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To answer my key question, I first need to be clear about what game design in education is. To help me understand and define it I read the article Game Design for Learning by Stephanie Daul, a professional designer of game-based learning experiences.

The article gives definitions for games, identifies different types of games, the skills games can teach, key elements of games, the process of designing a game and the challenges involved.

Daul (2014) clarifies these key terms: Games, gamification, simulations and serious games and explains what a game needs; to be considered a learning game and to be a successful learning experience. There are clear differences between the terms, but they all sit under the overall definition of games given by the ASTD and i4cp’s definition:

"systems in which players engage in various ways toward a common goal or win state. Games often include a storyline, rules, interactivity, and feedback that result in a quantifiable outcome,,, Games used within learning are often implemented to allow students to have experiences, reinforce skills, or increase their contact with content" ASTD Research and Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). (2014) as cited in Daul (2104)

How can we tell if it’s a learning game or just gamification?

Daul(2014) explains how to tell if an activity is gamified or a learning game. There should be just as much learning possible each time the game is played, even if you play the game multiple times. Some of the activities I've used in my classroom don't meet this definition. Using Kahoot for reviewing content is gamification as it is using the characteristics of games to motivate students with points and badges, but there is no new level or learning possible when playing multiple times.

To be a successful learning experience the game needs to include certain elements, a good understanding of the student and clear performance goals.

The essential elements of the more complex story-based games are storytelling, rules, feedback, rewards and levels (Daul.S, 2014)To design a game with these elements and good knowledge of the student is essential. The story should connect to the students and the rules should be simple enough for them to understand. We also need to know how frequently to give feedback (depending on support needed by the student), and make sure the game clearly connects to the expected performance goal.

My Key takeaways from the article are:

To be effective learning tools, games need to include certain elements eg feedback, so that the student knows what they are learning

Learning games should be designed to be played multiple times with new opportunities to learn each time the game is played

To use games successfully for learning you must know your students well. Not just their prior knowledge, but also how they play. To make sure the game is at the right level to challenge but not frustrate the student, you need a very clear understanding of the student's ability and the different levels of the performance you're trying to achieve.

You must also know the curriculum well. The performance outcome must be clearly aligned to the game outcome otherwise it’s just an activity.

To answer my question: What is game design in education?
This article has clarified my ideas about game design and how similar it is to lesson design in education. Game design involves several key elements that can be used in education: a common goal, storyline, clear rules, interactivity, feedback, rewards and levels.  These elements connect to current ideas about teaching eg giving specific and immediate feedback, having clear learning intentions, making connections with the students (storyline) and scaffolding their learning (levels).
A learning game gives multiple opportunities for students to learn. This ties into the idea of mastery in education and standards based grading; The idea that you have multiple opportunities to meet the standard or goal.
I can see that game design has similar elements to current pedagogical approaches, so using it in the classroom makes sense. I'd like to learn more about how this has been used successfully in classrooms;  specifically in social studies. I also have questions about whether teaching in this way has a significant impact on learning.

Daul, S. (2014).

Game Design for Learning. [Place of publication not identified]: American Society for Training & Development. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=802233&site=eds-live&scope=site

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How can game design be used in the classroom?

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How can game design be used in the classroom?

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The Art of Game Design : A Book of Lenses, Second Edition

To learn more about how game design can be used in the classroom I read The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell;  software engineer,  game designer for Disney, and professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Chapter 32 is titled: Games Transform their Players and in it Jesse Schell covers how games can change us, the positives and negatives of playing games, and the educational benefits.

I enjoyed reading his description of how education is a game. It links to my previous post (What is Game Design in Education?) and shows the similarities between good game design and education:

"Students (players) are given a series of assignments (goals) that must be handed in (accomplished) by certain due dates (time limits). They receive grades (scores) as feedback repeatedly as assignments (challenges) get harder and harder, until the end of the course when they are faced with a final exam (boss monster), which they can only pass (defeat) if they have mastered all the skills in the course (game). Students (players) who perform particularly well are listed on the honor roll (leaderboard)

Schell (2015, p.501)

Even though the comparison shows how closely aligned the two are, there are clear differences in terms of engagement.  According to Schell (2015)  "many educational experiences are poorly designed." (p.502). Perhaps by using these principles of game design to plan lessons/units, they will be more engaging and fun.

Schell (2015) identifies what makes games so engaging. His list is similar to criteria on a teacher's checklist for planning/teaching a lesson:

Visible Progress

Making the abstract concrete

Full engagement

Lots of little goals

(p. 502-3)

As educators we want the students to be fully engaged, as this is when they learn the most, so planning lessons with these ideas in mind should improve learning.

There are a few specific ways that game design can be used in the classroom: the principles can be used to plan /design experiences to capture engagement; and game design can also be used by incorporating video games ( and other games), as tools to teach  particular concepts or skills.

Schell (2015) identifies the types of learning that games are good for: Facts, problem solving and systems of relationships (p.503-5).
Learning in a game can give the facts more relevance and can give students opportunity to practice their skills. These are the more obvious ways to use games for learning and both are certainly useful for social studies.
I was particularly interested in the 'Systems of Relationships' (p.504) that Schell (2015) identified. he makes an interesting point that many traditional ways of teaching include linear models eg lectures, readings and videos. But these linear models don't demonstrate and truly show the complex relationships and concepts in many subjects. Games and simulations can give students opportunity to experience these complex relationships.
Schell (2015) gives the example of a game called The Peacemaker by Impact games. This game was designed to show the complexity of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Being told that the issue is complex and reading about it are not as meaningful as taking on the role of a stakeholder, and learning about the complexity through experience.
In the social studies classroom I have used many different strategies to try and demonstrate the complexity of a situation eg the many stakeholders in the Amazon region and the resulting conflict there.  I've use Socratic seminars, readings, research, role play and more. It would be really exciting to share a game with students where they experience the complexity of the situation.

Key Takeaways:

Good game design is similar to good learning experience design

Games can be used as tools to teach specific skills and content, and should include a guide or teacher to assist

Some concepts and skills are better suited to learning through games

This article has helped me answer my title question: How can game design be used in the classroom? It has helped clarify the link between good teaching and game design, as well as identifying key skills such as problem solving that can be taught through the use of games in the classroom. I still need to link this to the key skills and concepts in the social studies' curriculum and I'm still curious about how effective using games and game designs in the classroom have been in practice.

Next artefacts:
I will look for an artefact about real educators using these approaches and how it has impacted the student learning.
I will also find the standards for social studies and identify the content, skills and concepts that suit games.

Schell, J. (2008).

The art of game design : a book of lenses. Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00245a&AN=massey.b4586194&site=eds-live&scope=site

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I'm currently teaching at an American school in Ecuador. It uses the AERO (American Education Reaches Out) standards for their social studies curriculum.

In the AERO introduction about the framework; problem solving and content knowledge are key parts.

"Project AERO views social studies as a critical school subject that allows students to gain a comprehensive body of knowledge, understandings, and skills that will enable them to better understand the world as it was and currently is and provide them with the tools necessary to become critical and creative thinkers that can solve complex world problems now and in the future."

This matches the key types of learning Schell (2015) identified in his book; The Art of Game Design (see my previous post titled: How can Game Design be Used in the Classroom?): Facts, problem solving and systems of relationships (p.503-5).

The standards for middle school (What I'm currently teaching)  include words like: relationships, patterns and interactions. These key concepts come under Schell's idea;  'systems of relationships' (2015 p.503-5) and could benefit from the use of simulations and games.
To be able to understand these concepts students also need to learn content- facts:also identified by Schell(2015) as benefiting from game design.

Key Takeaways:
Reviewing the strands, standards, framework and language of the social studies curriculum has reminded me of how complex many of the ideas are. We are often teaching students about interacting systems that don't necessarily match the linear way we are teaching them in.
I can see that using games to simulate these relationships and interactions would be beneficial to students' understanding.

Reading this has helped me clarify how game design can benefit social studies learning. I'm still interested in seeing the real practical uses and impact of trying this in the classroom.

My next artefact will be based on teachers implementing game design in the classroom and how effective that was.

Schell, J. (2008).

The art of game design : a book of lenses. Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00245a&AN=massey.b4586194&site=eds-live&scope=site

Office of Overseas Schools U.S. Department of State (2019)

AERO Social Studies Curriculum Framework. Retreived from http://www.projectaero.org/aero_standards/socialstudies/socialstudies.pdf

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Does game design/game based learning help students learn in the social studies classroom?

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Does game design/game based learning help students learn in the social studies classroom?

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Teaching Social Studies with Video Games is a collaboration between a 7th grade teacher and university researchers. I chose this article because there was a real example of a game being used in social studies. (published in The Social Studies).

This article included some interesting points about using games; for example the authors differentiate between content specific games, sandbox games (more open ended), linear games (getting from one point to another) and open game play (no goals).

The classroom example was Age of Empires II in a 7th grade history class. To assess and monitor progress they had the students write reflections and answer question prompts related to the standards/learning objectives. Unfortunately there is no detailed information (data) about how successful the project was; there is simply reference to how the students and teacher felt; The article was more focused on the challenges and issues implementing a games-based approach eg difficulty finding relevant game resources, limited resources and training.

Key Takeaways:
There are multiple ways of connecting the game to the curriculum and assessing the students eg using a wiki to write reflections

This article did not answer my question about how effective game based learning is. I'm interested in finding an article with clear data showing the impact of games/game design.

Maguth, Brad & S. List, Jonathan & Wunderle, Matthew. (2015). Teaching Social Studies with Video Games. The Social Studies. 106. 32-36. 10.1080/00377996.2014.961996.
Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279950569_Teaching_Social_Studies_with_Video_Games

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Another look at this question: Does game design/game based learning help students learn in the social studies classroom?

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Another look at this question: Does game design/game based learning help students learn in the social studies classroom?

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I chose the article Game Based Learning to Foster Critical Thinking in Student Discourse (Cicchino 2015 because it is focused on the social studies classroom and also has a more data driven approach and analysis. It is peer reviewed.

This study involved three 8th grade social studies classrooms playing a game that simulated the Indian French War. They were compared with 7 other classes taught in their traditional way. Cicchino (2015) analyzed the student discussions as well as a post test given to all the students.
He identifies 6 principles for game-based learning.
The game must

1. Encourage critical thinking

2.  Be at the right level of challenge

3. Allow students the chance to create their own knowledge

4. Be fictional

5. Be social

6. Allow students the chance to get to the end or win

He discovered that there was no significant difference between the group with the intervention and the traditional group. Cicchino (2015) suggested that the 5 open question post test was not sensitive enough to show the real impact of the learning and more research was required.
He also suggested that there should be a 7th principle added to his original list:

Students should have the opportunity to reflect and synthesize.(Cicchino 2015).

I found this interesting because it ties in with the article in my previous post by Maguth et al . (2015). He used a wiki to give the students a chance to reflect and make connections with previous learning. Cicchino believes this 7th principle could make the difference and show game-based learning to be more effective than traditional learning. More research needed.

Key Takeaways:

Analyzing the effectiveness of game-based learning in a real classroom situation has many difficulties eg different teachers and using an appropriate assessment

Including reflection and opportunities to make connections may be key to having meaningful game-based learning experiences

Did the article answer my post title question: Does game design/game based learning help students learn in the social studies classroom? To some extent yes. This article shows that game-based learning is at least as good as traditional learning in this context.

Cicchino, M. I. (2015). Using Game-Based Learning to Foster Critical Thinking in Student Discourse. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 9(2). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1058589&site=eds-live&scope=site

Maguth, Brad & S. List, Jonathan & Wunderle, Matthew. (2015). Teaching Social Studies with Video Games. The Social Studies. 106. 32-36. 10.1080/00377996.2014.961996.
Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279950569_Teaching_Social_Studies_with_Video_Games

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How can game design be used in social studies classrooms to help students meet their learning goals?

Game design can be used in two key ways to help students meet their learning goals in social studies.

To plan engaging lessons

To teach complex concepts that don’t fit with traditional linear teaching methods

What is game design?

Game design is similar to current learning design models.  Elements considered to be essential to quality game design relate to elements essential to good lesson design: A common goal, a storyline, clear rules, feedback, rewards and levels (Daul 2014). Similarly, in a typical unit or lesson there is a learning goal, clear expectations, formative feedback, and progression to the next level. In both game design and lesson/unit design, knowing the learner is essential as well as making sure the performance or learning experience is tied to the expected goal.

So, if game design is similar to lesson design, then why is there a disparity between the amounts of engagement learners[FL1]  experience? According to Schell (2015) this could be because lessons are often not designed well. He identified the ways in which games are engaging; visible progress, abstract to the concrete, full engagement (including sound etc) and lots of small goals. These criteria are often included in current lesson planning: For example, it is an expectation that students are fully aware of their learning progress (visible progress); that lessons are as authentic and real as possible (abstract to the concrete); that we use multiple ways to engage students including role plays and discussions (full engagements); and that the goals are in small achievable steps (lots of small goals). So perhaps as Schell (2014) suggests, the difference in engagement is due to poor lesson planning and not because there is a difference between game design and lesson design. What we really want is our students to be as engaged in their lessons as they are in games – this is when they learn the most.  We can use game design to plan engaging lessons in social studies (and other subjects).

What kind of learning is best suited for game design and the use of games? All lessons could benefit from the elements and principles previously mentioned as they lead to engaging experiences; however, Schell (2014) identified specific learning that benefits from game design: facts, problem solving and systems of relationships. Social studies standards include some of the following ideas: knowledge, understanding, skills, solving complex problems, relationships, patterns and interactions. There are some clear connections including content knowledge or facts, problems solving and the variety of words describing complex systems. I have taught social studies for several years and some of these systems are difficult for students to understand. As Schell (2014) points out, we are teaching them complex systems in a linear way. Using game design to create a simulation of a system or using a video game would give students opportunities to learn these systems by experiencing them and exploring. I can see the real benefits to teaching this way. For an upcoming unit I need students to understand the relationship between people and the physical landscape in which they live. I can see the benefit to students learning about this relationship by trying to grow their own food or build houses in different landscapes with local resources, rather than simply reading about it. Using games as tools to simulate these systems would be useful in social studies and other subjects.

So how do you implement game design in the classroom? I read a few accounts of using games as tools in the classroom; In these cases, game design was the structure and design of the game rather than the design of the lesson. Both Maguth et al (2015) and Cicchino (2015) agree that including reflection and opportunity to synthesize ideas is essential. Just using the game on its own is not as effective and should be used with teacher support. Neither article showed that using games as tools was more effective than traditional teaching, but Cicchino (2015) demonstrated that it was as good as other teaching methods. It is clearly difficult to determine the effectiveness of using games as tools in the classroom; for example, the impact of the teacher is hard to measure, being able to compare with control groups and other complications. There are issues with this approach, and given the cost and time needed to create games, and that there appears to be no extra benefit (Cicchino 2015), there may not be enough reason to focus on this. More and more games are being developed all the time, so in the future it may be easier to find and use games as tools, and there may be more studies demonstrating effective ways to use games as tools.

In summary, I have found this inquiry informative. There are clear links between well designed games and well-designed lessons, and I can see the benefit in using game design to plan engaging experiences in social studies and other subjects. I can also see the benefit of using simulations and games as tools to learn complex systems; and give content knowledge and problems solving more meaningful context.I will be looking though the social studies curriculum this year to see what opportunities there are to include games and simulations.

Cicchino, M. I. (2015). Using Game-Based Learning to Foster Critical Thinking in Student Discourse. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 9(2). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1058589&site=eds-live&scope=site

Daul, S. (2014).

Game Design for Learning. [Place of publication not identified]: American Society for Training & Development. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=802233&site=eds-live&scope=site

Maguth, Brad & S. List, Jonathan & Wunderle, Matthew. (2015). Teaching Social Studies with Video Games. The Social Studies. 106. 32-36. 10.1080/00377996.2014.961996.
Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279950569_Teaching_Social_Studies_with_Video_Games

Schell, J. (2008).

The art of game design : a book of lenses. Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.massey.ac.nz/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00245a&AN=massey.b4586194&site=eds-live&scope=site