Are video games a waste of time or can they be used to
effectively teach students science topics they would otherwise learn in a
textbook or lecture? Parents and educators may be hesitant about allowing video
games into the classroom, but recent research has shown positive results from
the use of such technology especially in science classrooms (Holmes, 2012; Liu, Olmanson, Horton, & Toprac,2011; Tromba,Peter,2013). This post will cover three
research experiments that had positive results with video games in the
classroom.
Teachers are starting to look for new and better ways to
teach students. Motivation is one factor in getting students to learn. If you
listen to what entertains students, you will not hear about textbooks and
lectures, but you will hear about what video games they are playing or what
they did on the internet. If students are motivated to sit and play video
games for extended periods of time, why not try it out in the classroom?
Some middle school and high school science classes in Texas
were given the opportunity to try video games as a way to learn about energy.
These students got to try out the New Digital Energy game which “combines
aspects of strategy, construction, and game management, requiring players to
build energy companies, gain dominant market share and meet the needs of cities
throughout the United States (Holmes, 2012).” For
this study the students were given pretests and posttests to determine their
knowledge of energy. They were also surveyed before and after about their
interest in science. The results found that a greater percentage of the
students scored better on the posttest than the pretest. The flaw in this study
was that there was not a group of students learning about energy without the
game to compare to. However, the researchers also found that students became
more interested in science after using the game. The students were involved in
more science competitions and talked more about science than they did beforehand
(Holmes, 2012).
Another middle school used a
multimedia problem based learning environment to learn about space science (Liu,
Olmanson, Horton, & Toprac, 2011). The researchers looked at whether the
students would learn using the technology, if the students were motivated to
use it, and if there was a relationship between their motivation and learning
science. My problem with this study is that the pretest and posttest was based
on a 20 question test on “essential knowledge identified by subject
matter experts” (Liu, Olmanson,
Horton, & Toprac, 2011) and the learning environment was about space
science. The connection between what they learned and what they were tested on
is unclear, but the researchers found that the students scored higher on the
posttest. Most students were motivated to use the program and motivation was
positively correlated with test scores. Another interesting finding was that
the more students felt competent the higher they scored on the posttest (Liu,
Olmanson, Horton, & Toprac, 2011). This may be something to consider in
other research.
The popular video game Minecraft was
used by Peter Tromba (2013) to find out how video games can be used for
learning. He actually created a Minecraft class that he led and had the
students set the goals of the class. The students were given the state and
national education standards and set out to find whether the game could be used
to enhance their education. The students interviewed other teachers to find out
what they could build on Minecraft to go along with what they were learning in their
classes. The students built pyramids, castles, and other structures to scale. This
experiment was not based on scientific research, but parents and educators did
see changes in the students. The students were learning about math, team work,
logistics, chemistry, and more. It was also apparent that these students were
attending school more often than they had previously. The students in this
study were able to meet national and state academic standards by using
Minecraft along with what they were learning in their other classes.
These studies are obviously not
perfect, but I believe could be used to further research into using games to
enhance learning. Should we rely solely on games? No, but I believe that game
designers could look into developing more games that assist teachers in
reaching students.
References
Tromba, Peter. (2013). Build Engagement and Knowledge
One Block at a Time with Minecraft.
Learning & Leading
with Technology, 40, 20-23. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?q=games+in+middle+school+science&ft=on&id=EJ1015174
Holmes,
Venita. (2012). New Digital Energy Game, the Use of Games to Influence
Attitudes, Interests, and Student Achievement in Science. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?q=games+in+middle+school+science&ft=on&id=ED536550
Liu, M., Olmanson, J., Horton, L., &Toprac, P. (2011). Motivational
Multimedia: Examining Students' Learning and Motivation as They Use a
Multimedia Enriched Learning Environment. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?q=+middle+school+science&ft=on&id=ED522012
