What Is Game-Based Learning?
Games have been used as a learning tool for centuries. Chess was used to teach strategic thinking as far back as the Middle Ages, and the game of Kreigsspiel was invented in 1812 specifically to teach Prussian officers strategy. Beyond military strategy, the genesis of Kindergarten in the mid-1800s was Friedrich Fröbel’s ideas of learning through play.
The core concept behind game-based learning is teaching through repetition, failure and the accomplishment of goals. Video games are built on this principle. The player starts off slow and gains in skill until they’re able to skillfully navigate the most difficult levels. Games that are planned and designed well will offer enough difficulty to keep it challenging while still being easy enough for the player to win.
Game-based learning takes this same concept and applies it to teaching a curriculum. Students work toward a goal, choosing actions and experiencing the consequences of those actions. They actively learn and practice the right way to do things. The result is active learning instead of passive learning.
Flight simulators are a perfect example of the effectiveness of game-based learning. Pilots commonly use flight simulators during their training. They’re given very specific goals and practice until they can accomplish them. The result is much more effective than sitting through lectures and theory.
Game-Based Learning vs. Textbook Learning
The educational system has always been slow to change. On one hand, the fact that change is slow is a good thing, since it helps avoid the pitfalls of adopting education fads before they’re fully tested. On the reverse side, it leads to a system that is sluggish to respond to the rapidly changing technological world. The only way to increase that response rate is to drastically change the systemic approach to curriculum, which is no small task.
Keith Bockwoldt of Township HSD 214 outside Chicago talked recently with the Learning Counsel about the overall shift to digital curriculum that is happening. “Even the most advanced schools and districts implementing digital tools still have a long ways to go to achieve real transformation—it will be years,” he said. “When stepping into this arena and realizing just how many publishers and vendors are out there selling you curriculum and devices, with multiple logins and standards, it’s a huge challenge. But it’s a challenge we all must confront, understand and embrace.”
A big reason why change takes so long? Textbooks themselves. When a textbook is released, it contains all of the current information, educational methods, and theories as of when the textbook was sent to print, which is often at least a year before it arrives in schools. Since textbooks are meant to be used for years, there’s a substantial delay before curriculum can be changed and information updated.
Game-based learning is built to be adaptive from the beginning. During the production process the game is tested and adjusted to be a more effective learning tool. As new information comes out in the field or educational approaches are adjusted, the game can be changed to suit them. After the game is released, it can be updated with new information, approaches, and more. Games even have student-monitoring analysis tools which allow teachers to monitor the students so the game can be adjusted in future updates.
