Resources

Richard Sandford and Ben Williamson, Futurelab

The full version of this handbook is available to download in pdf format - see box below. On this page you'll find the handbook's introduction, as well as some of the useful links listed at the end (skip down to links).

Introduction: why games and learning?

Current context

Across the world, educators are increasingly becoming interested in the potential role of computer and video games to support young people's learning. In academic research circles video games are now a popular subject of study not only in computer science departments but in media, communication and cultural studies, literacy studies, and education departments too.

To date, the majority of the research on young people's use of computer games has focused on informal, out-of-school contexts - on what is being learned outside of the school gates. Studies in this area also tend to concentrate on mainstream computer and video games available from high street stores and their potential application to the field of learning, rather than on professional and vocational simulations or on specifically educational titles. In this handbook, too, we examine how the use of mainstream games outside of formal educational contexts can support learning processes.

Recent studies, however, have also begun to ask how games might be used or adapted for use in schools. This handbook reports on some of the latest developments in the design of bespoke educational games. Such games are designed to be as rich and dynamic as their mainstream 'cousins', but are intended for particular formal educational outcomes. It also asks whether and how schooling should be adapted to accommodate the use of games[1].

Defining games

Defining a 'game' is complex and subject to multiple contesting theoretical and practical arguments. As long ago as 1971, EM Avedon and Brian Sutton Smith[2] pointed out that anybody who has ideas about games in part defines them, whether it be social scientists defining them through their psychological and social functions, anthropologists defining them according to their historical origins, or businessmen in terms of their usages. Currently, computer games researchers can still be found debating the definition of games; the entry of educators into the fray often complicates matters further.

For the sake of simplicity, this handbook uses the terms 'computer games' and 'video games' to designate digital applications that can be controlled by individuals or groups of players using a PC or a console such as a Playstation or Xbox machine. This is a basic definition, but other sources are available to guide anybody more interested in this area3. It does attempt more carefully, though, to define what it is about games that lend them credibility as tools and resources to support learning.

Defining games as learning resources

Recent interest in games and learning stems from some complex debates about the very role and practices of education in a new century, rather than just from a simple belief that young people find games motivating and fun and, therefore, that they should be exploited in educational contexts. These debates suggest, among other things, that computer games are designed 'to be learned' and therefore provide models of good learning practices, and that by playing games young people are developing practical competencies and social practices that are equipping them for 21st century workplaces, communication, and social lives.

This handbook is intended to report the main developments in this field, and to provide a number of practical examples of computer games being used in educational contexts. These vary from bespoke educational computer games, to the use of mainstream computer games in formal classrooms, to the actual creation of computer games by school children. It provides practical recommendations for teachers interested in this area to begin implementing games-based activities in their schools, and for games developers aiming to design the titles that will be instrumental in learners' education in future years.

This is not, of course, an area unfettered by controversy, and the handbook reports some of the arguments against games and the very real practical barriers to their implementation in educational contexts that need to be considered. Perhaps even more importantly, it must be stressed that Futurelab does not believe that all young people across the UK have equal access to or equal interest in computer and video games. Some of the informal activities reported in this handbook are, it must be acknowledged, far from mainstream. Rehearsing the arguments about how gender, race and socio-economic conditions affect young people's equality of access to games, though, would fill an entire book. The handbook signposts these issues, but focuses primarily on how games potentially offer fresh scope to learning processes now and in the future.

Useful links

Becta Computer Games in Education project
A small-scale pilot study project involving the use of six computer games in school settings, offering some insights into various aspects of games in education, some points for developers, and some areas for further research.
www.becta.org.uk/research/research.cfm?section=1&id=2835

Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
American organisation providing age ratings and information about video games.
www.esrb.org

Gamasutra
Industry-oriented site with an academic bent, containing articles on all aspects of games design from theory to code: "the art and science of making games".
www.gamasutra.com

Game Studies
Game Studies is an online journal dedicated to publishing the latest articles on research into all aspects of computer games.
www.gamestudies.org

Game Research
Database of articles and other items related to the art, science and business of computer games.
www.game-research.com

Game Learning
Reports on working with children as young as 7 years old as games authors, as well as the wider research on games and learning.
www.gamelearning.net

Pan-European Game Information (PEGI)
European equivalent of the ESRB: providing information on video game content and ratings, for parents and children.
www.pegi.info

Ren Reynolds
Games journalist and thinker's vast bibliography of articles related to games, most of them available online.
www.ren-reynolds.com/bibliography.htm

Silversprite
Independent research in games, particularly their educational relevance, including surveys of teachers' use of games in schools.
www.silversprite.com

The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA)
Organisation representing the interests of UK game developers and publishers.
www.tiga.org

Tim Rylands
Website of a primary school teacher in the UK who uses computer games to support the literacy development of his students.
www.timrylands.co.uk

Water Cooler Games
Regularly updated website dedicated to exploring the non-commercial use of games, such as in education, politics and advertising.
www.watercoolergames.org

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