Digital Games: Powerful Motivation Tool or Not So Much?
Digital Games: Powerful Motivation Tool or Not So Much?
Digital Games: Powerful Motivation Tool or Not So Much?
By Mark Lieberman
January 06, 2021
Summary
More than 60 percent of teachers who are using games more often said the games are making learning more interesting for students, while only a quarter of the students playing more games said they make learning more interesting.
One reason students might not value the games they are playing at school could be that educators are haphazardly integrating games into learning without strategizing first, suggested Richard Van Eck, a researcher who has studied educational games and currently serves as associate dean for teaching and learning at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Van Eck said children value games not necessarily because they're flashy and entertaining, but because they're "Hard fun"-in other words, it is the thrill of the game's challenge that keeps students coming back.
Incorporating digital games as a tool for engaging students is okay, Van Eck said, but "If you do so on a superficial level, you're not tapping into the benefits, like promoting problem solving and critical thinking." That could be a huge missed opportunity: 90 percent of U.S. teenagers say they play games on a cellphone, computer, or game console, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey.
How Games Can Help Teaching Laura Steinbrink had been using digital games as a teaching tool before the pandemic.
"As people are starting to develop an understanding of that healthy balance, I think they're starting to dabble in digital gaming," tapping into online game repositories like BreakoutEDU, she said.
'Renaissance of the Physical' None of the pandemic-related growth in digital game use in schools comes as a surprise to the nonprofit Games for Change, which creates and distributes games for social impact goals.
Reference
Lieberman, M. (2021, January 06). Digital games: Powerful motivation tool or not so much? Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://www.edweek.org/technology/digital-games-powerful-motivation-tool-or-not-so-much/2021/01