Games as Teaching Tools

After reading Kurt Squire’s “From Content to Context,” I did some light Googling to try and find a few relatively high-profile examples of how games are working their way into the American educational system. Naturally, one of the first links to pop up features Constance Steinkuehler (whose “Why Game Studies Now?” we read during the first week of class), the current Senior Policy Analyst at the governmental Office of Science and Technology Policy. In this position, she is tasked both with aiding in the development of new educational games and discovering the potential (or already utilized) applications of preexisting titles with regards to education, health, etc. Given that President Obama has cautioned against the harmful effects of excessive "screen time" in the past, it may come as a small surprise to some that such an office exists. However, the President has expressed a desire to further the creation of truly stellar educational software (per the above link, "I want you guys to be stuck on a video game that's teaching you something other than just blowing something up"). Setting aside the possible oversimplication of current games as Michael Bay-influenced explosion fests, it is encouraging to see the government seriously looking into the prospect of video games as educational tools (especially with someone as knowledgeable and seemingly passionate about the subject as Steinkuehler is leading the charge).

Another result that I found interesting was this NPR article about a special public school in New York. The school, known as "Quest to Learn," (official website here) aims to utilize both games themselves and the idea of "game-ifying" the classroom in order to promote a more stimulating learning environment for children. For example, in the aforementioned article students explain how they learn math/english/etc. through playing a specific assigned role (banker, travel agent, etc.) in the imaginary society of Creepytown. In essence, this sounds like a more game-centric version of the Montessori system we discussed briefly in class today (although I am woefully unlearned in the Montessori system, so that could be way off base). What I found most interesting is that the students of this school still have to take the same standardized tests as all public school students in the state, which could either severely aid or hinder such "experiments" in the future based on school-wide scores. Finally, you will note that the NPR article is from way back in 2010, and I really have no idea how the program has been faring since then. Due to the website still being active, I hope it proved to be a reasonable success, but I'll try and dig up some more information on how it has been progressing in the time since.