22.6: Educational Games

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Educational games are usually decision-making activities that include rules, a goal, conditions or constraints, competition, challenge, strategies, and feedback. Games can be as simple as answering questions to win Tic-Tac-Toe or filling in crossword answers to more complex games that require interactions with other learners.

Educational games:

should encourage the development of specific skills
- The skills can be in specific subject areas such as science and math or general skills like literacy, problem solving, critical thinking, and decision-making.
- Success should be based on whether the specific learning outcomes have been met, rather than on good hand-eye coordination.
can be used to teach many different skills
- The example shown in figure 22.4 illustrates how a game can be used to teach keyboarding skills.
- One difficulty is that games tend to require more explanations of the goals, learning outcomes, and directions than tutorials or drill and practice methods. Without guidance, learning is less effective.
can be an effective, motivational, and fun way to learn
- To be effective, the game must be challenging, students must be actively involved, and students must be given feedback and guidance with respect to the learning outcomes.
- Research has shown that many learners like to learn through educational games.
- Some educational games are a part of simulations that involve competition and/or cooperation.
- Both males and females can enjoy and learn from games suited to their interests.
are sometimes a waste of time
- Some products are fancy but do not teach well.
- Evaluate a game before purchasing it to ensure that the game teaches an important skill effectively. Some games may lead to violent and aggressive behaviours.
- Some people erroneously believe that games cannot be effective teaching tools.