CHAPTER 1
How Do We Know Game-Based Learning is an Effective Approach to Teaching and Learning?
Defining game-based learning and gamification
When we think of game play in education it is important to differentiate between gamification and game-based learning. In a nutshell, gamification is based on providing incentives to learn whereas game-based learning is learning through play.
Gamification uses techniques we find in everyday leisure games to motivate students to engage in a task they otherwise would not find attractive. In the mid-2000s, the idea of collecting points, badges or certificates as an incentive as you completed tasks became popular. Examples can be seen in rewards for loyalty from shops or services to breaking down examinations into modules and the open publishing of the mark schemes. One scheme popular in schools that uses this technique is Accelerated Reader, which encourages students to read for pleasure through the awarding of points. Chapter 8 considers gamification, but the greater proportion of this book is concerned with game-based learning.
Most definitions of game-based learning emphasise that it is a type of game play with defined learning outcomes (Shaffer et al., 2005). In schools, games are often employed to help students to understand a process or concept through play. Games-based learning could be used to introduce a perhaps quite boring subject in a fun way, for example teaching the Dewey Decimal System of Classification or learning to write an academic bibliography. Conversely, the technique might be used purely for engagement and promotion of library services. Game-based learning can be used in many educational areas. Andrew Walsh (2018) at Huddersfield University has used it to great effect in a library setting. Although he is based in higher education many of the ideas he proposes can be used in school libraries too. However, most research on game-based learning at school level has been about measuring its impact on classroom teaching and learning outcomes. There are many publications and websites brimming with ideas for game-based learning but for a game to be successful and effective in achieving learning objectives, we first need to understand the theory behind this approach to learning. Only then can we make an informed choice about what we decide to implement in our school library setting.
The psychology of teaching and learning using games
The link between learning and playing predates the digital gaming culture of students today by thousands of years. Strategy games were played by ancient civilisations. Much is already known about these types of games by analysing artwork that has survived through the ages such as the Lewis chessmen. Recently, the Digital Ludeme Project has been developed in Maastricht. It considers how such ancient games developed skills and understanding of concepts. Browne (2020) reports on this project and the new science of digital archeoludology. But why does a game-based approach to learning have benefits? Let us delve into some learning theory first. If we can understand how students learn in a broader sense it helps us design an effective game for use in a library setting.
Among others, there are six well established pedagogical theories linked to learning processes:
We now consider these approaches in more depth.
Behaviourism
This type of learning is based on the principle that we react and respond to our environment or external stimuli. The most common examples of this are probably the conditional response experiments conducted by Ivan Pavlov with his dogs, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1904. Pavlov discovered that dogs could be trained to salivate if they thought they were about to be fed simply by ringing a bell after conditioning them to this response through reward and stimulus (McLeod, 2018). The theory of behaviourism was further developed by Burrhus Skinner, who showed the benefits of re-enforcement in retaining correct knowledge in the education process in a way that could be measured. In schools, radical behaviourism theory from Skinnerâs Verbal Behavior (1957) is exemplified by the teacher being very much in charge of the classroom and giving students information that they learn by rote and repetition.
How does this relate to game-based learning and gamification? Behaviourists believe that by rewarding a âcorrectâ response the student will learn and be motivated to learn more. In a game environment this might mean gaining points or a bonus, or unlocking a puzzle to proceed to the next level. In particular, these traditional types of re-enforcement might relate to reading scheme points or an escape room or box challenge. Further re-enforcement might be made at a social level by publicising a leader board for those with the highest points.
The danger with this approach is that some students may experience a negative response if they fail to reach the required score or feel overwhelmed by the task and these students may just âgive upâ and opt out of the exercise. Within a behaviourist approach there is little scope for creativity or innovation â it is simply achieving targets usually set by the educator. Behaviourism rarely addresses the social and transferable skills that a game-based environment can provide since it is primarily concerned with individual performance and response. Another argument against this approach is that the response effect may not be permanent â an analogy being cramming for a test. However, gamification has its place and it can be effective if used strategically, as we will discover in Chapter 8.
Cognitive constructivism
Cognitivism or cognitive constructivist theory considers that humans do more than just react to an environmental stimulus. This learning approach aligns the human brain to a computer and suggests it is a process of acquiring, storing and retrieving information. Tasks are broken down into smaller subsets and at each stage compared with what is already known and then built on. This theory was favoured over behaviourism by the 1960s.
One of the main psychologists associated with the theory of cognitivism was Jean Piaget (1896â1980) a Swiss psychologist. His theory of cognitive development (1939) is called âgenetic epistemologyâ and it has three components:
building blocks of knowledge (schemas)
adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another
stages of cognitive development (Piaget, 1976).
Overall, Piaget believed that in the classroom learning should be student-centred and opportunities made for active discovery. He considered the role of the teacher as being to facilitate learning, rather than to give direct tuition.
Another psychologist contributing to the development of cognitivism was the American Jerome Bruner (1915â2016). He is credited with bringing Piagetâs ideas on cognitive development stages into the classroom. He published his discovery learning theory in The Process of Education in 1960 and influenced curriculum reform at the time. Bruner argued that any child can be taught anything at any stage of development if it is presented properly. However, he noted that if the task was too hard then a student might become bored. He introduced the idea of scaffolding tasks by providing a limited structured framework between the student and educator and so allowing some freedom to explore within safe boundaries. He also developed the âspiral curriculumâ allowing students to revisit a subject in later years with more complexity.
David Ausubel (1918â2008), also an American psychologist, is another of the founders of cognitivism. He developed the meaningful learning theory published in his book Educational Psychology (1968), in which he argued that new knowledge can be slotted into existing knowledge structures â Piagetâs schemas â making recall and application of information easier.
Cognitivism is based on students using their short-term memory and working memory to embed what has been learnt into their long-term memory. To do this, students need to be active participants in the learning unlike in the behaviourist approach and use their cognitive brain functions to pay attention, to remember what has been learned and not to forget it, as part of the information processing pathway.
Cognitive brain functions include sensation, perception, attention, encoding and memory. A cognitive approach to learning embraces all these areas. This is what separates the theory from a ...