A different look at “game” design…
So, we are in the midst of exams and closing out 2010. My thoughts are already turning to the first units of 2011–how can I find some new wrinkle/motivator/hook to re-energize/re-engage my classes. In my last post, I was kicking around how teachers can use video game design intentionally to engage students. Since then, I’ve been researching how I might best use the popular video game SimCity as a part of a unit on urban planning in my environmental science class. I want to shake things up–to suck them in to the topic, to give the kids some creative control and to have them apply urban planning principles in the game to design a sustainable city…
Usually by the start of second semester, we’ve all settled into our roles in the classroom. What I fear is when we, as students and teachers, slip into playing the “Game” of school. I read a great little piece on the “Game” a few years ago in Classwise, a print-only newsletter “for busy educators.” The two-part article was based on the book by Robert L. Fried, called The Game of School, which I have not read. The passages that struck me most described a classroom culture where:
People think they’re teaching and learning…But nobody is really learning much beyond what it takes to pass the next exam or cover the textbook chapter. The Game begins whenever we focus on [just] getting through the school day…We should worry if our young people are beginning to confuse…the idea of obeying the teacher with learning…When we allow ourselves to gear ourselves up so as to complete school tasks that have little meaning for us aside from the value of getting them done and over with, we lose touch with our own learning spirit. We tend to become compliant rather than creative, docile instead of courageous, inwardly passive instead of assertively engaged…We become game players by reflex, and learners only on occasion.”
We all want kids to behave, but we don’t want to set up that kind of game, do we? If we don’t design our classes to avoid this situation, then we have the “Game” by default, don’t we? This year I have even discussed the idea openly with my seniors early on. When my teacher “spidey-sense” detected kids playing the game early on, I made up this slide and put it up in class one day:
Click to Enlarge
After I put this on the board, one of my seniors explained the concept of “sandbagging” to me. Basically, if you knew right away a course was not going to challenge you, then you could find the minimum effort level and settle in for the year. From then on out, the sandbagger could just go through the motions…
So, if we do want to use game design in our courses, we better be conscious of creating conditions that avoid this type of game for students to play with us. What do you do, as a teacher, to defeat the “Game” of school?
