More on games and exploratory environments

Before we get to the examples, we do want to comment in a little more detail on games and exploratory environments.

Recent developments involving games and exploratory environments. Educational games, sometimes called serious games, are receiving increased attention among researchers. It is this interest that led us to provide this additional information. In interpreting and summarizing this research, Tobias and his colleagues (Tobias, Fletcher, Dai, & Wind, 2011) concluded that people can learn from games, the question is whether developers can design games in which people learn what we want them to learn. So, how should this position be interpreted? First, it should be noted that many find even difficult “recreational” games incredibly interesting and invest a considerable amount of time to become proficient. Ignoring the debate regarding whether the knowledge and skills developed through recreational games are useful in other settings, the challenge for those urging the purchase and/or assignment of games for educational settings is in identifying products designed to meet specific goals. Going back to our initial discussion of standards (Chapter 2), this might be rephrased in terms of existing content area standards. Do games provide learning experiences that satisfy existing standards?

The authors of the research summary (Tobias, et al., 2011) suggest that a key issue is attempting to determine whether the key cognitive processes involved in the game are the cognitive processes that are the intended goal of instruction. This is true even when the general focus of the game seems to involve appropriate educational content. For example, if the intended goal is effective problem solving applied within a specific content area, but the game rewards speed and a trial and error strategy, there is a process mismatch.

Another important interpretive issue concerns what might be described as time and efficiency. Some point to the motivational advantage of games and the related willingness of many players to spend considerable amounts of time and others complain that any observed benefits of games are likely due to the extra time spent. In controlled experimentation intended to determine why something happens, allowing one group more time than another group to complete a task might be regarded as a confounding. The experiment cannot differentiate whether it is what the groups did or how long the groups spent that is responsible for any performance differences that are observed. However, in applied settings the willingness of participants to complete a task or reach a standard of performance may be a primary consideration. The amount of time required may be a secondary issue as long as sufficient time is available. Researchers are still in the process of attempting to find meaningful ways to answer theoretical and applied questions (Gee, 2011; Tobias, Fletcher, Dai, & Wind, 2011).

At this point, educators might consider what they perceive to be the primary cognitive processes and the time efficiency of games their students might be asked to use. Reviews may provide some insights into such factors, but experience with games will likely be even more helpful.

Categorizing Instructional Software.

In classrooms, the learning software students use is often not a pure case of one of the categories we describe. We presented games, simulations, and exploratory environments separately in order to highlight different attributes that influence student learning. In a recent review of games, Tobias and Fletcher (2011) argue that all educational games are simulations, but not all simulations are games. You can test this claim for yourself using familiar games. These authors offer some additional observations in an attempt to differentiate games from simulations and these observations are organized in the following table. You may find these characteristics of value in better understanding the experience of working with these learning activities.

Differentiating characteristics of simulations and games.

The examples we present here combine characteristics of video games, simulations and exploratory environments. It is this combination that may offer the immersive experience creating the contextualized conditions necessary for meaningful learning (see examples of exploratory environments).

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