Digital Game Education: Designing interventions to encourage players’ informed reflections on their digital gaming practices (2025)

This thesis describes the development, implementation and evaluation of a model of game education, here understood as the process of educating about digital games. The pivotal characteristic of this model is in placing the claimed influences of gaming (e.g. cognitive gains, increase of aggression) at the centre of the content to be learnt. It is based on five principles, namely, that game education can be Informative, Critical, Empowering, Emancipatory, and Dialogic, hence the ICEED Game Education Model.The ICEED model was inspired by both the academic literature and the first study of this thesis, in which 15 University students were interviewed regarding the influences of their gaming practices. Later the model was operationalised in a course named Reflective Gaming Course (RGC), which addresses a series of positive and negative influences of gaming according to the ICEED model. Using a Design Based Research methodological framework, the course was implemented, evaluated and improved as an extracurricular course for adolescents in a secondary school and then in a college, in the second and third study of this thesis. The contributions of the thesis can be divided into four sections. The first is the ICEED Game Education Model, which offers a novel and useful conceptual understanding of what game education can be, hence expanding the possibilities of how game education is conceived. The second section is the Reflective Gaming Course, which is a concrete course plan that can be reproduced or adapted by researchers or practitioners. This course was improved through two implementations, and it was found to be a useful and promising practice. By providing accounts of the course, the process involved, the outcomes achieved, the successes and failures, it is hoped to provide detailed information to inform future projects. The third section is a discussion of the findings with regard to the difficulty of transforming the academic literature on the influences of gaming into useful content for players. This highlights a limitation on the part of research in this area, which often overlooks the potential of its claims to inform players and encourage them to improve their gaming practices. The fourth section concerns knowledge about players’ perspectives about the influences of their gaming practices, complementing other similar studies. In the perspective of participants, some of the topics were perceived as more important (e.g. tangential learning, cognitive gains, excessive gaming) others less so (e.g. connections with school, aggression, stereotypes). Their perspectives also illustrate the recurring absence of opportunities in which players can problematize their perspectives on the influences of gaming.

Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education

2009

Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark. Handbook of research on effective electronic gaming in education / Richard E. Ferdig, editor. p. cm. Summary: "This book presents a framework for understanding games for educational purposes while providing a broader sense of current related research. This creative and advanced title is a must-have for those interested in expanding their knowledge of this exciting field of electronic gaming"--Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-59904-808-6 (hardcover) --ISBN 978-1-59904-811-6 (e-book) 1. Simulation games in education--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Electronic games--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Ferdig, Richard E. (Richard Eugene)

Players' Reflections on Digital Games as a Medium for Education: Results from a Qualitative Study

Proceedings of the 16th European Conference on Games Based Learning, 2022

The use of digital game potential for education has been investigated extensively. However, little is known about how players themselves perceive educational possibilities of the entertainment games they play in their free time. This knowledge gap is problematic because players' own assumptions about learning with digital games will influence the acceptance and the outcome of any game-related educational intervention. Based on a qualitative content analysis of interviews with 19 adolescent and young adult players of five simulation games (Age of Empires, Cities Skylines, Civilization 6, Eco, and Tropico 6), this study investigates how players perceive digital entertainment games as a medium for (geography) education. While a few interviewees dismiss the potential of digital (entertainment) games, predominantly based on the games' contents instead of medial particularities, others embrace the educational possibilities of the medium wholeheartedly, based on its attractiveness and unique characteristics, including didactical features. A third group of respondents provided mixed reviews of (entertainment) games' educational potential by referring to advantages and disadvantages of the medium's characteristics, as well as the challenges of a simplified and/or inaccurate representation of content. Interviewees from all three groups underestimated the value of digital games for (geography) education beyond subject matter expertise. By solely framing (geography) education as the transfer of correct and politically neutral specialized knowledge, they failed to recognize games' possibilities in terms of achieving additional learning goals of contemporary (geography) education, such as critical reflection skills, argumentation skills, and the formation of opinion. Overall, many players rightly assume that a successful implementation into the geography classroom strongly depends on context variables, such as the selected game, target group, learning goals, and pedagogical concept. Above all, they stress the importance of briefing and debriefing by an educator. Finally, the players' levels of reflection and depth of argumentation varied significantly-presumably depending on their age, educational level, and the games they refer to.

Games, Gaming and Education

How Video Games Impact Players: The Pitfalls and Benefits of a Gaming Society

The Information Society, 2017

Game and Video Game. Reflections between education and entertainment

Gamepaddle. Video Games. Education. Empowerment, 2016

The educational and training potentials of video games - which have been debated in the teaching context over the last years - have seen a slow but progressive shift of the attitude of the institutions and people in training agencies of every order and degree towards the acknowledgement of the many training and educational potentials of the medium, although it has not yet been possible to define the dimensions through which video game should be observed from a teaching point of view

Nowhere in the current digital technology landscape is the process of ‘blurring the lines between media’ more apparent than with the uses and applications of gaming practices and technologies. Here the overlaps between new media and media interfaces are becoming significant as games technologies and practices are becoming more pervasive as commonplace social practices. This article reviews literature for evidence of these trends of convergent media forms as a starting point for a wider debate for using games technologies and practices to support learning practices. The article outlines convergences between gaming and cinema, gaming and the Internet, and gaming and emergent technologies and interfaces (e.g. mobile phones and social software). The article aims to foreground major dimensions of convergence in relation to the potential of innovations in educational practice and activities. The article concludes that variant forms of gaming are widespread. But while the converging forms of gaming with other media forms provide potential for supporting educational practices, these new forms still need to be considered in relation to clear pedagogic strategies, supported peer interactions and tutor engagement.

The Dynamics of Video Gaming: Influences Affecting Game Play and Learning

IGI Global, 2010

The idea of bridging literacies has been a topic of much research and theory, and educators continue to struggle to help students understand how their learning transcends the classroom walls. Contributing to the discussion, this chapter focuses on factors influencing video game learning, examining the decisions and game play of eight academically struggling eleventh-grade males. Data from two related qualitative studies suggest that direct and peripheral factors influenced students’ game play. Findings from these two studies are important to the discussion of educational gaming because they can inform educators of students’ struggles and successes in learning outside the classroom. Overall, the evaluation of students’ video gaming can provide educators insight into the affordances of this digital literacy and issues affecting student learning outside the classroom.

Overview of research on the educational use of video games

2006

This paper overviews research on the educational use of video games by examining the viability of the different learning theories in the field, namely behaviorism, cognitivism, constructionism and the socio-cultural approach. In addition, five key tensions that emerge from the current research are examined: 1) Learning vs. playing, 2) freedom vs. control, 3) drill-and-practice games vs. microworlds, 4) transmission vs. construction, 5) teacher intervention vs. no teacher intervention.

Video Games as Education

Video games inherently combine interactivity with player agency, and irrespective of theme or genre, simulate a particular activity or situation. The medium is therefore an ideal ground for constructionist learning, where knowledge is acquired through active participation, creation, and experimentation. Video games equally enable situated learning, which relies on immersing the learner in activities relevant to the knowledge that is being acquired. This entry provides a survey of how video games are being utilized as education, including educators' repurposing of games originally designed for entertainment, and games whose applications in classrooms have led their developers to produce educational variants that facilitate learning outcomes, collaboration, and discussion.

Contemporary issues in adolescent video game playing: brief overview and introduction to the special issue

Journal of Adolescence, 2004

Contemporary issues in adolescent video game playing: brief overview and introduction to the special issue In May of 2001, Alan Waterman contacted two of us (Anderson, Griffiths) about the possibility of serving as co-editors of a special issue of this journal focusing on ''video-gaming during adolescence and youth''. We drew up a prospectus, invited Jeanne Funk to join us as co-editors, and set about generating submissions. We were excited about the possibility of creating this special issue for several reasons. First, the rise and popularity of video and computer games as a leisure phenomenon has become an everincreasing part of many young people's day-today lives. Second, compared to other areas of adolescent leisure pursuits and activity, video game playing has been a relatively unexplored area. Some academics perceive video game research to be of trivial importance, and perhaps because of this, funding opportunities have been relatively minimal. This may also help explain why there have been no 'special issues' devoted to this topic. We were therefore very pleased to be asked to put together such an issue. As described elsewhere in this special issue, most reported effects of video games appear to centre upon potential negative consequences (e.g. increased aggression, potential addiction, medical and psychosocial side effects, etc.). In fact, all the co-editors have contributed to the literature on some of these more negative aspects. However, none of us is anti-video games. Some research suggests positive benefits of video games. For example, some research suggests that playing computer games may produce improvements in reaction times and eye-hand coordination and may be a source of positive self-esteem for some players. What's more, game elements that pique curiosity and make the games fun and challenging add to the educational potential of some games. Furthermore, there are a few studies showing that video games constructed to teach specific health behaviours can indeed yield better health outcomes. As computing power has increased, the distinction between video games versus training simulators has blurred, opening the door to potential positive uses in a wide array of educational and business settings. In sum, the motivating properties of video games would seem to make them excellent teaching tools, but to date there is relatively little research on these potentially positive uses. By creating this special issue we hoped that we could have a positive impact on the quality and the breadth of the next generation of video game research. We created a judiciously worded Call for Papers, one that specifically outlined key methodological problems to avoid and key topics in need of additional research. The Call for Papers specifically listed seven topics of special interest. These were: (a) Short-term effects of playing violent video games. (b) Long-term effects of playing violent video games. (c) Video game addiction.