The stigma around gaming has often attracted a 'half-glass full' or 'half-glass empty' discussion around whether or not it yields positive or negative effects on an individual who engages in the behaviour (Pontes et al., 2022). Rather, it has also been suggested that gaming itself should have an extensive knowledge around it to inform people about its use and when it is deemed beneficial, or problematic.
So what happens when the world of gaming enters into the classroom and is used as a means of enhancing student engagement and learning? What does the research show in relation to its effectiveness, and what are the views and opinions of gaming-based learning from stakeholders directly involved in its use?
Research methodologies when examining the impacts that digital gaming has on learning and cognition varies greatly (Flynn et al., 2021). The differing ways in which research has been conducted to determine the effects that gaming has on learning has yielded significant results that have led to the greater use of digital gaming in classrooms. A study in 2019 found that almost half of 3rd to 8th grade teachers in the United States of America used digital games in the classroom as a tool several times a week (Vega & Robb, 2019). Another study found that internationally, the use of digital gaming in classrooms was also widely used, as teachers found it helped students to reinforce the academic skills and content that they covered at school (Liao et al., 2019). With the growing popularity of digital gaming being used in classrooms, greater studies have been conducted to look into the specific benefits that its use offers, and whether it can bolster academic performance and student engagement in the learning environment.
When distinguishing the type of game to incorporate into the educational process, emphasis is placed on the unity of content, skills and attitudes that are the points of focus. It is critical for the primary purpose of the educational game to be the acquisition of knowledge, rather than for entertainment purposes (Lengyel, 2020).
Teachers have also highlighted the importance for stakeholders to adapt to the changes of the learning environment (Kokandy, 2021). Kokandy's study also found that teachers involved in the study reported their students being more engaged and also improving their skills, including critical thinking, self-directed learning, technological skills, and self-motivation, when using digital games in their learning.
Using digital games in the learning environment has also seen greater levels of collaboration among students (Nash & Brady, 2021). It also promoted an environment of support and interest-driven learning, where the class was more connected due to the problems they needed to solve together. This highlights the social aspect of digital gaming being used in the classroom (Gerber et al., 2014).
The integration of educational games does carry its own challenges, with some teachers being skeptical towards the effectiveness that they have in an academic setting (Kokandy, 2021). Other negatives perceptions from teachers were in relation to the implementation of games in the classroom as well as the deficiencies they carry in their own training when trying to use games as part of their teaching (Kokandy, 2021). This suggests that training programs may be a necessary step forward for teachers to arm and assist them in having educational games as one of the tools they can use in their approach to teaching.
There has also been pushback against using games in the classroom, highlighted in the video below. In the Games for Change 2022 conference, various teachers weighed in on using games in the classrooms, and presented arguments against incorporating games in the education process, due to the accessibility to 'bad' games that would distract them and not be as beneficial for their learning. Another teachers also found that using games in the classroom clashed with their traditional values of the classroom environment. The video highlights that there is still much up to debate in the views relating to using gaming in the learning environment.
In the current day, students spend most of their spare time playing games on their digital devices (Kokandy, 2021). Taking advantage of this trend by making games as part of their learning platform may enable teachers to directly impact the way in which their students learn and keep them interested in the work being taught. Ultimately, innovative and creative measures are being constantly researched and explored in order to enhance a student's learning and determine the best ways to improve a student's academic performance. Some researchers have also invested in specific programs, as shown in the video below, that provides a mixture of entertainment and learning for students, as they believe gaming in classrooms is the way forward.
Flynn, R. M., Kleinknecht, E., Ricker, A. A., & Blumberg, F. C. (2021). A narrative review of methods used to examine digital gaming impacts on learning and cognition during middle childhood. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction 30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2021.100325
Gerber, H. R., Abrams, S. S., Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Benge, C. L. (2014). From Mario to FIFA: What qualitative case study research suggests about games-based learning in a US classroom. Educational Media International, 51(1), 16–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2014.889402
Kokandy, R. (2021). Teachers’ perceptions of using digital gaming in classrooms. International Journal of Educational Technology and Learning 11, 6-13. https://doi.org/10.20448/2003.111.6.13
Lengyel, P. S. (2020). Can the Game-Based Learning Come? Virtual Classroom in Higher Education of 21st Century. I-JET 15. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v15i02.11521
Liao, C. W., Chen, C. H., & Shih, S. J. (2019). The interactivity of video and collaboration for learning achievement, intrinsic motivation, cognitive load, and behavior patterns in a digital game-based learning environment. Computers & Education, 133, 43–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.01.013.
Nash, B. L., & Brady, R. B. (2021). Video games in the secondary English language arts classroom: a state-of-the-art review of the literature. Reading Research Quarterly, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.454
Pontes, H. M., Montag, C., Elhai, J., Monteiro, A. V., Evren, C., Throuvala, M. A., Macur, M., McDowall, A., Rumpf, H-J., Carbonell, D. K., Fernandez, O. L., & Griffiths, M. D. (2022). Stigma and gaming disorder: should we take a ‘glass half full’ or ‘glass half empty’ perspective? Addiction.
Vega, V., & Robb, M. (2019). The common sense census: Inside the 21st-century classroom. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media.