Gamified education: is it possible?
How a Brazilian organization has helped children across the country to develop social and cognitive skills through educational games
Written by Beatriz Koch and Yasmin Morais
Since the development of modern technologies, interpersonal relations have changed, values have adapted and the way we work and study was transformed. The internet, smartphones, instant messaging applications and radios are some examples of technological tools that revolutionized the way we relate to each other, to our work and to the environment. Technology has also changed the way we study and teach. Education is currently being shaped by modern inventions, as students rely on virtual libraries, e-books and educational games and applications.
As we write this article, we remember very well that when this technological wave came about, our teachers made sure to leave it outside the classroom, otherwise, they would distract students from proper learning. Games were not meant to educate, but to distract.
As time passed, teachers began using projectors and TVs to present slides, videos and cool graphs. It was exciting and made school more interesting and engaging. Nowadays, there are thousands and thousands of educational games. Teachers are learning to incorporate games and technologies into their teaching curriculum, and parents are looking for games to complement classroom learning at home. Schools are also adapting their curriculums and environments to include technologies into the classroom in an inclusive, effective and meaningful way to help in the process of learning.
One example, PlayTable, comes from our home country, Brazil. PlayTable is a digital, interactive and interdisciplinary table designed to educate and entertain children through educational games.
We decided to interview the company responsible for the PlayTable (PlayMove) to show one concrete success example in our country, Brazil. We talked with one of PlayMove’s experts in ludopedagogy (the methodology that uses games as a means for learning), Cristiano Siegas, to know more about how such educational technologies (edtech) are inserted into schools in an inclusive, effective and meaningful way.
How did founders come up with the idea of PlayTable? How was the development of it?
The idea began when its founder and his family were at a restaurant. He looked around and saw children fighting to play with one tablet. Then, he designed the first prototype on wood and continued to improve it until he landed at the current model, which is based on an interactive technology that allows children to play together while they learn several cognitive and motor skills, as well as specific subjects such as reading, math, science, history, art, among others. The product is present in schools around Brazil and continues to expand and grow through partnerships with universities and education specialists to develop better educational games pedagogically. In order to train teachers to better use the product, the organization provides a game portfolio and shows teachers that technology is not supposed to replace them, but to serve as a tool to improve learning.
“With the help of a teacher, technology has the potential to accelerate learning and keep children encouraged to be in school. Teachers become facilitators, and children become the protagonists.”
Cristiano Sieves, product manager and educator at PlayMove
For the PlayTable founders, it was important that teachers engaged with the product, because children’s experience wasn’t supposed to be the same as if they were playing a video-game or watching a movie. It was supposed to increase students’ learning retention and help them develop cognitive and social skills. For instance, a few schools use the product in assistance classes, as an after-school activity. In this case, students meet 2 to 3 times a week for one-on-one or group appointments with a teacher.
What are the outcomes of using the product? How did it improve learning? How did it increase accessibility and quality?
In a math class, games increased logical reasoning; in an art class, games took children beyond crayons, pencils and paint, as they allowed children to paint through light, an unusual experience. As a result, games brought joy and pleasure to the learning process, increasing the chance that children will stay in school and reducing future school evasion. When developing cognitive skills, students are encouraged to perform activities such as word formation, simple calculations, puzzle-solving, image and sound association, among others. In addition, the product also helped students develop social skills, because it can be used by groups of students at the same time, differentiating from a smartphone.
Furthermore, the product helped foster inclusion and accessibility in the classroom, because games are adapted so that every child with a disability can play. Examples of disabilities that have been included by PlayTable are autism, Down Syndrome, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), deafness, motor disabilities, among others. Children with motor disabilities, for instance, may develop their motor skills with games that encourage muscle strengthening (through stronger clicks on the screen), ample movements and motor coordination. In some cases, games are adapted so that every child with physical or cognitive disabilities can play along with their fellow classmates. In the picture below, a PlayTable was adapted so that a student using a wheelchair could be included in all classroom activities.
Another example of the positive impact of PlayTable is from a parent of an autistic student in northeast Brazil, who has testified that her daughter hated to go to school and had a hard time studying. After a while, she noticed her daughter changed her approach towards school and became excited to study. She went to the school to understand what had changed and she realized PlayTable had been implemented. She noticed that, by using games in her education, her daughter learned to work in teams and her number of absences was significantly reduced. It was a victory for herself, her mom and the school!
Clearly, using games to teach may make students feel more attracted to school and develop their cognitive and social skills better.
Scientific research behind why games met education
Over a decade ago, scientific researchers began looking for answers on how game-based learning impacts students. In general, they have found that educational games have several positive effects on learning, especially in terms of attitude, engagement and classroom behavior. Even though games are not designed to replace formal education, they serve as a means to increase students’ retention levels and make schools more welcoming and enjoyable. When researchers Ke and Grabowski (2007) investigated the impact of game-based learning among fifth-graders, they found an overall positive impact on students, as educational video games were used to teach violence prevention and problem-solving. Similar research has shown that games significantly increase engagement ratios and cognitive learning outcomes. For example, in a research conducted by Miller and Robertson (2010), who investigated the impacts of game-based learning on students’ self-care and medical outcomes. For this study, children with diabetes were exposed to educational games that taught about the illness and how to take care of oneself. Results indicated that playing educational games helped children with diabetes to communicate with others about the disease, acquire self-care behavior and even visit the doctor less often.
From these concrete examples, we learned that when used correctly, technology allows a wide range of possibilities for innovations in the classroom. PlayTable is an example of a multimedia tool that allows teachers to be creative and engage the students in several different ways, which makes the product an interdisciplinary and attractive teaching resource.
After all, the most important aspect of using games in the classroom is that it makes students the protagonists of their own learning experience.
Games help teachers design their lessons around students’ needs and preferences. They go beyond teaching concepts and making students memorize them, because they allow students to feel engaged and excited to learn. Games also allow a wide range of creativity and can be designed and curated according to each school’s demands.
PlayTable is one example of educational games that have been successful and it teaches us that technologies can be beneficial and increase learning abilities, inclusion and accessibility while reducing school evasion, stress and absences.
Should we try to continue avoid using technologies in school or should we seek to prepare our students for the future, adapting the schools with new realities? This is the question we want you to think about! We are open to comments and discussions!
References
Vandercruysse, S & Clarebout, G. (2012). Game based learning: A review on the effectiveness of educational games. (2012). In M. M. Cruz-Cunha (Eds), Handbook of Research on Serious Games Handbook of Research on Serious Games as Educational, Business, and Research Tools (pp. 628–647). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
