teachers to see where their students’ understanding is at. Furthermore, some students won’t put in the effort because they do not like the game, which would result in the educator not having any information on the students learning.
- Developmentally appropriate games– since not all the genes are tailored to the specific content, the games can also not be up to grade level for some students in the classroom. There is less room for the personalization of the games, resulting in not all students learning much content from the game itself.
- Cost and Access- Some educational games cost money to have a subscription to, this is not always doable for all schools.
With all the pros and cons of educational games in the classroom, I do still feel strongly that games that are vetted and presented well can be a great resource in any classroom.
-Miss Mac x
