Schooling for the future
In this blog Sue McDowall takes a look inside games as an engaging learning environment from the point of view of players and wonders about how we might harness that sort of motivation for other types of learning in our classrooms.
One of the questions that we, and the teachers we work with on the Games for learning project, are fascinated by, is what makes games so engaging. As one teacher observed, “Something happens when students start playing games and I want to understand what that is.” Game designers know what makes digital games engaging and there is a tonne of literature on how games are designed to hook in and motivate players.
In his new blog post Elliot Lawes explores how teachers and students view student expertise in games in the classroom.
By Elliot Lawes
Meet Bob. Bob is a floating eyeball with a hard luck story he's dying to tell you. Are you willing to listen?
Welcome to the world of games in the classroom. Bob is the creation of a Year 7 student who wanted to build a digital game examining empathy – a concept he and his classmates had recently been exploring with their teacher. The game featuring Bob was designed and coded (using the Scratch language and platform) over a few weeks in late 2015.
