The objective of today’s digital technologies session placed its focus upon games based learning within the classroom.
The Higher Education Academy website states that digital games-based learning is “the integration of gaming into learning experiences to increase engagement and motivation”.
At the beginning of the session we were asked to consider reasons as to why games-based learning is a vital tool to use within educational establishments, my partners and I provided examples such as:
- Games based learning is exciting for children thus, increasing their motivation to learn.
- Easy to use across the curriculum.
- Increases children’s fine motor skills, for example, hand and eye co-ordination.
- Alongside fine motor skills, games based learning also develops social skills for example, communication and planning.
Jean Piaget and Leonard Vygotsky both studied play and considered the effects it has upon children’s development. The findings of both of these theorists appear to agree with one-another and both claim that play is vital for children’s cognitive development. Based on this, it is accurate to assert that play can in fact improve an individual’s cognitive development from the beginning of their life right through until adulthood (Higher Education Academy, 2017). Thus, through the evidence provided, it is clear that play holds an importance within our classrooms, which arguably shows why teachers should include games-based learning within lessons.
“Like novels, films, plays and other media, games can be high quality materials a teacher uses to enable students to access the curriculum.” (Farber, 2016) This statement advocates the use of digital technologies for learning as it provides both pupil and educator with high quality learning materials and skills for life. It is important for educators to incorporate games into lessons as it allows for children to delve into their education and the curriculum alongside having fun.
For the practical side of today’s input, we were asked to consider how we could use the Nintendo Wii, with specific focus on Mario Kart, as a stimulus for learning. With such games, there are several teaching possibilities with regards to literacy, mathematics, art and music. Teachers may wish to focus on literacy and can ask the children to produce their own storyline for the game, which allows for practice on spelling, grammar and punctuation. For a mathematics lesson, the educator can ask the children to create price lists for the Mario Kart event, price lists may be created for merchandise and/or tickets for the event. Alongside this, the children can calculate profit and loss from sales. Furthermore, to incorporate art into this lesson, the class can create their own race track, design characters or create their very own tickets for the event. Finally, the educator can ask the children to use music apps on the iPad or classroom instruments to recreate the theme tune for the game.
There are a number of Experiences and Outcomes linked with these activities and are as follows;
- I can use my notes and other types of writing to help me understand information and ideas, explore problems, make decisions, generate and develop ideas or create new text. I recognise the need to acknowledge my sources and can do this appropriately. LIT 2-25a
- I can use the terms profit and loss in buying and selling activities and can make simple calculations for this. MNU 2-09c
- Through observing and recording from my experiences across the curriculum, I can create images and objects which show my awareness and recognition of detail. EXA 2-04a
- I can use my voice, musical instruments and music technology to experiment with sounds, pitch, melody, rhythm, timbre and dynamics. EXA 2-17a
Having played this game myself as a child, I believe I have sufficient knowledge of Mario Kart. I think this will be an effective teaching tool within the classroom as the children will be extremely engaged in their learning whilst playing and having fun. I look forward to incorporating Mario Kart into lessons in the near future.
References
Higher Education Academy (2017) Gamification and Games-Based Learning [Online] Available from: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/gamification-and-games-based-learning [Accessed: 6 March 2018]
Matthew Farber (2016) Three ways to use game based learning [Online] Available from: https://www.edutopia.org/article/3-ways-use-game-based-learning-matthew-farber [Accessed: 6 March 2018]
