Are Educational Games Possible?

Posted by tomo at 12:42 AM in education , games . | 3 Comments

Games have yet to revolutionize the education system or even make much impact. Some would say there just isn't a way to make learning fun. But there are some areas where software can be truly one of the best ways to learn something. This Wired News article discusses the use of games in healthcare -- for teaching patients and doctors alike. One great example is the use of Super Monkey Ball to improve the accuracy and speed of doctors doing a particular type of surgery. But how do you plan such serendipitous synergies? Perhaps that's where simulations come in and off the top of my head that's the only exciting way that gaming causes learning although some games also have the side effect of causing pupils to become interested in a subject, such as the Vietnam War and some knowledge can be gleaned where these games are historically accurate.

But there's no war game for putting the periodic table in a historical context. Is there some better way to present collections of otherwise boring facts which have neither rhyme nor reason?

At least when there is inherent logic and pattern to be sussed out games or simulation software can be used to present the information in such a way as to promote learning via eureka moments. That's why playing Super Monkey Ball makes better surgeons. I think that subjects like algebra and classical physics are also prime subjects for being taught via realistic simulations that would be played for many hours after which the player would put into concrete terms the laws or shortcuts they have observed in order to progress. If the simulation is flexible enough students ought to be able to come up with their own tricks or laws which can actually be applied in real life, which is something unlikely to happen the way they're taught now. But imagine a role-playing game where you were only able to call up rules you had already learned in order to solve a problem in front of you unless you came up with the rule on the fly.

Anyways, I think there are many things that kids can be taught via subconscious repetition, picking up knowledge from a game just from being exposed to it so much. Perhaps there's no more efficient way to learn something than to be told straight up what it is and to memorize it. But I think that for many complex ideas, having it explained in just the way the textbook says is less effective than giving someone access to many different ways of looking at it (which simulations allow) until they figure it out on their own terms.