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14 - Video Games and Learning

from Part III - Grounding Technology in the Learning Sciences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

By
Constance Steinkuehler  and
Kurt Squire
Edited by
R. Keith Sawyer
R. Keith Sawyer
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Summary

This chapter reviews research on how video games have been used in schools and other learning environments and how they impact learning outcomes. This chapter reviews four functions of video games in learning. Games as content teach specific disciplinary knowledge, for example in history, math, second language learning, physics, and medicine. Games as bait leverage the engaging aspects of video games to attract students to the game even when it is not obviously about learning. Games as assessment use the “leveling up” feature of games, where players advance to the next level as their skills increase, as a way to assess the player’s developing knowledge. Games as architectures for engagement are studied by examining how and why people play games and how they can be designed to best foster learning by fostering involvement, immersion, and investment – often using narrative structures. There is evidence that when games are designed on learning sciences principles, they contribute to deeper learning.

Keywords

simulationgamificationengagementlearning trajectoriesformative assessmentinteractive
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences , pp. 281 - 300
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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