The use of video games has caused rivers of ink to flow in recent times, almost always warning of the dangers that their abuse entails.
However, There are more and more voices that affirm that beyond this negative part, video games can and should be used for educational purposes In these paragraphs we will delve deeper into this issue and the main arguments that support it.
Since video games became popular, especially starting in the 1980s and reaching an increasingly larger market share since then, many sectors have demonized them. They warned (and still warn) of a series of consequences, many of them without any basis, that children could suffer simply for dedicating their leisure time to this activity.
But in contrast to these harsh criticisms, other professionals ask a question: can video games be used in education? And, if we are talking about an entertainment medium that a large part of children love, Why not take advantage of it as a means of bringing educational content to them that would not otherwise be attractive to them?
Other digital media have been progressively introduced into classrooms, as did audio CDs, films, whether created specifically for educational use or others that also served to educate due to the topic they dealt with, and finally the use of computers, electronic whiteboards and other devices. It is logical to think that video games can also be very useful if you know how to use them.
Some experts do not doubt this positive effect The key is to know at what moments in teaching you should take advantage of the use of video games as a support method for the traditional lesson and in this way consolidate knowledge. In addition, there are different ways of approaching video games, something that we will see in detail in the next point.
Different methodologies
Once we are clear about their usefulness, the next question we could ask ourselves is in what ways video games can be used in education. Depending on the intention with which they have been created, we can establish the following classification.
The first category that we would find is that of classic video games, that is, games that have been created with a playful intention, but due to its plot or the elements used, teachers can also extract didactic utility. Depending on the subject matter to be discussed, a multitude of examples can be found. One case would be video games set in a certain historical era, which help you immerse yourself in the characteristics and events of that period.
There are many examples of video games with historical themes, from the abundant war genre, where the Call of Duty, Medal of Honor or Battlefield sagas stand out, to those of the Wild West, such as Red Dead Redemption or those that deal with different eras, such as Assassin’s Creed, Age of Empires or Civilization. The examples are many, although obviously some will go deeper into the historical context than others, where they will tiptoe.
It is important to keep in mind that video games, like any other work of entertainment, such as movies or books, They do not necessarily have to be faithful to reality or historically truthful and therefore may introduce some or many fictional elements into their plot and context. Therefore, it will be an important task for the teacher to point out those fictitious elements, so as not to create erroneous learning.
But also They can be games as different and seemingly simple as Minecraft which can perfectly be used to explain to the little ones some concepts about geometry that could be more complex or tedious on paper, and that are much more attractive on the screen.
Another example could be the SimCity simulator or others similar (Theme Park, Theme Hospital or Caesar), where the player gradually creates a city and discovers the needs of the citizens and the difficulties that come with managing a territory, even when they are as simplified as within the parameters of a videogame.
2. Games adapted for education
Sometimes video game developers They take advantage of an already created work to generate an adaptation adapted to the school world This is the case of the aforementioned Assassin’s Creed saga. These famous video games have released installments set in historical moments as different as the Peloponnesian War, ancient Egypt, the time of the Crusades, Renaissance Italy, Ming Dynasty China, and more.
This saga, after having swept its purely recreational mode, has decided to take advantage of its potential and create specific modes to promote teachings about the historical moments in which some of its installments take place. These are the so-called discovery tours, ways in which the player can explore the open world of that era, with no specific objective other than to admire the historical details.
In the case of the tour proposed in the Odyssey delivery, The student has the opportunity to get to know Ancient Greece in all its splendor, visiting almost thirty different locations, also enjoying audio guides that will further expand the teachings of this video game. As if that were not enough, at the end of each of these levels a small knowledge test is proposed to check that the player/student has integrated the data.
Another video game that had already been mentioned in the previous point would be Minecraft, a game based on interaction with a three-dimensional world made of cubes with different textures. The developers of this video game, as was the case with those of Assassin’s Creed, have created an exclusive mode for educational contexts
This game has the advantage of being especially popular among the little ones, so it is an extraordinary way to bring different concepts to children through playful activities and in this way they pay great attention and therefore retain the new knowledge in a more efficient way compared to traditional education methodologies.
3. Games created for educational purposes
Other developers have tried to answer the question of whether video games can be used in education in a different way: by creating video games with a completely didactic objective. These are tools designed for educational use, which can be used well in the classroom so that the teacher is the one who guides the activity or in the child’s own home, so that they can use it with the support of their parents or even themselves.
There are many video games that have been created for this purpose, although logically their scope is more localized in the academic world and families, so they do not have as much impact as great works of interactive entertainment. Some examples could be the Knowledge Adventure saga, which proposes the exploration of different nature scenarios, Reading Rabbit, where children are helped to learn to read, write or handle simple mathematical concepts.
Another series of video games created specifically for education would be those by GCompris. This saga proposes different games depending on the educational subject you want to work on. To do this, it has a whole range of options ranging from algebra or reading to geography, natural sciences, or even office tasks, animation, puzzle games, memory games, chess and others.
These video games They are designed so that even 2-year-old children can have their first experiences with these interactive activities, since they are totally adapted to their capabilities. They have modes that increase the complexity so that they can be a challenge for older children, thus offering very entertaining activities for children up to 10 years old.
Another advantage of GCompris video games is that they are free software programs, so anyone can download them and even edit them to adapt them to the wishes and needs of the specific family. In this way it is accessible for free to people from anywhere in the world simply with an internet connection to obtain the files.
4. Simulators
Although it may seem that video games are new elements in educational contexts, the truth is that, Beyond the school classrooms, these tools were already being used in other areas that were also educational in some way, even if it was not in the children’s environment. This is the case, for example, of simulators, both flight and driving, which are used to train pilots in very specific situations.
For example, Formula-1 drivers use this type of software to be able to rehearse certain maneuvers or to gain in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of a circuit. But the simulators’ journey goes much further. And NASA itself and other space agencies use these tools to be able to anticipate the possible situations that may arise on a mission beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.
