Today in Digital Technologies we have been exploring the use of digital games based learning in the classroom. There is a vast number of lessons which games could be used in and after today’s activities I have gotten myself into the mindset that games are a fantastic way to get children using their imagination and to connect games to real life situations. There may be opposition from teachers who struggle to see the benefits of this in the classroom and are uncomfortable with the use of appliances that they possibly do not know everything about themselves. As Digital Immigrants, older teachers and possibly parents and carers of pupils in the class may have negative attitudes towards the use of games due to bad press which labels digital games as unsociable and a waste of time. However, as written in The Impact of Console Games in the Classroom: Evidence from schools in Scotland by Jen Groff, Cathrin Howells and Sue Cranmer (2010), studies have shown the use of games based learning in the classroom has in fact lead to increased opportunities for collaboration and social interaction as well as improving relationships between teachers and students because the students are sometimes required to teach the teacher! I personally believe that this is a good thing which should be embraced because as Digital Natives, young people in the classroom will more than likely be completely comfortable with technology and will be able to use it with ease. This comfort with technology will allow pupils to focus on the task rather than how to play the game and it will also help them to feel more comfortable with the activity – many young people show off a negative attitude towards the idea of writing on paper, possibly because it has boring connotations and scares them. Use of these materials could therefore help to build up confidence and self esteem of pupils, making them see that they are capable and possibly encouraging them to strive. The idea that digital games based learning could achieve the same outcomes, or arguably even more, as writing on paper, but could be doing so with pupils being engaged and interested as well as having fun, is an exciting one for the world of education. Although, there are some, such as David Buckingham, who believe that young people are not excited or engaged by the thought of digital technologies because they have been born into a digital age, and he would argue that we are all being overly optimistic to think so.

We focussed on the use of ‘Mariokart’ on the Nintendo Wii in the classroom and spilt into groups to come up with various ideas about how to use this game as a cross curricular activity. My group and I came up with the idea of using Mariokart as an introduction in which the class could identify various hazards, before exploring the school and school grounds to find further hazards. We also thought that it could be used as a literacy lesson in which pupils could focus on characters and setting before creating their own version of the game to which they could write a set of instructions. Their game could contain their own plan of a track and this could lead to them making models of their tracks and characters with play dough or plasticine. They could then make their track in the playground or gym hall and have their own races around it. From this race they could record the time taken for individuals to complete it and the distance of the track. Using this data they could work out the speed they were running at. Measuring the track could also be used as an exercise for practicing measurement using standard or non-standard units. This data could then be used for problem solving activities and to create graphs.

Coming back together and sharing our ideas with the class was very beneficial as I loved some of the ideas my colleagues had. One group suggested that the class could create their own Mariokart racing event and by planning this event they could work out costs and profits as well as creating advertisement and then following the event by writing a newspaper article about it and a biography about one of the racers. Another group suggested that this game and the scores obtained from this could be used to work out the mean, median, mode and range. I would use all of these ideas in a classroom setting and I am sure that there are many more which could be used. These are just a few examples of how one game on one appliance can be used in the classroom, clearly there are many other ways which different games and different appliances could be used.

We then moved on to using the Garage Band app on an iPad. This is an app which allows users to choose different musical instruments and to make music with them. There is also a voice recording feature which allows users to record their voice and a feature which allows you to record the music which you create. After exploring it and creating our own songs, we considered how this could be used in the classroom. I would love to use this type of app in the classroom as it is engaging and exciting. Although there are numerous ways that it could be used in the classroom, my first thought was using it to create atmospheric music which pupils could record over with their voice telling a story which they have written. This would allow them to practise their speaking and reading aloud skills, which are key in literacy, as well as giving them the opportunity to express the atmosphere which they want this part of their story to create. This could be done as part of a group, class, or individual activity which could allow pupils to create their very own audiobook as a follow up activity from creating an Ebook.

Most of the activities (if not all) which I have suggested, include creation. Creation is the top higher order thinking skill named in Bloom’s Taxonomy so is clearly an extremely valuable skill which young people must learn. The activities I have suggested would be likely to go in an order from the bottom to the top of the Blooms Taxonomy triangle, encouraging the development of higher order thinking skills of analysis, evaluation and creation particularly. As discussed in Paul Ladley’s Games Based Learning Analysis and Planning Tool, computer games force learners to think carefully about decisions which they have to make and allows them to exercise various problem solving techniques, such as trial and error, to overcome problems. Identification of their weaknesses in a game and thinking about how to improve them requires analysis of their performance. Ladley argues that games must be used in the classroom if they are going to tackle areas of learning which traditional teaching cannot do so easily.

Therefore, it is fair to say that from today’s workshop I have become an enthusiast for the idea of using games in the classroom. I am a great believer that learning should be enjoyable and that young people should be taught life skills which may not be tested in primary school but which will be useful to them throughout their lives. In my opinion, if, as educators, we can use digital games based learning to engage pupils on a whole new level and to help them to embrace the digital age which we are living in, then we will be doing our jobs pretty well!