Playing Games in the School Library

Developing Game-Based Lessons and Using Gamification Concepts

Sarah Pavey

• Publisher: Facet Publishing
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781783305339, 9781783305346
• eBook ISBN: 9781783305360
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Library & Information Science
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Playing Games in the School Library is a comprehensive resource for those looking to explore the use of game-based learning and gamification in the library setting. It illustrates how game play can be developed through applying learning theory to practice, exemplified by case studies taken from a variety of international contexts.

The book begins by applying prominent learning theories, in particular the use of games to nurture natural curiosity, problem solving and creativity. It then looks at the effect of playful learning upon individual students and groups. Motivation, engagement and the development of self-esteem are explored alongside social skills such as team working, oracy, communication, motor skills and emotional intelligence. Separate chapters outline the practical use of different types of games including digital, mixed media, physical and active learning and live games, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each within a teaching and learning context. Finally, consideration is given to how game-based learning and gamification can be used to promote library resources and services for impact and how collaboration on this approach with subject teachers, senior leadership teams and the wider community, including parents can be beneficial.

Written in a comprehensive but accessible manner, Playing Games in the School Library will give readers a means of engaging with distance learning, as well as providing a more challenging environment within their physical space. It will equip them with both a practical and theoretical rationale for including the game-based approach in their work while supporting their school's aims and objectives.

CHAPTER 1

How Do We Know Game-Based Learning is an Effective Approach to Teaching and Learning?

Defining game-based learning and gamification

When we think of game play in education it is important to differentiate between gamification and game-based learning. In a nutshell, gamification is based on providing incentives to learn whereas game-based learning is learning through play.

Gamification uses techniques we find in everyday leisure games to motivate students to engage in a task they otherwise would not find attractive. In the mid-2000s, the idea of collecting points, badges or certificates as an incentive as you completed tasks became popular. Examples can be seen in rewards for loyalty from shops or services to breaking down examinations into modules and the open publishing of the mark schemes. One scheme popular in schools that uses this technique is Accelerated Reader, which encourages students to read for pleasure through the awarding of points. Chapter 8 considers gamification, but the greater proportion of this book is concerned with game-based learning.

Most definitions of game-based learning emphasise that it is a type of game play with defined learning outcomes (Shaffer et al., 2005). In schools, games are often employed to help students to understand a process or concept through play. Games-based learning could be used to introduce a perhaps quite boring subject in a fun way, for example teaching the Dewey Decimal System of Classification or learning to write an academic bibliography. Conversely, the technique might be used purely for engagement and promotion of library services. Game-based learning can be used in many educational areas. Andrew Walsh (2018) at Huddersfield University has used it to great effect in a library setting. Although he is based in higher education many of the ideas he proposes can be used in school libraries too. However, most research on game-based learning at school level has been about measuring its impact on classroom teaching and learning outcomes. There are many publications and websites brimming with ideas for game-based learning but for a game to be successful and effective in achieving learning objectives, we first need to understand the theory behind this approach to learning. Only then can we make an informed choice about what we decide to implement in our school library setting.

The psychology of teaching and learning using games

The link between learning and playing predates the digital gaming culture of students today by thousands of years. Strategy games were played by ancient civilisations. Much is already known about these types of games by analysing artwork that has survived through the ages such as the Lewis chessmen. Recently, the Digital Ludeme Project has been developed in Maastricht. It considers how such ancient games developed skills and understanding of concepts. Browne (2020) reports on this project and the new science of digital archeoludology. But why does a game-based approach to learning have benefits? Let us delve into some learning theory first. If we can understand how students learn in a broader sense it helps us design an effective game for use in a library setting.

Among others, there are six well established pedagogical theories linked to learning processes:

behaviourism

cognitive constructivism

social constructivism

social learning theory

multiple intelligences

brain-based learning.

We now consider these approaches in more depth.

Behaviourism

This type of learning is based on the principle that we react and respond to our environment or external stimuli. The most common examples of this are probably the conditional response experiments conducted by Ivan Pavlov with his dogs, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1904. Pavlov discovered that dogs could be trained to salivate if they thought they were about to be fed simply by ringing a bell after conditioning them to this response through reward and stimulus (McLeod, 2018). The theory of behaviourism was further developed by Burrhus Skinner, who showed the benefits of re-enforcement in retaining correct knowledge in the education process in a way that could be measured. In schools, radical behaviourism theory from Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1957) is exemplified by the teacher being very much in charge of the classroom and giving students information that they learn by rote and repetition.

How does this relate to game-based learning and gamification? Behaviourists believe that by rewarding a ‘correct’ response the student will learn and be motivated to learn more. In a game environment this might mean gaining points or a bonus, or unlocking a puzzle to proceed to the next level. In particular, these traditional types of re-enforcement might relate to reading scheme points or an escape room or box challenge. Further re-enforcement might be made at a social level by publicising a leader board for those with the highest points.

The danger with this approach is that some students may experience a negative response if they fail to reach the required score or feel overwhelmed by the task and these students may just ‘give up’ and opt out of the exercise. Within a behaviourist approach there is little scope for creativity or innovation – it is simply achieving targets usually set by the educator. Behaviourism rarely addresses the social and transferable skills that a game-based environment can provide since it is primarily concerned with individual performance and response. Another argument against this approach is that the response effect may not be permanent – an analogy being cramming for a test. However, gamification has its place and it can be effective if used strategically, as we will discover in Chapter 8.

Cognitive constructivism

Cognitivism or cognitive constructivist theory considers that humans do more than just react to an environmental stimulus. This learning approach aligns the human brain to a computer and suggests it is a process of acquiring, storing and retrieving information. Tasks are broken down into smaller subsets and at each stage compared with what is already known and then built on. This theory was favoured over behaviourism by the 1960s.

One of the main psychologists associated with the theory of cognitivism was Jean Piaget (1896–1980) a Swiss psychologist. His theory of cognitive development (1939) is called ‘genetic epistemology’ and it has three components:

building blocks of knowledge (schemas)

adaptation processes that enable the transition from one stage to another

stages of cognitive development (Piaget, 1976).

Overall, Piaget believed that in the classroom learning should be student-centred and opportunities made for active discovery. He considered the role of the teacher as being to facilitate learning, rather than to give direct tuition.

Another psychologist contributing to the development of cognitivism was the American Jerome Bruner (1915–2016). He is credited with bringing Piaget’s ideas on cognitive development stages into the classroom. He published his discovery learning theory in The Process of Education in 1960 and influenced curriculum reform at the time. Bruner argued that any child can be taught anything at any stage of development if it is presented properly. However, he noted that if the task was too hard then a student might become bored. He introduced the idea of scaffolding tasks by providing a limited structured framework between the student and educator and so allowing some freedom to explore within safe boundaries. He also developed the ‘spiral curriculum’ allowing students to revisit a subject in later years with more complexity.

David Ausubel (1918–2008), also an American psychologist, is another of the founders of cognitivism. He developed the meaningful learning theory published in his book Educational Psychology (1968), in which he argued that new knowledge can be slotted into existing knowledge structures – Piaget’s schemas – making recall and application of information easier.

Cognitivism is based on students using their short-term memory and working memory to embed what has been learnt into their long-term memory. To do this, students need to be active participants in the learning unlike in the behaviourist approach and use their cognitive brain functions to pay attention, to remember what has been learned and not to forget it, as part of the information processing pathway.

Cognitive brain functions include sensation, perception, attention, encoding and memory. A cognitive approach to learning embraces all these areas. This is what separates the theory from a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 How Do We Know Game-Based Learning is an Effective Approach to Teaching and Learning?
• 2 Developing Emotional and Social Skills Through Game-Based Learning
• 3 Simple Slide-Based Games
• 4 Digital Games
• 5 Physical Games
• 6 Mixed Media Games
• 7 Active Learning and Live Games
• 8 Gamification
• 9 The Impact Game-Based Learning and Gamification Approaches in the Library can have on the School Community
• 10 Working with Teachers, Senior Leaders and Parents Using Game-Based Learning and Gamification Techniques
• References
• Index