teachers, developers and policy makers.
The study had two main activities:
- National surveys conducted by Ipsos MORI of primary and secondary teachers and school children aged 11-16.
- Detailed case studies of 10 teachers’ approaches to developing their use of games for learning. Ten case studies were completed in four schools. The schools represented a range of urban, rural, state and private settings. Two schools offered lessons based on a competency-based curriculum derived from the RSA’s Opening Minds project, in addition to lessons based on a traditional curriculum. The games used in the schools were: The Sims 2, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and Knights of Honor.
The teachers and students in the case studies generally reported that using games in lessons was motivating. However, the study suggests that student motivation might be more likely to arise 1) when students were using games familiar from their home environment, and 2) when students were able to have some degree of autonomy in playing the game.
Using games in a meaningful way within lessons depended far more on the effective use of existing teaching skills than it did on the development of any new, game-related skills. Far from being sidelined, teachers were required to take a central role in scaffolding and supporting students’
learning through games.
What was clear from the study was that a number of factors were signifi cant in influencing the process by which games can be appropriated for use in schools.
These included:
- the technical infrastructure of the school (including personnel and facilities)
- institutional and professional factors (including the organisation of time and space in the school, cultures of collaboration/knowledge sharing, traditions of ‘best practice’ in lesson planning, and classroom rituals)
- the extent to which games can be ‘disaggregated’ and appropriated to meet specific needs
- the individual teachers’ personal experience of games play, and their personal and professional identities as teachers
- the pervading cultural expectations of children’s attitudes to and expertise in playing computer games.
While games may have potential to support learning and while many teachers and pupils expressed enthusiasm in using games in lessons (for example, one teacher said “Oh I’d love to use it again. I think there’s so much potential in it“), it is clear that these factors need to be taken into account by teachers, and ideally by school leaders and games developers, before potential can be fully realised.
Author
Ahoy, It is me Triska. A college student of English Education Department in University of Singaperbangsa Karawang. I am a-pixie-dust-enthusiast. I love to watch a movie or Korean Drama and also love to write my blog.
This is soooooo interesting
BalasHapus