Computer/video games have become a very popular form of entertainment and now they have begun to be a method for instructional uses. Many educators now believe that gaming can promote higher order thinking and interaction (e.g. using video games to support pre-service elementary teachers learning of basic physics principles). Educational gaming and simulation can range in products that help support children partake in healthy behavior, advance their traditional academic skills, or become prepared for 21st century skills that will translate into a future career (Thai, Lowenstein, Ching, & Rejeski, 2009). The implementation of gaming into curriculum is slowly growing as its usefulness in enhancing learning is explored.

Four useful tools of educational gaming are:

1) It allows for error without consequences. For example: PULSE! is a game designed to emulate a real life emergency room. The gamer is the doctor and is responsible for assessing and making a diagnoses of a patient. In this environment the gamer learns how to properly diagnose the patient without the threat of injuring a real person (Bekebrede. Warmelink, & Meyer, 2011).

2) It allows the gamer to learn at their own pace. For example: Everyone starts off the game as a novice user; as you become better at the game the difficulty increases. If you make a mistake you continue to replay the level until you have mastered the skills needed to continue on. In this way you also insure that all skills are learned (Petkov, Rogers, 2011).

3) It simulates real life environments and real life consequences. For example: Some games have the gamer design architecture and the simulation creates bad weather that is consistent with the area that the building is designed in to show how nature can affect the construction. This gives the student a hands on experience that will enhance the understanding of all things involved in the construction of the archtecture (Watson, Wong, & Harris, 2011) .

4) It allows for collaboration accross the world. For example: Second Life users can be logged on from any where and join the group to participate in the lesson. It allows for a collaboration with many different backgrounds of people enhancing the learning environment (Esteves, Fonseca, Morgado, & Martins, 2011).   

Please view the Edutopia video below in regards to the benefits of educational gaming:

Edutopia provides a forum where people can post about educational gaming questions. It is a great way to collaborate with others who are interested in educating with games. Click here to view Games for Learning and get up to date on the issues involving gaming in education.

An example of an Educational Video is Second Life. Second Life is considered to be the most mature and popular multi-user virtual platform used for educational purposes. Second Life allows teachers to create a world where the students interact and go on a virtual journey together. It can be used to teach lessons from all ranges of curriculum. In a study conducted by Micaela Esteves, Benjamin Fonseca, Leonel Morgado and Paulo Martins, they found that the Second Life virtual world provided a new opportunity for students to improve their performance in computer programming (Esteves, Fonseca, & Morgado, 2011). To view Second Life, click here.

For further educational games please visit PBS Kids to view the many different types of educational games for children.

References

Bekebrede, G., Warmelink, H. J. G., & Mayer, I. S. (2011). Reviewing the need for gaming in education to accommodate the net generation. Computers & Education, 57(2), 1521-1529. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2011.02.010

Esteves, M., Fonseca, B., Morgado, L., & Martins, P. (2011). Improving teaching and learning of computer programming through the use of the second life virtual world. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(4), 624-637. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01056.x

Petkov, M., & Rogers, G. E. (2011). Using gaming to motivate today’s technology-dependent students. Journal of STEM Teacher Education, 48(1), 7-12.  Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JSTE/v48n1/pdf/petkov.pdf, et. al., Using Gaming to Motivate Today

Thai, A. M., Lowenstein, D., Ching, D., & Rejeski, D. (2009). Game changer: Investing in digital play to advance children's learning and health. Retrieved from http://joanganzcooneycenter.org/upload_kits/game_changer_final_1_.pdf

Watson, W. R., Mong, C. J., & Harris, C. A. (2011). A case study of the in-class use of a video game for teaching high school history. Computers & Education, 56(2), 466-474. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2010.09.007