LEARNING THROUGH RECONSTRUCTING REALITY: VIDEO GAMES AS AN ALTERNATIVE ‘TOOL’. ISSUES OF RESEARCH AND IMPLEMENTATION (original) (raw)

Without a doubt computer technology holds great potential for improving the way that people learn. Through the use of network resources, learners can engage in individualized instruction where they can investigate and learn concepts and content to meet their specific needs. A significant number of case studies conducted by academic researchers are published every year concerning the new “Edutainment” (education and entertainment, education via entertainment) form of modern educational approach, most important of which is the “Games To Teach” project under the concurrence of Microsoft and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Edutainment materials are bringing about a change in the definition of the learning process as they attract and hold the attention of the learners by engaging their emotions through a computer monitor full of vividly coloured animations (Buckingham and Scanlon, 2000). Playing games is an important part of our social and mental development. The advent of personal computers with superior graphics systems has precipitated an explosion in game software. The multimillion game industries produce many different kinds of games which cultivate cognitive functions, motivation and remove players from the “real world”. It involves an interactive pedagogy and, in Buckingham et al's words, totally depends on an obsessive insistence that learning is inevitably "fun”. Many researches (Lepper and Cordova, 1992; Quinn, 1994, 1997) underline that the games can benefit education practice and learning if they combine fun elements with aspects of instructional design and system design that include motivational, learning and interactive components. These facts demonstrate a close association between play and learning. Computer games are gaining unprecedented access to the homes, minds and souls of people today. Hence, it has become increasingly important for game developers and educators to study the application of computers for enhancing the education offered to the next generation of students. Computer games enhance learning through visualization, experimentation and creativity of play (Betz, 1995) and often include problems that develop critical thinking (Amory et al., 1999). Computer games can be used to give a better form of education and can even make computers become the unique tools of learning. In the current research a different approach is proposed to the new “Edutainment” form of education, oriented in the integration of aspects of the game design process in the Greek National Curriculum. Based upon the collaborative action research and using grounded theory techniques (biographical analysis) and semi-structured interviews on a 20 K-12 students sample, it consists of a project which applies the means of designing a computer (video) game on several courses directed by the Greek National Curriculum. Being more specific, the educator may emerge or enhance several students’ skills such as collaboration between himself and her students, individual learning, brainstorming, critical and strategic thinking and creative writing through conducting a project in which certain courses will be approached though the stages of the game design process. These stages consist of script writing, character creation, scene direction, music setting, sound and visual effects immersion and can be approached through the courses of Greek Language, Geography, Arts Education, Greek Literature and Greek History courses. Thus, learners acquire those cognitive skills viewed as the fundamental objectives of the curriculum of studies through processes of playing and fun while they engage into something that meets their specific needs.