Videogames and Education: Are We Learning When We Play?
We live in a digital age. This fact can no longer be avoided. The personal computer has invaded every place where paper texts were once so dear. The internet has changed the way we write and the way we learn, but with this comes a growing concern. Many wonder what the effects this change in medium will have on the future, whether it is helping or hindering our society. Video games are a highly stigmatized component of the digital age. There is a concern as to how video games, and their use, are affecting the development of children. While every other aspect of our culture is being uploaded and integrated into digital systems, the question remains: Should video games and interactive media be incorporated as pedagogical tools for the future? As with any shift in culture resulting from technological advance, there is a conservative cry that exposure to video games is harmful on the developmental process. This paper will examine this complex question and derive a conclusion as to whether or not video games can benefit pedagogy.
To understand the potential for video games as tools for education we must first understand the context that shapes our response. Jenny Weight in her article, Self, video games and pedagogy, says that, "Your attitude to whether teachers should harness the video game as a pedagogical tool is flavoured by your attitude to reality and identity," (Weight). That is to say, a persons reaction is shaped by their identification with, or opposition to, the digitization of information and media. Video games are often perceived, usually by parents and mass media entities, as a waste of time that is detrimental to the process of learning and social growth. This results from a viewpoint of video games as purely entertainment, similar to television and magazines. If we expand our perspective on video games as a unique form of media, and examine the relationship between user and program as a potential learning experience; the value becomes more apparent. Weight observes that those in opposition argue, "Not only are video games considered to hinder acquisition of traditional academic skills, but critical learning is eschewed in conservative humanities curricula in favour of content-specific, well-defined, canonical bodies of knowledge." Her observation again addresses the propensity toward conservative, historically based perspectives toward the learning process, which contradict many modern pedagogical theories. Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which proposes that there are a wide range of cognitive abilities that are unique to each individual and can be developed through different approaches (Gardner). If we consider his theory in relation to the interactive relationship created by video games, it is easier to see the link between education and video games.
Interest in the effects of digitization and interactive media is more than just an argument between children and parents. The potential for learning through video games has been studied by the United States Army Science Board. In Michael Macedonia's article, Games, Simulation, and the Military Education Dilemma, he references an Army Science Board Summer Study in 2001. He explains that, "Army studies show that this 'wired generation' is very different in terms of skills and attitudes than its predecessors," (Macedonia 158). Following this statement is a lengthy list of characteristics of the "wired generation" according to the study. Two of these characteristics are defined as a "Shift in focus of learning from passive listening to discovery-based experiential and example-based learning. Shift in type of reasoning from deductive and abstract to the concrete" (Macedonia).
So if we ask again, what value do video games hold as pedagogical tools, the answer is becoming much clearer. The interactive relationship between user and program facilitates an active experiential approach towards learning. The engagement of an individual in the video game realm forces the user to adapt to a unique environment. In playing, the user, either consciously or subconsciously, is driven to critically assess the new digital environment. The user, either through trial and error or by reading the manual, discovers the cause and effect of each control. This process is contingent upon the user's ability to understand a unique system of cause and effect: I push button X and I jump, I push button Y and I duck. Once this basal understanding is acquired between user and interface, the requests of the digital environment expand. The user must now use their abilities to engage in the environment around them: If I jump into pixilated red lava my avatar dies, If I duck under the spikes I live. Whether they are conscious of it or not, the user is critically engaging the video game. The process of playing forces the user to synthesize their understanding of reality with the simplified structure of the digital realm.
If we look past the simple binary of books are good, videogames are bad, there opens the possibility for a revolutionary shift in how we approach education. The modern age of multimedia interaction obliges us as a society to examine the possibilities of digital interaction. Video games can instruct and assess critical thinking and reasoning skills. While the application of video games on an institutional level of education is perhaps a distant future, it is important to acknowledge their potential as viable pedagogical tools, inside and outside the classroom.
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