Christine Bizier
Professor Kelly Warren
ENC 1102
February 18, 2014
Technology
in Education
No one can deny that we are now living in a Digital Nation.
You can see people using some form of technology everywhere you go. We are
bombarded with hi-tech stimulation from birth. Almost all infant toys have some
form of electronic stimuli, be it lights or sound. So why would we not continue
to use this new technology in the education of children? If we can keep all children
interested in learning by allowing them to learn from games, could this
possibly help out deteriorating testing scores and increase the graduation
rates? With the average student between the ages of 12 and 17 playing some form
of digital game (Schaffhauser) weekly, if not daily, it may prove beneficial to
incorporate learning into games. If we can provide the right curriculum for
students to learn from gaming, this might be what schools need to revive the
desire to learn, keep students motivated while in school, lower the dropout
rates and increase graduation rates.
Educational games have been around for decades, and with
the boom of technology, especially mobile devices, the demand for “digital
learning games” (Molnar) has increased. Currently, the major marketplace for
educational games is parents with young children while a smaller percentage is
with the school system. The biggest barriers to educational games in a
classroom setting are the cost, even though teachers who have used digital
games have found that they are effective with low performing students (Molnar).
While the cost prevents most schools from incorporating digital learning, consumers
are spending approximately $21 billion annually on digital games, and nearly half
of American households have one or more games systems (Schaffhauser).
In a research study conducted in 2006 by the “Federation of
American Scientists” (Clark) their preliminary results found that students
learning through digital games showed a higher cognitive competency over
traditional instructional conditions. In addition, they compared game designs
and found that enhanced designed games had a greater learning curve over simple
basic games. While games appear to provide a new way to educate children, the
development of effective educational games, is very complicated task. This, in
turn, underscores the importance of game design when games are going to be used
as an educational device. Besides games providing a different learning
environment, they have the potential to motivate learning by challenging the
player to level up or get a better score. This desire to advance from level to
level is what gets players absorbed with a game. They also provide a social
learning platform (Phillips), by allowing players to compete with each other,
as well as, assist a struggling player.
Quest to Learn is a school located in New York who has
taken on the concept of learning from gaming.
Their whole curriculum is based on educational computer games. They have
a full time game designer as part of the faculty, who works to incorporate the
requirements needed for all subjects and lessons. The school opened their doors
in 2009 for their first group of students in the sixth grade, and in 2012 they
had their first class of ninth graders. Their belief is that through gaming students
will be able to solve problems. They do not use the standard grading system of
A’s, B’s and C’s but instead use “game-like levels – novice, apprentice, and
expert” (Sutter). At Quest, the students become explorers inside of a game
where they are to complete an assignment. Once a mission has been completed, another
begins. It is an ongoing learning cycle that keeps the students motivated. Quest
supports a completely new way of thinking (Sutter). In standardized state
testing, the students at Quest have outperformed their peers in conventional
schools.
While many think that this is the direction that schools
should be moving towards, there are those who disagree and believe that we
should continue to educate children by using strict discipline and lectures. By
teaching through repetition, we can continue to educate all children.
With the advancement of technology and the fact that most
households use some form of this technology, i.e. cell phones, tablets, and/or
computers, and many children playing games on these devices, it only makes
sense that we develop some form of education via digital media. With the
incorporation of digital gaming in a school’s curriculum, this might be the
teaching tool that will keep all students involved and excited about learning.
Works
Cited
Clark, Tanner-Smith and Killingsworth. Digital Games for Learning: A Systematic
Review and
Meta-Analysis. SRI International. May 2013. Web 16 Feb. 2014.
Molnar, Michele, and Sean Cavanagh.
"Consumer Demand for Digital Learning Games, Simulations Growing Worldwide; But level of interest in K-12 lags
behind." Education Week
18 Sept. 2013: 12. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Phillips, Vicki and Zoran Popovic. “More than child’s play: games have
potential learning and assessment tools: we have the
technology, experience and understanding to engineer
simulations and games that are assessments for learning (formative assessments), assessments of learning
(summative assessments), and potentially even
assessments as learning tools.” Phi Delta Kappan 94.2 (2012):26+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.
Schaffhauser, Dian. Will Gaming Save Education, or Just Waste
Time? The Journal. August 2013.
Web 2/16/2014
Sutter, John D. Gaming Reality. CNN New York. Web. 2/16/2014.
