Video Games as an Education Tool
Scott M. Robertson
Introduction
Video games have matured dramatically since the days of Pong in the 1970s. The
complex game-play, flexibility, and interactivity offered by video games have enabled
them to attract a broad user base of millions of children and adults. A survey conducted
by the Interactive Digital Software Association in 2000-2001 found that 60 percent of all
Americans (or 145 million people) play interactive video games regularly and contribute
to a $5 billion industry through purchases of new games (IDSA, 2001). Forty-three
percent of these users are women, suggesting that game-play is no longer singly a male
interest. The study also revealed that the largest group of players is children and adults in
the age range of 35 years and younger. Altogether, video games now “constitute a
powerful cultural industry that is constantly evolving technological applications; it is a
symbolic universe frequented by millions of citizens." (Kirremuir, 2003)
Despite that huge popularity, research into video games and their potential uses
has taken time to be considered a valid area of exploration in academia. Very few
researchers in any discipline were examining the facets of video games just five years
ago. Back then, “it would [have been] possible to survey the entire field of game research
without raising much of a sweat.” (Smith, 2002) However, much has changed since then
with the increasingly larger impact digital technology has had on modern society. A
number of new studies and preliminary examinations have investigated the benefits of
video games. “The last few years have seen a significant increase in the community of
researchers studying computer and video games. …The subject matter is increasingly
taken more seriously by the general public, mass media, and the academic community."
(Kirremuir, 2003) Researchers and scholars from very diverse fields, such as computer
science, comparative literature, filmography studies, graphic design, and theater studies
now contribute to a better understanding of the principles of computer games and their
uses (Smith, 2002).
Because children and young adults still constitute the vast majority of gamers
(according to the IDSA study), it would be prudent to direct more of that research on
video games toward studying their educational potential and instructional uses in the
classroom.
Educational Use of Games
A large number of studies in recent years have examined the educational impact
of computer games in their use by children and young adults. Some of these have looked
at the games’ use in the context of the classroom, and many of the studies have provided
evidence that video games can produce learning gains that are equal to or greater than
traditional instructional methodology.
Studies conducted by the Electronic Games for Math and Science project at the
University of British Columbia have investigated the role of mathematical games in
classroom instruction at Canadian schools (Klawe, 1998). In one such study, researchers
employed the game Phoenix Quest in four grade 5 classrooms and one grade 6/7
classroom. Developed for three years at UBC, Phoenix Quest is an interactive game
designed to appeal to young girls. Phoenix Quest utilizes three primary elements: (a) a
storyline, b) interactive communication between players in the game and the story
characters, and c) mathematical puzzle activities hidden within story activities. A player
progresses through levels in Phoenix Quest collecting story chapters and mathematical
puzzles by succeeding at various tasks and activities, such as solving mathematical
puzzles, searching for answers to questions posed by story characters during
conversations, and writing back to the story characters. Mathematical concepts
represented in Phoenix Quest include fractions, negative numbers, ratios, simple graph
algorithms, rectangular and polar coordinates, logic, and number sequences.
In pilot testing of Phoenix Quest, use of the game by itself produced only
moderate learning gains. However, when students used the game in conjunction with
supporting classroom activities (e.g. writing, paper and pencil activities, and discussions)
the researchers observed highly substantial learning gains. In a seven-week empirical
examination of Phoenix Quest, student pairs played Phoenix quest for 30 minutes twice
every week on computers in their classroom. Five classrooms participated in the study
which involved three conditions: a) two experimental groups that completed worksheets
and engaged in discussions in conjunction with playing Phoenix Quest (EWD), and b)
one experimental group that received lectures by an outside speaker in conjunction with
playing Phoenix Quest (EL), and c) a control group that did not play Phoenix Quest
(CG). For the first three weeks, no supporting activities were run in any of the classrooms
in conjunction with the game. For the last four weeks, supporting activities were carried
out in all the classrooms. During this later four-week period, students in the EWD
classrooms engaged in paper and pencil worksheet activities whose format was based on
puzzles. Then they discussed the outcomes of these activities in sessions that involved the
full class. In the EL classroom, a guest speaker presented a lecture about the
mathematical concepts about which the students were learning and showed their
relationship to the mathematical puzzles the students used. According to the study’s
results, the three grade 5 experimental groups showed significant improvement in their
performance between the pre-test and post-test, with a mean increase of 20.3 percent. Of
these groups, the one that received the guest lecture improved the most, with a change of
23 percent. The EL group showed no improvement, but the researchers conducting the
study suspected that this was due to a lack of interest in the guest speaker’s presentation,
higher starting scores than the other groups’, and previous exposure to Phoenix Quest.
The control group showed a change in performance between the pre-test and the post-test
of -3 percent, but this was not statistically significant.
Another study by the School of Health Information Management at the University
of Sydney in Australia investigated the use of a Web-based health care simulation game
by college students (Westbrooke, 2001). The Health Game was created to encourage the
development of health information seeking skills, to provide students with opportunities
to interact with the complexities of the health care system, and enable them to solve
realistic hypothetical situations in a setting that facilitated exploration. Fifty-eight
students participated in a four-week prototype test of the game. The participants all filled
out pre- and post- questionnaires before and after their use of the simulation. The
questionnaires consisted of four sections: 1) interest in and knowledge of the health
system, 2) access and experiences with computers, 3) views of teamwork at college, and
4) demographic data. The researchers used the health system knowledge sections on the
pre and post questionnaires, which contained three questions, as pre- and post- test
assessments.
Two questions on the questionnaires assessed the subjects’ factual knowledge of
the public and private health insurance systems in Australia. These questions included a
short scenario describing a patient admitted to a hospital who was scheduled for a
surgical operation; the first question described a patient who was privately insured,
whereas the second question described a patient who was publicly insured. Students were
asked about the extent to which Medicare or the private insurance company would cover
the cost of the operation. The number of students providing correct responses to scenarios
1 and 2 increased significantly between the pre and post questionnaires from 27 and 58
percent respectively to 49 and 95 percent respectively. To assess information finding
skills, the pre- and post- questionnaires also asked students about sources of health
information which they could access for information for a friend who had recently
arrived from an overseas country. In the pre-questionnaire, the mean number of sources
identified by students was 2.4, and 24 percent of subjects were unable to list at least 2
sources. In contrast, subjects on the post-questionnaire listed a mean of 3 sources, and
only 8 subjects were unable to list at least 2 sources.
In a long-term case study conducted by The Learning Circuit, a British
educational organization, students used the simulation game Sim City in classrooms for a
term. (Learning Circuit, 2004) Four teachers were involved in the study, one from each of
four schools (Burlington Junior School, Corpus Christi RC Primary School, Ellingham
Primary School, and St. Matthews C of E Primary School). The teachers became familiar
with the software and instructional materials prior to the study and customized them to fit
their classroom’s needs. Each teacher selected students to participate in the study; some
of them were drawn from more able mathematics groups, while others were drawn from
less able mathematics groups. Most of the participants had used instructional technology
in previous classes, so inexperience with instructional software was not a factor in the
study.
According to the study’s technology learning goals, students were expected to be
able to:
• build a simple, successful city, describe their use of the software to complete
that task, and understand how the task involved relates to planning a town
• explore an existing simulation and make predictions about the consequences of
decisions that affected this simulation
• explore the effects produced by altering variable settings underlying a provided
city, analyze the findings produced, present those findings in a report illustrated with
graphics, and share their findings and cities with others using the Internet.
The mathematical goals of the study emphasized:
• Extracting and interpret information presented to students in tables and graphs in
order to solve problems
• Identifying which data is most relevant to a task at-hand
• Using percentages and ratios to solve problems
• Predicting and generating hypotheses about potential solutions to a given
problem.
The results of the study showed that students were able to successfully
accomplish the learning goals established for them. Future work by The Learning Circuit
will examine whether the progress made can transfer to another simulation scenario, such
as the development of a theme park in a game like Roller Coaster Tycoon.
A study by The Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia group (TEEM) in
2002 (McFarlane, 2002) examined the current state of educational games and issues and
concerns affecting educational game adoption by classrooms in the U.K. Using an
evaluation framework provided by TEEM, pairs of teachers evaluated each title they
were given within the context of their classroom. The games were used in the classroom
multiple times during the summer 2001 academic term. Games selected for the evaluation
trials primarily consisted of selections from simulation and quest genres, though a few of
the games did contain mini arcade-style games within their plot. Because many of these
commercial games did not provide content relevant to the teachers’ curriculum, teachers
in most cases did not feel that students were learning valuable content-related knowledge.
This suggests that games must be better aligned with curriculum content standards in
order to be a viable classroom tool. However, they did feel that their students learned
generalized critical thinking and group-work skills while playing the games.
Individualized skills learned from the games’ context included problem solving, decision
making, sequencing, and deductive reasoning. Group-work skills learned included groupbased decision-making, negotiation, peer tutoring, cooperation, collaboration, and colearning.
The TEEM study also involved evaluations of educational games by parents and
students. Eight-five percent of parents in the study felt that the games assisted their
children in learning relevant skills, in addition to providing entertainment value. Students
suggested that they learned planning, decision-making, and team-work skills while
playing the games. The TEEM report proposed that video games overall “provide a
forum in which learning arises as a result of tasks stimulated by the content of the games,
knowledge is developed through the content of the game, and skills are developed as a
result of playing the game.”
In another study, Amory et al (1998) assessed how video games affect students
learning biology problem-solving skills. Fifty-eight first-year environmental biology
students participated in the study. To determine prior knowledge, the subjects answered a
series of multiple choice questions about the evolution of man. Then each subject
participated in a practical learning session. In the experimental condition, students played
an educational video game, developed by the research staff, for a period of at least two
hours. In the control condition, students were given a number of practical biology
problems to solve. Afterwards, all the subjects completed a post-test to evaluate what
they had learned during the practical session. Students appeared to learn information
equally from both media, which suggests that video games can be a viable method for
teaching scientific material.
Types of Games
Video games vary widely in their type and subject matter. Author Marc Prensky
suggests the following categorization of video games in his recent book Digital GameBased Learning:
● Action games (ex. Counterstrike, Unreal Tournament, )
● Adventure games (ex. The Adventure of Monkey Island, Halo, Myst)
● Fighting games (ex. Street Fighter, Star Wars Epic Duels, Clash of the
Gladiators)
● Puzzle games (ex. Tetris, Brick Breaker, Minesweeper)
● Role-playing games (ex. Final Fantasy XI, Neverwinter Nights, City of Heroes)
● Simulation games (ex. Sim City, The Sims, Stoktrak)
● Sports games (ex. Super Web Soccer, MVP Baseball 2004, Madden NFL 2004)
● Strategy games (ex. Ages of Empires, Civilization, Roller Coaster Tycoon)
Simulations, in particular, have gained popularity in recent years for their
educational potential. Simulations provide a model of a real-world system in which a
player can manipulate variables and the relationships between them and take large risks
without fear of real-world consequences. This complex interaction enables simulations to
place learners “in a unique position to understand a system’s dynamics.” (Squire, 2000)
Laurel (1991) suggests that educational simulations excel in their ability to represent
experience as opposed to information because learning by direct experience has been
demonstrated in past studies to be more effective and enjoyable than learning by
communicating facts alone.
Simulations are already a recognized part of educational training in commercial
and government environments. They are used in many business and economic industries
to teach financial management skills, in medical fields to test various treatments and train
medical staff in procedures, and in the military to train soldiers in real-life combat
scenarios. (Kirriemuir, 2004)
The Sim City series of games developed by Maxis is perhaps the most popular
commercial simulation used in educational settings. (Sim City, 2000). Players must
design their own cities from scratch using a metropolitan budget and be able to withstand
the wrath of various natural disasters and disruptions, such as fires, floods, earthquakes,
and public protests. Various research studies have examined Sim City and similar
simulations within the context of classroom learning. The studies have consistently
reported that these games promote favorable learning outcomes and facilitate group
discussion and intricate experimentation. The games also have been shown to enhance
more skills than what might be immediately apparent from the context of the game; for
Sim City this includes engineering skills, urban planning, economics, environmental
awareness, and mathematics. (Kirriemuir, 2004)
Applications of Educational Games
Social Learning
Video games provide the structured environment needed for learning complex
series of behaviors, such as social and communications skills. (Raybourn, 2003) Most
modern computer games each the game player “progressively complex behaviors and
associations, through progressively difficult challenges followed by regular positive
reinforcement (e.g. progressively difficult enemies, each of whom yields new and better
spoils).” (Buchanan, 2003) For this reason, many games have been designed to teach and
to train interpersonal and intercultural communication principles and skills. A book by
John Malouff and Nikola Schutte, entitled Games to Enhance Social and Emotional
Skills: Sixty-Six Games That Teach Children, Adolescents, and Adults Skills Crucial to
Success in Life, found more than 60 computer games that can increase the social and
communication skills of young children, adolescents, and adults.
Thus, it seems natural that video games could also be used to teach more basic
social skills to students with cognitive disabilities, such as those with autism spectrum
disorders, attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder, and non-verbal learning disabilities.
The Shirley Foundation in the U.K. recently funded a three-year study of a virtual
environment for teaching social skills to students with autism called AS Interactive.
(Kerr, 2002) The project assessed the potential feasibilities of developing virtual
simulations for students with autism in both single-user and collaborative environments
and identified essential features of these environments that are needed to facilitate social
skills training and defining solid interfaces.
References
Buchanan, K. (2003) “Behaviorism and Computer Games.”
URL: <http://www.msu.edu/~buchan56/writing/coursework/cep911/
hl_behaviorism.htm>
Interactive Digital Software Association. (2001). “State of the Industry: Report 20002001.”
URL: <http://www.idsa.com/releases/SOTI2001.pdf>
Kerr, S., J. (2002). “Scaffolding: Design issues in single and collaborative virtual
environments for social skills learning.”
Eighth Eurographics Workshop on Virtual Environments
Kirriemuir, J. (2002). “The Relevance of Gaming and Gaming Consoles to the Higher
Education/Further Education Learning Experience.”
Klawe, M. M. (1998). “When does the use of computer games and other interactive
multimedia software help students learn mathematics?”
Department of Computer Science,
The University of British Columbia
URL: <http://mathforum.org/technology/papers/papers/klawe.html>
Learning Circuit (2004). “Using a simulation game to aid in the understanding of
number.”
URL: http://www.learning-circuit.co.uk/pages/content/case_studies.asp?SectionID=20
Malouff, J., M. Schutte, N., S. (1998). Games to Enhance Social and Emotional Skills:
Sixty-Six Games That Teach Children, Adolescents, and Adults Skills Crucial to Success
in Life.
Raybourn, E. M, Waern, A. (2003). “Social Learning through gaming.”
Sandia National Laboratories/Swedish Institute of Computer Science
Westbrooke, J., I., Braithwaite, J. (2001). “The Health Care Game: Evaluation of a
Heuristic, Web-based simulation.”
Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 12, 89-104