The Past, Present and Future of Playing and Learning with Technology

The importance of play to a child’s development is extremely well documented.  Research done by the likes of Piaget and Vygotsky argue that play is essential for proper development.  Research suggests that 75% of brain development occurs after birth and that playing influences the pattern of and connections between nerve cells which allows the development of many skills including motor skills, problem solving skills and learning ability.  Article 31 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child specifically recognises the significance of play in children’s lives, distinct to their right to recreation and leisure.

So, play enhances learning.  But how has play changed over the past decade or so, with the advancement of technology?  And what effects does this have on learning and education?  This infographic from Lego shows just how play has changed.  It is easy to see the parallels between the changing nature of play and the direction that education is going down.

The Past and Present

LEGO MINDSTORMS Infographic

How else is technology changing the face of play and learning for children today?  As this article explains, the rapid improvements in technology are having a profound impact on education for children with disabilities, often using games.  I have mentioned in a previous post about the amazing learning benefits of the Kinect for children on the Autism spectrum.

This year will see the launch if the new SimCity.  However, GlassLab has partnered with EA to build SimCityEDU, a version of the game specifically designed for education purposes.  The developers have appreciated the benefits of and demand for games based learning in education and have followed the likes of Portal2 in creating a game for schools.  We might just see a lot more game developers following suit in the future.

More and more teachers and schools are realising the benefits of games based learning.  However, one school in Sweden has made the playing of Minecraft a compulsory part of their curriculum for 13 year olds.  See my post ‘Unorthodox Uses of Games in Education’ for more information about Minecraft in schools.  The school has appreciated the far reaching benefits of games based learning.  A few of the ‘lessons learnt’ are environmental issues, city planning, creativity and computer skills.  Is this the future of education?

The Future

The Institute for the Future believes that this is the future of play for children:

1. Authorship, storytelling, fantasy, and role-playing will expand into new media.  Children’s content will increasingly be created by children (already prevalent with reviews on YouTube and so on).  The Institute for the Future argues that “Growing up immersed in virtual worlds, social networks, and YouTube videos, children will develop a different set of expectations for evaluating human proximity and presence, as well as a comfortable confidence expressing their views across various media.”
2. Play will be a more fluid material experience, blending the virtual and the physical.  Reinforcing what the earlier infographic mentioned, children will increasingly expect their toys, games and virtual platforms to interact.  The Institute believes that “By 2021, kids will expect their digital and physical objects to share more characteristics, including tangibility and connectivity.”
3. Toys show kids how to get emotional with technology.  MIT professor Sherry Turkle places us at a “robotic moment” in history.  This is characterised by our emotional readiness to attach to inanimate objects, which she argues will go on to provide more friendship and the “comfort of connection without the demands of human intimacy.”  Sociable robots, such as the new incarnation of Furby, encourage our children to care for and nurture them, ultimately “creating more powerful and affective human-machine partnerships”.

These new technologies will clearly unlock more and more skills in children and will bring with them a multitude of learning benefits.  However, as children’s expectations adapt to these new technological features of play, it begs the question, will these new technological advances feed into the education system?

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning things.

Learning Simulations, Retention and Neuroscience

One of the most important things when teaching or training someone or learning something for yourself must be whether you are going to remember it; otherwise, what would be the point?  To retain taught knowledge makes the time, energy and money spent learning the materials worthwhile – Return on Investment.

A learning simulation is essentially a reproduction of a situation or event, which can allow people to learn by doing (see our post on Games Based Situated Learning).  For example, one of our simulations focuses on the running of a town.  The delegates are split into teams that must work together to build a sustainable community.  In this scenario, the learning game simulates a town and the resource management necessary to ensure its success.  For more information click here.

The Learning Pyramid (Mororola University, 1996) shows how learning simulations can greatly enhance long-term knowledge retention.  It explains how participatory learning such as practising by doing (learning simulations) and teaching others are far superior to passive learning such as lecturing or reading.  In fact, practising by doing is fifteen times more effective, in terms of retention, than lecturing.  The research suggests that people retain 75% of what they are taught when practising by doing.  Similar figures are present for studies looking at experiential learning, learning by doing and so on.

This article titled ‘Learning and Memory: How do we remember and why do we often forget?’ explains how we learn and remember at a neurological level.  If this area interests you, you might want to read our blog post, ‘Neuroscience, Stress and Games Based Learning’.  Kenneth explains how learning from passive methods such as lectures and reading is often ineffective, not because we forget the information, but because it was never deemed important enough to encode in the first place.  He explains how emotions play an important part in us encoding information and explains that “Learning experiences become more memorable when social-emotional memories are part of the learning event, which is why cooperative learning is such a powerful memory-enhancer in schools”.  Learning simulations are not always played collaboratively, but many are and especially those used for training and teaching.  This is one of the reasons that makes the information retainable.

Kenneth also quotes Stanford Ericksen in saying, “Students learn what they care about and remember what they understand.”  Kenneth explains that to successfully encode information, people must see how it is useful, or why would they bother storing it?  They must also properly understand the information to begin with.  Therefore, for information to be stored and later retrieved, it must have long-term value to the person remembering it and they must be able to understand the information to begin with.  Learning simulations provide a very comprehensive way of disseminating information and due to the emotional and often collaborative nature of playing games, the information is likely to be remembered.

Kenneth explains that “Reading does not necessarily lead to learning. Doing, engaging in two-way discourse and thinking will aid learning and memory; however, when students are doing, playing with objects, exploring, experimenting, talking, drawing, writing, listening, reading, speaking, applying and reflecting on all of these, neural pathways for learning develop inside the brain”.  This sums up why learning simulations work so well.  They make use of most of these categories and if they sit in a wider course or lesson teaching the same materials, all of the categories are likely to be touched upon.  Basically, another reason why learning simulations aid retention is because they allow people to encode the material in different ways.  This is especially helpful for people with different learning styles (see ‘Games based learning supports multiple learning styles’).

The article also explains how people may remember learning facts and lists at school.  Kenneth argues that this emphasis on remembering facts rather that how to use the information usefully and intelligently is not adequate.  He argues we need to make greater use of 21st Century Learning.  Have a read of our article: ‘21st Century Skills and Games Based Learning’.  The 21st Century presents us with different challenges to the past and the focus on the service and technology industries as well as the need for some sort of environmental saviour means people need 21st Century Skills.  People having been brought up in this era also think in fundamentally different ways, therefore learning by lectures and reading will become less and less adequate and methods such as learning simulations and games based learning are likely to become more prevalent.

Essentially, it boils down to the Chinese proverb of Confucius:
"I hear and I forget.
I read and I remember.
I do and I understand.”

Please do follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning things.  

Six Great Games Based Learning Videos

I am obviously very interested in games based learning and enjoy watching videos on the topic.  I thought that this week I would share some of these with you.  They are not really in any order, but they all tap into some slightly different aspect of games based learning, its benefits, why it works, how you can capitalise on it and so on.

Before I start the main list, I would like to just bring your attention to a video which is closely related to my last blog post: 11 Educational Games for Social Good.  Jane McGonigal explains in this short TED talk, how games can make a better world.  She explains that globally, we spend 3 billion hours a week playing games.  She feels that this is not enough to create a better future for ourselves and our planet.  Jane argues that playing games gives us four ‘super powers’ which make us into better humans.  Game players are very skilled and optimistic; they know they can achieve ‘epic wins’.  The problem is getting gamers to believe they can achieve real life epic wins and solve real world problems in the same way.  Jane explains how we can do this.

1. Katie Salen discusses learning with games.  She argues that games are important for child development and are equally as important throughout life.  In the video, she explains how they can encourage 21st century skills such as collaboration and problem-solving (for more information, see ‘21st Century Skills and Games Based Learning’).  They also allow us to try out different identities, explore and discover and fail in a safe environment.  Katie also talks about how games work like good teachers in terms of learning.

2. Tom Chatfield explains the seven ways games reward the brain and what this means for learning.  He explains how people are so motivated by games.  Games offer rewards which have emotional value to us both individually and collectively and these rewards can encourage engagement and learning.  

3. James Gee discusses video games and learning.  He uses examples such as World of Warcraft and Portal to explain how people learn collaboration skills similar to those in cross-functional teams and how people can become so interested in the game that they make the tacit knowledge gleaned from a game explicit and share it with others.  James also discusses how games can be used alongside project based learning.

4. Daphne Bavelier discusses games and learning from a neuroscience perspective.  We have talked about this in the past too (see ‘Neuroscience, Stress and Games Based Learning’).  Daphne explains how games can help us focus, multitask and more.  She is interested in games making our brains smarter, better, faster and stronger.

5. Ali Carr-Chellman talks about re-engaging boys in the learning process.  She argues that boys in general have their own culture which does not fit into the traditional culture of schools.  We have talked about this issue in the post ‘Boys will be Boys’.  Ali believes that gaming could be a great way of encouraging boys to learn and mesh the two cultures in an easy and fun way.

6. This is a short video about how teacher Joel Levin uses the game Minecraft to teach young children.  For more information on using Minecraft and other commercial games to teach, have a look at my blog post ‘Unorthodox Uses of Games in Education’.

Again, please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning things.  We are always finding videos and articles as interesting as these, so check us out, particularly on Pinterest.

11 Educational Games for Social Good

As you may have read in my previous blog post, ‘10 Design Considerations when Developing a Learning Game’, I am currently involved in a project developing a science game for students.  However, the game also aims to educate children about certain lifestyle choices: diet, exercise, drugs, smoking and so on.  Therefore, it will be useful in PSHEE (Personal, Health, Social and Economic education) classes and the wider curriculum.  The game has, therefore, inspired me to write about educational games that aim to encourage social good.

I spoke briefly in my blog article, ‘The Fun Theory’ about how gamification can be used to encourage social good among adults.  For example, to encourage drivers not to speed, to encourage recycling, charitable giving, exercise and so on.  However, there are many educational games that have been designed to teach children about social areas such as politics and sustainability and to encourage good behaviours.

A study from the School of Education at Mills College in California has analysed the link between teenagers' gaming behaviour and their civic engagement offline.  The study aimed to discover whether teenagers with more ‘civic gaming experience’ were more likely to engage in real-world activities such as participating in a demonstration and giving or raising money for charity.  ‘Civic games’ include games that allow players to help other players and those that explore social or ethical issues.

The study found that 70% of the teenagers who were frequent civic gamers said they donated to charity, while only 51% with little civic-gaming experience donated.  61% of civic gamers also said they were interested in politics, compared to 41% for infrequent civic gamers.  The study also found that mainstream online role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft, that don't contain explicit social messages could still encourage socially ‘good’ behaviours.  This is because they encourage collaboration, negotiation, mentoring of ‘newbies’ and so on.  Critics argue that students naturally more inclined to donating to charity etc, will be more drawn to these games in the first place.  However, the researchers argue that while that is true, the games still probably do encourage behaviours in all players, just slightly more in these people.

So what games are out there?

Understanding different ways of life

Real Lives randomly assigns players to characters from different parts of the world.  They must guide their characters' decisions regarding work, health, education, and love based on the opportunities and disadvantages of that society.

ICED (I Can End Deportation) allows you to play an immigrant teen trying to earn U.S. citizenship and steer clear of the law - but avoiding trouble is harder than it seems.

Charities and Business

Food Force teaches children about world hunger as well as the challenges of relief work as they guide food-aid missions to an imaginary island called Sheylan.

Karma Tycoon challenges players to earn good karma and learn the financial logistics of running a non-profit organization such as an animal shelter or a senior centre.  They must strike a balance between quality of service and helping a certain number of people.

Sweatshop sees the player in charge of off shore manufacturing.  They must make their business a success while taking their staff into account.  Faced by a series of moral dilemmas, they must choose to put people or profits first.

Politics and Leadership

Democracy2 sees the player ruling an imaginary country.  They must bolster the economy, keep the peace, protect the environment and still win the next election.

PeaceMaker allows players to try their hand at brokering a solution to the Middle East conflict as either the Israeli prime minister or the Palestinian president while juggling the demands and limitations of leadership.

Sustainaville puts a group of people in charge of a virtual community.  They are split into teams such as local council, health and transport and must run a sustainable community.  Sustainaville tackles issues around sustainable development such as environment, health, crime, economy, poverty and resource use.

The Environment and Climate Change

Operation: Climate Control challenges players to choose which new technologies and energy policies to invest in to clear up the skies.  If they succeed in making the right choices, they can watch as clouds of pollution float away.

PowerUp by IBM challenges players with saving the imaginary planet Helios from ecological destruction.  They must carry out missions to supply solar, wind, and water power before severe storms wreak havoc.

The Climate Game looks at the issue of climate change. Eight teams are responsible for reducing the community’s carbon footprint. They need to achieve this while at the same time keeping the lights on and making sure that the community remains a pleasant and economically vibrant place to live and work.

Please follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning things.

Gamification of the Workplace

Last week I talked about the gamification of classrooms.  However, gamification of work has been the focus of some attention recently.  The Economist published an article earlier this month titled: ‘More than just a game: Video games are behind the latest fad in management’ (click here for an online version).

The article talks of the general gaming trends and how people will spend a lot of time, money and real effort playing games.  At work, people are essentially bribed to do repetitive tasks, but have no trouble spending hours building up their characters in online role playing games, meticulously caring for their plants on virtual farms, chasing high scores and pursuing the tops of leader boards.  Management gurus have harnessed this power and installed some of gaming’s basic elements such as badges, levels and leader boards into workplaces.

However, the article argues several things.  Firstly, elements such as rewards (money), leader boards and employee of the month competitions have been around for a long time.  They refer to arguments that say gamification is simply a cunning way of exploiting human psychology to make a profit (akin to gambling).  Another argument against gamification is that people may soon become bored of the trivial, faddish interpretation of gamification and even see it as patronising.  Others argue that employees may become cynical of methods of boosting productivity that cost their organisation nothing and that enjoying work in itself, without the need for a reward is the best motivation.    

These arguments are completely valid.  However, they are valid for the simple, shallow form of gamification that the article is addressing.  In my previous post, I talked about how gamification can be understood in two broad ways: harnessing more games based learning and gamifying the classroom (or in this case, workplace) in a more general sense.  The general sense I am referring to is using gaming principles such as badges and levels to monitor and encourage good behaviour and attainment (productivity).

I do think that badges and competitions have their place.  They can be powerfully motivating.  However, I also see that their success could be short lived and seen as patronising, manipulative and not universally engaging.  Further than this, I think the main problem is the changes produced are short term and shallow.  By this, I mean that they may encourage competition and productivity.  But to work long term, the employees’ interest would have to be sustained.  There are some people who are just not competitive and others who would wonder why they should work harder for a badge and not a bonus or a promotion.

Gamification needs to be richer than this.  There is a lot more to World of Warcraft than simply gaining achievements.  Granted, you cannot turn work fully into a game, however, let’s just revisit the definition of gamification.  It involves taking game principles and using them in non-games.  In the workplace, this could involve making more use of games based learning.  For example, training is a great way of bringing games into the workplace.  Tailor made training games can involve complex challenges that lead to meaningful rewards: deep, long lasting learning.  These can have a real impact on the organisation and do not simply involve training vocational skills.  They can also be used to reduce silo thinking and increase collaboration, enhancing creativity, innovation and reducing wastage (and, in turn, money).  Some games can also train employees to be more environmentally friendly, which is good for both the CSR department and the Finance department.  For more information, see our previous blog articles: ‘Adult Games Based Learning and sim-uni’ and ‘Proof of the Pudding Part Three’.

Making every day working life resemble a game is also the way many offices seem to be going.  Google have slides, giant bouncy balls, scooters, foam baths, lava lamps and dogs in their offices.  They believe that this environment is perfect for generating creativity and innovation.  Some workplaces have aerobics sessions in the morning to wake people up and small logic puzzles to get the brain going.  These are already great way of getting short games and fun into the working day.  How about having Wii Sport, Just Dance or Wii Zumba breaks?  What about doing a level / mission of a game to get your brain going?  How about a game of sudoku, a crossword puzzle or an exercise on Nintendo’s Brain Training?  These could be done in groups or at a whole office level, which would integrate team building into everyday life, in a fun way.

Gamification is young; therefore it seems churlish to right it off as a fad.  I have seen many figures that suggest gamification is on the rise and will be one of the most important trends in the business world in terms of employee (and customer) engagement.  I feel that, to work, gamification needs to be given a little more credit and needs to be more rich than it is currently understood to be.  Have a look at this TemboSocial infographic for some of the statistics.  Gamification could be a powerful tool and I feel that it could be big, if properly utilised.

Follow @paulladley on Twitter, games-ED on Pinterest and like games-ED’s Facebook and Google+ pages for blog updates and other interesting games based learning links.