Game Based Learning

     Game-based Learning is proving its strengths in the classroom.  This type of learning is not really a new idea if one considers that students have been doing crosswords and word searches for many years, however, the interactive games of today have the ability to draw the students interest while at the same time teaching them how to learn by allowing them to truly “live and experience” the subject matter.  Interactive games require students to discover who, what, when, where, why, and how in order to solve real-world problems.  They learn to research, write, collaborate, problem-solve, and while they are at it, learn important aspects of technology.  These games are fun and engaging, they can be designed for single and multiple users, and they fit easily into the curriculum as they can be used in addition to textbooks, handouts, and lectures.

     I found an example of an interactive game, called River City.  River City is a MUVE, which stands for Multi-User and Virtual Environment.  This particular MUVE is developed for science students in elementary and middle schools.  This game allows students to create their own Avatar and enter a 19^th century town called River City.  River City’s residents are getting sick and it is the job of the students (s) to figure out why this is happening.  As they enter the town, they will see that the scenery is authentic for the 19^th century; River City appears to be an average town complete with a school, hospital, railroad station, and multiple other buildings.  It is surrounded by hills and a waterfall drops off into the river that goes through town.  As the students begin to explore the town they will collect and analyze information from different sources such as data collection stations that give current water samples, residents that give clues, and kiosks that display items such as news from around the town.  As they gather facts from these different sources, they can then form and test a hypothesis regarding the health and environmental issues that they found.

     As they work their way towards proving their hypothesis, students can collaborate through chat or they can time warp to where their teammates are and help them.  The software for River City has a user interface that provides electronic notebooks to organize experiments, observations, and data.  After the students have drawn their conclusions, they must write a report of their findings in the form of a letter to the mayor. 

     Games like River City can be manipulated for just about any subject matter.  Imagine shooting from the front lines in a simulated Civil War battle, or how about dropping in while our Founding Fathers sign the Declaration of Independence, how about finding a job and buying a house in a simulated town while you are learning how to balance a checkbook and budget money.  That brings a new concept to being “virtually” broke!

     Game Based Learning is proving to be an effective tool in teaching.  This idea of integrating educational and interactive gaming was adopted because of the success of these games in military training.  It is easy to see how, then, that the generations that we are teaching now could benefit from this style of learning; have never known life without the Internet or computer technology.   Its best asset is that it provides the students with an entertaining, hands-on, learning environment.  It also is a great additional exercise for hard to teach concepts or confusing labs.  River City has been researching and perfecting their MUVE for eleven years now, and they have proven through various studies that interactive learning can narrow the gap between low-performing and high-performing students.  I believe that if computer games can help children learn material, gain social skills, gain intellect, and develop a better self-concept, then that might be significant enough cause to implement it further.