Educators and parents are quick to disparage video games - they’re a ‘waste of time,’ they’re ‘too violent,’ or they lead to repetitive stress injuries (nintendinitis). And yet, even non-gamers like myself can recognize that there’s something going on when a kid who can’t sit still in class for five minutes can be mentally locked in for hours at home playing video games.

Why is this? And how, as school leaders, can we think about gaming differently, in a way that recognizes the learning principles that are embedded in most video games? After reading this document, I hope that teachers and administrators can discuss (and maybe reframe) their beliefs about the educational aspects of gaming and consider how they might be able to draw on some of the powerful cognitive aspects of gaming within their classrooms. At the end of this document are discussion questions and a list of some key gaming-related resources for educators. This article is based on the superb book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, by Dr. Jim Gee at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

So… without further ado, here are some learning principles that are present in most video games, particularly role-playing games where a participant takes on the role of a character interacting with his environment and/or others.

1. Video games are set up to encourage active, not passive, learning.

All video games require participants to be actively involved in their own learning. Gamers, particularly those in role-playing games, rarely sit passively and receive information. Instead they must actively explore, hypothesize, experiment, reflect upon, critique, move about, interact, etc. As children navigate complex gaming spaces, they learn to think of these gaming environments as spaces that both manipulate them and can be manipulated by them. This is very much like real life (or ‘meatspace,’ as some virtual denizens call it!).

2. In video games, ‘learners can take risks where real-world consequences are lowered.’ (Gee, p. 207)

Video games provide places where participants can safely take risks. When a gamer fails, at worst she ‘loses a life’ or has to start over, often not at the beginning but in a slightly reduced state that allows her to retain nearly all of the skills, knowledge, power, capabilities, progress, etc. that she has gained thus far. This gaming principle entices children to try, even if they (rightly) believe that they will fail at first.

3. Gaming environments are compelling to participants.

The proof that gaming environments are compelling to those playing them lies in the fact that gamers are willing to play a game repeatedly and often. Gamers put in a lot of effort as they try different ways of doing things, try to get further than they did before, explore new variations in areas where they already have been successful, etc. Gamers are mentally engaged - often quite deeply - with the learning environment as they try, fail, try again, fail again, try yet again, fail yet again, and so on.

4. Video games give a lot of output for just a little input.

One of the key characteristics of video games is that they operate according to what Gee calls the amplification of input principle. In a video game, you can push a few buttons here and there, or type a few words with your keyboard, and an entire immersive environment springs forth to engage you. Gee notes that this principle is present in other domains as well. For example, think of the output that you get (e.g., you can drive halfway across the country) by simply moving your foot up and down on the gas pedal of your car. Amplification of input is a powerfully motivating feature of video games because learners can put in just a little and still get a lot back out. This encourages them to put in a little more to see what else they might get.

5. In video games, learners get rewards from the very beginning.

Another significant feature of video games is that participants get rewards from the very beginning. These rewards, both intrinsic and extrinsic, send messages of success to learners and encourage them to continue to play to gain additional rewards. Extrinsic rewards might include new character lives, greater wealth, more points or coins, etc. Examples of intrinsic rewards include satisfaction with character progress or growth, expanded interconnection with other characters, greater understanding and knowledge, and so on. Importantly, these rewards are individually customized to each learner as he or she progresses further through the gaming environment.

6. Gamers get lots of non-boring practice.

As Gee notes, people “need to practice what they are learning a good deal before they master it” (p. 68). Moreover, if they don’t continue to practice, they lose much of their previously-acquired skill and knowledge (e.g., how much do you remember about sine, cosine, and tangent?). Because they provide opportunities, for active, interactive learning, video games do an excellent job of allowing learners to practice skills and mentally ingrain existing knowledge in ways that are engaging, not boring. One of the keys to this is the fact that video games embed learning within meaningful contexts rather than being decontextualized like “drill and kill” worksheets or homework problem sets. Video games also facilitate learners’ acquisition of self-selected goals rather than goals that are externally imposed by others.

7. Video game participants are constantly learning, unlearning, and relearning.

In most video games, particularly role-playing games, participants must continually unpack prior learning and undo previously-routinized behaviors in order to learn new skills that allow them to progress and be successful. In other words, participants cannot function on 'autopilot' for long before the video game requires them to do something different to reach a new and higher level. As Gee notes,

Several educators have argued that this cycle of automatization of skills through practice, rethinking this automatization when faced with new conditions in order to learn new skills and transform old ones, and then perfecting these new skills through further practice that once again leads to automatization is the very foundation of intelligent practice in the world. . . . A cycle of automatization, adaptation, new learning, and new automatization is a sine qua non of learning for those who want to survive as active thinkers and actors in a fast changing world. (pp. 69-70)

8. Video games continually and appropriately challenge learners.

Video games are structured so that learners constantly operate at the outer edge of their competence. Participants are continually challenged but the challenges are not so difficult that learners believe they are undoable. Gee refers to this as the regime of competence principle. Lev Vygotsky, a famous developmental psychologist, called this concept the zone of proximal development—the area in which students are ready to grow. Video games are similar to teachers in that they take the role of what Vygotsky called the 'more knowledgeable other,' the entity that helps students bridge the gap between their current ability and new capabilities. In education, we often call this scaffolding - the idea that learners can progress to new skill levels with structured, individualized, just-in-time assistance. Video games are very adept at scaffolding participants' learning. One of the reasons that video games are so compelling / engaging / 'addictive' is that participants are continually faced with new challenges that are neither too easy nor too difficult. This motivates them to move forward because the next step is always in sight and is perceived as being achievable.

9. Video games foster active, reflective investigation.

Gee points out that most good video games require learners to

• probe the virtual world by exploring, looking around, moving items, clicking on something, etc.;
• form a hypothesis about what something in the game might mean based on reflection while probing and afterward;
• reprobe the world with that hypothesis in mind to see what effect occurs; and
• treat this effect as feedback from the world and accept or rethink the original hypothesis. (p. 90)

These four stages reflect how expert scientists approach their tasks and embody the process by which children and adults learn when they're not in school. In other words, this probe-hypothesis-reprobe-rethink process is "central to how humans learn things" (p. 91). This model of learning is underutilized in schools, however, as curricula and other pressures often result in a focus on memorization of facts rather than on teaching students how to discover, decode, and test patterns of thinking and meaning. The latter, of course, is an essential skill for individuals living in an everchanging global society.

10. Video games allow learners to follow their own paths.

There is more than one path to success in most role-playing video games. The path that some players follow, or the choices that they make, can be different than the paths and choices of others and yet still lead to the next level. Those paths may take longer, or some choices may be better, but eventually each player gets to the next stage. By playing and replaying levels repeatedly in ways that are not boring, players can revise and refine their paths to success. Video games allow for individualized learning toward common outcomes.

11. Gamers make meaning within embodied experiences.

Because video games have the capacity to create complex, experiential simulations, participants’ learning is situated within learning environments that are fairly authentic, at least within the paradigm of the game framework. In other words, learning is not decontextualized, like a multiple choice item or writing prompt might be, but instead is rooted within the ongoing development of the skills, knowledge, and behaviors necessary to be successful in the game environment. For example, instead of reading about a blacksmith or watching a video about a blacksmith, gamers learn by actually being blacksmiths. Participants’ understanding is thus deeper because it is embodied within simulated (and often very real) experiences.

12. Learning in video games is multimodal.

Most educators know about the theories of multiple intelligences and learning styles. The basic idea is that students learn differently and have different strengths. Teachers thus should try to facilitate multiple paths to learning and attempt to create different ways for students to show their mastery of content material. Most video games seamlessly integrate three of our five senses: sight, sound, and touch. If we ever figure out a way to implement Smell-o-vision or Odorama with our computers (learn more about digital scent technology), participants also may experience different smells while gaming. Because they can simultaneously utilize images, text, sound, interactions, abstract design, and so on (Gee, 2003, p. 210), video games are better able to simulate real-life experiences than can printed text, audio, or video. This makes learning more authentic, more engaging, and more compelling.

13. Video games can create subsets of a domain.

One of the most powerful features of video games is their ability to simulate worlds: past, present, or future; real or fictional. The multimodal capabilities of video games allow participants to be immersed in rich, deep learning contexts. For example, instead of reading about the Civil War, learners can take the role of soldier, general, medic, battlefield photographer, news correspondent, and the like. At the same time, however, dropping a new learner into a complex world can be disorienting and discouraging. Video games can create a simplified subset of the real domain, a starting place where participants can safely become oriented to the new world before being exposed to the entire learning environment. The value of this cannot be understated. Imagine if you were an English-speaking American who was about to be dropped into the middle of South Korea. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a chance for some safe and structured, but authentic, practice first? Gee (2003) sums this up nicely:

Learning is not started in a separate place (e.g., a classroom or textbook) outside the domain in which the learning is going to operate. At the same time, the learner is not thrown into the “real” thing—the full game—and left to swim or drown. (p. 122)

14. Video games effectively facilitate “bottom up” learning of basic skills.

In early stages of video games, learners are exposed to critical fundamental skills that allow them to gradually engage in more complex actions. As Gee (2003) notes,

early situations and problems [are designed] in a quite sophisticated way to lead to fruitful learning. When later the player is confronted by harder situations and problems, he or she has just the right basis on which to make fruitful guesses about what to do. (p. 135)

These basic skills are learned in a “bottom up” fashion - by playing the game, not through decontextualized exercises. Indeed, the structured learning environments of video games typically are designed so effectively that

by the time new players are aware of what are basic skills . . . the basic elements that are used repeatedly and combined and often concentrated in the earlier episodes . . . they have already mastered them. (Gee, 2003, p. 136)

15. Video games facilitate “just in time” learning.

The artificial intelligences that reside in video games can be structured to respond in different ways to participant activity. Computer-mediated learning environments thus can be designed to provide information “just in time” or on demand. There is a great deal power associated with just-in-time learning or resource acquisition. For example, in manufacturing and industry, the concept of just-in-time manufacturing allows companies to reduce inventory and cut costs, making them more efficient and effective. Similarly, just-in-time learning environments allow participants to acquire skills or knowledge when they need them and not before. This facilitates greater concentration in earlier stages on things that are important (rather than extraneous or unneeded); allows for greater individualization and customization; makes learning more fluid; and leads to more active, engaged, motivated learners.

16. Gamers are discovery learners.

Virtually every role-playing game requires participants to actively investigate the learning environment. As noted previously, this active learning aspect replicates real-life learning contexts and deepens overall knowledge and proficiency. Unlike many K-12 classrooms, video games rarely tell learners anything overtly. If games do, it’s usually planful and related to something small. All of the big discoveries—the conceptual breakthroughs—are left for the learner to discover in a structured, scaffolded way. Educators have long recognized the value of guided, inquiry-based learning methods, particularly for problem-solving, even if they have rarely implemented such methods on a large scale.

17. Gamers have many opportunities for learning transfer.

One of the key outcomes that educators try to achieve with students is the transfer of learning from one context to another. In rapidly-changing societies such as ours, the ability to transfer and/or adapt existing knowledge and skills to new situations is an essential requirement for life success. Video games give participants many opportunities to practice already-acquired skills and to transfer their learning to new and different challenges. To succeed in video games, learners must not only exhibit near transfer (i.e., replication of prior learning to new, fairly similar, situations) but also far transfer (i.e., adaptation and modification of prior learning to substantively different contexts).

18. Gamers are producers and insiders, not just consumers.

Like other modern technology tools (e.g., digital cameras and camcorders, podcasts, blogs, wikis), many video games allow learners to be producers of original content, not just consumers of pre-packaged material. Some of the most popular role-playing games (e.g., Second Life, EverQuest) have very sophisticated economies built upon user-created content. These video games have tools that allow for rich, individualized customization of the learning environment by participants. This stands in sharp contrast to the “one size fits all” instructional model that we see in many schools and classrooms, where teachers and textbooks are the insiders and “the learners are outsiders who must take what they are given as mere consumers” (Gee, 2003, p. 194). Control of the learning path, and perhaps the learning environment itself, can be powerfully motivating and engaging for learners.

Conclusion

The purpose of this article is to illustrate some of the powerful learning principles that are present in video games, particularly role-playing games where a participant takes on the role of a character interacting with her environment and/or others. The series only highlighted 18 of the 36 learning principles described in Dr. Jim Gee’s book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. I selected principles from the book that I thought were particularly powerful aspects of electronic learning environments. These principles are present in K-12 classrooms to varied extent, depending on the school and/or teacher. However, it is important to note that these principles, even when present, typically occur in K-12 classrooms only some of the time while for video games they are the bedrock foundation of the learning platform and are present nearly all of the time.

I think that video games, or virtual simulations, or whatever we want to call them, will be a key component of classrooms of the future. The learning principles and potential will be too powerful to ignore for much longer, particularly as we move closer to every student having some kind of computing device with him or her 24 hours a day. Also, educators are starting to recognize that the ability of computers to facilitate students’ self-paced learning can free up teachers to spend more time with students who need extra help or who are ready to move ahead. One of the biggest challenges for K-12 teachers is differentiating instruction for a classroom of students with greatly-varying ability levels. Computers running educationally-valuable electronic learning environments can help immensely with this issue and can be powerful tools for savvy educators.

As the educational and/or ‘serious’ games movement grows, we will begin to see complex, realistic, accurate simulations of ancient civilizations (e.g., Colonial Williamsburg, the Maya, Great Zimbabwe), historical events (e.g., the Pelopponesian War, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Long March), scientific and mathematical processes (e.g., space exploration, Archimedean physics, Euclidean geometry), and the like. I am looking forward to this day. Right now even the most popular education-oriented games (e.g., Reader Rabbit, JumpStart, Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?) have been notably simplistic compared to commercial virtual worlds such as Second Life, EverQuest, and World of Warcraft. I believe that education oriented simulations will be much better at stimulating deeper, richer learning than the textbooks, videos, and learning games of today. It’s hard to argue that making authentic decisions in the role of a pharaoh or a slave or a farmer, while immersed in the realistic sights, sounds, and activities of ancient Egypt, wouldn’t be a better, more meaningful, and more permanent learning experience than merely reading a few textbook pages, seeing a few pictures, answering some “drill-and-kill” multiple choice questions on the computer, or watching a short video on the subject.