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Imagine instructional techniques that engage students so effectively that it is difficult to drag them away from the assignment. Imagine techniques where the pace of learning is based on students' mastery of skills, and decisions are followed by realistic consequences. Imagine instructional techniques where not only are lessons differentiated for individual students, but assessment is continuous and the difficulty level is based on student achievement. Learning happens within a meaningful context, and students immerse themselves in new identities, worlds, and storylines.
This type of education is going on with students every day- but it is not happening in schools. Rather, it is happening in the video games students are playing in their free time. According to a 2008 Pew study, 97% of youth ages ?? 7 play video games; beyond this, their game play is diverse, social, and fosters civic engagement (Pew 2008). There is evidence that younger children also play in large numbers, many times with their parents. Fifty percent of parents play video games with their children, and overall 68% of U S. households play computer or video games (ESA 2009). Recently, more and more researchers argue that meaningful learning- including critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, and intertextuality- is happening through game play, and that video games may model instructional techniques that are both engaging and effective.
Types of Games
There is incredible diversity among the video games available. Most consumers are familiar with the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) rating system for games that distinguishes age appropriateness levels by denoting Everyone, Teen, or Mature on box labels (esrb.com 2010). Video games are also commonly divided by the platforms on which they are played, such as computer, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, or handheld, or by genres including Simulation, Action, Platform, and Puzzle.
Video games have also been divided along the Unes of educational versus commercial. Education researcher Marc Prensky offers another distinction that may prove useful to educators in looking at gaming and learning: simple and complex games (2006). Most of the educational "skill-and-drill" games that can be found in schools fall into the simple category, as do familiar card and board games such as Checkers and Solitaire. Simple games take just a few hours to complete, are generally played one-onone or alone,...