Enhancing learning practices by understanding formal and informal ways of using computer games

Sammendrag

A 12-year-old boy – call him Lucas – is in the middle of a boss fight. This is a challenging test, in which he must beat an enemy harder than any he has encountered before. Through hours and hours of play, he has prepared for this moment. Now, he must combine and apply all of his skills to perform at his very best. If you were to try to speak to him, he would probably be so immersed in the game world that he would not even notice you. Tomorrow at school, however, he will tell his friends how he beat the boss and advanced in the game. He will be considered one of the experts within his peer group. He and his friends will then spend their breaks discussing strategies for the game, perhaps looking up YouTube videos of their favorite Internet celebrities playing the game. If it is anything like I was at that age, he will probably be thinking more on that day about the game than about the lesson his teacher has prepared about European Explorers. His teacher – call her Sally – notices this. She also knows that Lucas is not a special case; after all, most kids of his age in Norway regularly play digital games (Medietilsynet 2018). Sally would like to know if it is possible to design learning activities for her students in a way that connects the learning to what matters to them, making the topics they cover in class seem more relevant. At the same time, she wonders what it is about these computer games that enables an 11-year-old to remember hundreds of Pokémon, as well as details about how they evolve, their strengths, and where to find them (Gee 2005), while they struggle to put letters together correctly or to remember where to place Italy on a map. Perhaps, she thinks, games involve some learning principles that could be utilized when designing her lessons?