Brief overview of some of the psychology behind educational gaming.

Jodie Taylor

What’s Love Got to do with it?

Just about EVERYTHING!

Motivation:

Our brains are more active when we are interested.

Games like and

are engaging and interesting

Successful games excel at balancing:

Ambitionor Risk

with Delightor Reward

...they’re not all that educational.

While they are fun to play and engaging…

The challenge then is to:

Design games that are both engaging and educating,

using the psychology of Ambition and Delight (risk and reward),

to produce quality edutainment.

There is evidence to supportthis theory!

In a study of inactive students in a fifth grade physical education class

students were presented witha series of video game stations.

Each station required some activity to play the game. (Fogel, Miltenberger, Graves, & Koehlerp, 2010, p. 592)

Every student monitored showedan increase in activity.

Classroom games likeWorld of Classcraftturn the classroom intoa role-playing game.

Changing the cultureof the classroom!

Problems with the psychology of gaming

♦ Gaming the game

♦ Teacher buy-in

♦ Unnecessary gamificaton

♦ Cost

Gaming the game

Most gamers are keenly aware of (and actively seeking out) flaws in gaming

systems that allow one to “work the system”.Instead of actually learning, they strive to

merely beat the game.

Teacher buy-in

It is truly a brave new educational world we are

venturing into.

Unnecessary gamificaton

"The game must add value to the end result – that is, the uptake of

knowledge – or it becomes a wasteof time and resources… “Hilton, 2006

Cost

The unfortunate reality is that it costs money and manpower

to develop and produce quality edutainment that taps into solid

gaming psychology.

The Solutions?

Gaming the game:

Teacher buy-in:

Education and willingness of teachers to become prepared to learn innovative teaching techniques.

Quality design of games. Which implies quality resources and developers.

Unnecessary gamification:

Teachers and curriculum writers must be educated in the psychology behind successful gaming education, not just the next hottest curriculum out there.

Cost:This will largely be a culture shift to realize the monetary cost is worth the educational benefit.

So what!?!?!The big idea is that we can

(and we should do all we are able to)help our students make genuine

psychological connections between the process of learning and the

reward of knowledge.

If we tap into the power of

psychologyin educational

gaming, we will fundamentally

change our educational

system and open new and exciting

doors for ourstudents!

Works Cited

1 Tina turnerhttp://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3800000/Tina-Turner-tina-turner-3840621-1024-768.jpg

2 WowGifhttp://media.photobucket.com/user/patti49/media/Illidan_Stormrage.gif.html?filters[term]=world%20of

%20warcraft%20gif&filters[primary]=gif&filters[secondary]=images&sort=1&o=16

3 CoD Gifhttp://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/1582400/call-of-duty-o.gif

4 kid watching tvhttp://blogs.plos.org/retort/files/2010/09/watching-TV.jpeg

5 dragon riskhttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxoZgPcXXDU/UKaIkcPJbtI/AAAAAAAAEN0/X3kuYwG4F9k/s1600/Shadow_Dragon_3.jpg

6 facing dragonhttp://www.zastavki.com/pictures/originals/2013/_Elder_Scrolls_Online__facing_the_dragon_045888_.jpg

7 link facing dragonhttp://37.media.tumblr.com/60aff76e24ff622c15dfc993780b5f8c/tumblr_mo0b3sgWFC1rv4zlho5_1280.jpg

8 treasurehttp://whattimeisoclock.blogspot.com/2013/04/one-mans-treasure.html

9 Wii boxinghttp://www.atomicgamer.com/screenshots/gallery-2096/44971-800.jpg

Fogel, V. A., Miltenberger, R. G., Graves, R., & Koehler, S. (2010). The Effects Of Exergaming On Physical Activity Among Inactive Children In A Physical Education Classroom. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 43(4), 591-600

Hilton, R. (2006). Gaming as an education tool. Young Consumers, 7(2), 14.

Images

10 classcraft 1http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/classcraft.png

11 classcraft 2http://venturebeat.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/mr-higueras-class.jpg?w=720&h=418

12 War games pichttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qgV8OWRDxqE/Th8bJndvdSI/AAAAAAAAASI/aNe7aPaQTsg/s1600/

shall_we_play_a_game__by_newSaint.jpeg

13 Wargtames 2http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/WarGames-Remake.jpg

14 stern old teachhttp://thanksforyourplaying.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/gaming-and-me-a-brief-history/

15 money swirlhttp://statuteofryanne.com/2014/03/07/money-from-foap-copyright-smartphone/

16 money stackhttp://unwrapsuccess.com/images/money.gif

17 step into adventurehttp://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/db/72/b5/db72b5e484766bbf1d00f5c8fa3ab2c9.jpg

Works Cited (cont)