High engagement is observed when students focus on mastering a task according to self-set standards or a self-imposed desire for improvement.
Engagement (enjoyment and interest) is represented by heightened concentration and effort in skill-building activities along with spontaneous enjoyment from intrinsic interest and continued motivation.
Shernoff and Chikszentmihalyi propose that an optimal learning environment:
1. Presents challenging and relevant activities that allow students to feel confident and in control
2. Promotes both concentration and enjoyment
3. Is intrinsically satisfying in the short term while building a foundation of skills and interests
4. Involves both intellect and feeling
5. Requires effort and yet feels like play
Their research shows that these can be present when students play video games. Students using a video game approach made considerably greater learning gains than those in a traditional classroom, and were linked to a higher level of engagement.
Shernoff goes on to provide an example: a full semester college course, Dynamic Systems and Control, was created around a video game in which students race a virtual car around a track for all of their lab exercises and homework. Not only did those students report a higher level of interest, engagement, and flow, but “The video game approach maintained the high level of rigor inherent to the challenging engineering course while adding the perception of feeling active, creative, and in control characteristic of flow activities. The students who interacted with the video game also demonstrated greater depth of knowledge and better performance in the course.”
SRI, in research on GlassLab STEM games for K12, found that, for the average students, learning achievement increases by 12 percent when game based learning augments traditional instruction, and if the “game” is a simulation, achievement increases by 25 percent.
Thanks for interesting article. While your focus is K-12, many of your findings apply to both university level and corporate/executive training as well. My observations are based on corporate and entrepreneurial management experience, serving as an adjunct professor for 12 years at three leading universities, and being directly involved in both online K-12 and educational gaming ventures several years ago.
I am pleased to share several comments:
1. Game based learning changes thinking and improves creativity as you noted. As an example, using Harvard Business School case reviews to reinforce complex business concepts is the traditional approach used in business schools. If you couple these with a simulation game, for example, which lets students establish product mix and pricing strategies to maximize profits and EPS, you see real benefits. The key point here – the case studies and the gaming alone provide benefits but working together provides greater benefits, i.e., the ” 1 + 1 = 3″ situation. We are changing student ‘thinking’ here
2. The optimum solution is as you noted to integrate educational gaming with other forms of instruction as you noted. But the challenge is both creating strong content such as noted above and developing the proper mix of time and resources. I am looking at this challenge now to structure both traditional and ‘gaming’ courseware for educating entrepreneurs ( including possibly K-12 level).
3. We need to educate decision and policy makers on the benefits of educational gaming. On the one hand, many are emphasizing the need for increased social interaction and reducing ‘screen time’- educational gaming and electronic courseware moves in the opposite direction. Creative educational gaming requiring some social interaction (such as integrating teaming an approach I am looking at in entrepreneurial courseware) appears to be an effective solution and there may be others.
4. Decision and policy makers also have to be comfortable moving to electronic media and educational gaming. This is changing and the work of your group and other is helping, but as we know, despite looking at a classroom filled with student I-pads, many instructors and decision makers are still ‘clinging to textbooks.’
Bottom line here – educational gaming is still in its infancy – very exciting, high growth area that can in my view fuel significant improvement in our K-12 educational system and other areas as well.
Paul B. Silverman is Managing Partner Gemini Business Group, LLC (http://www.geminibusinessgroup.com), a new venture development firm. He has four decades senior corporate management, management consulting, adjunct professor, and entrepreneurial management experience. He writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, strategy management. Author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business. Follow his blog at http://paulbsilverman.com/blog/
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i think u should go home and play minecraft
You have explained very well on “The Psychology Behind Why Gaming Helps Students Learn”.