Gaming in the Classroom

 

Incorporating gaming into the classroom can bring on some challenges as well as provide many benefits for teachers and students.  A benefit to gaming in the classroom is that it allows for collaborative learning for students.  Students often learn from each other and gaming provides an opportunity for students to interact with each other as well as learn from each other.  Another benefit gaming in the classroom can provide is motivation and engagement for students.  Stansbury and Munro (2013) acknowledged that the pedagogical technique of gaming was favored by students but it also improved comprehension of materials above and over a lecture only control group.  When I was a teacher in a special education adapted curriculum classroom my students retained more information where they were up on their feet and interacting in games on their Chromebooks or our SMART Board.  Helstrom (2017) suggested another benefit to incorporating games into the classroom is that it provides immediate feedback for the teachers on what the students have been working on, what they have completed as well as how well each student is doing on the task at hand.  It also provides immediate feedback for students to see how they are progressing and what areas they may need more work.  While gaming in the classroom provides many benefits, it does bring some challenges for some as well.  Gaming does not suit all learning types and it is important for teachers to know their students before incorporating games into their lessons.  Also, cost and school resources may be another challenge teachers face where the funds are not there to support the games.  Standardized tests may be another challenge teachers face as many districts and schools are very much focused on the test and do not allow times for games.

References

Stansbury, J. A., & Munro, G. D. (2013). Gaming in the classroom: an innovative way to teach factorial designs. Teaching of Psychology, 40(2), 148–152. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628312475037

Hellstrom M., (2017) Gaming the classroom: the transformative experience of redesigning the delivery of a political science class.  Issues and Trends in Educational Technology 5(2). https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_itet_v5i2_hellstrom