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Karl Kapp responds to Ruth Clark's claim that "games don't teach" and Richard Clark's claim that no research supports gaming with a review of the research and what it actually does and doesn't tell us.

games research e-learning

Guy Wallace makes some ad hominem attacks against me for my criticism of Ruth Clark's claim that "games don't teach" (although he doesn't mention me by name or link to me, it's pretty clear that he is talking about my post). Once you get past the part where he says that Clark has made so many contributions to the field that it's not fair to attack her, especially if you're someone like me who isn't a "star," there are some valid points. He's correct that "popularity is not evidence" and that games can be more expensive than other solutions that might be just as effective.

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Ruth Clark claims that "games don't teach," an obviously false statement. She has some legitimate points about matching the game design to the learning outcomes, but her claim that no research supports using games for anything other than "drill and practice" type activities is clearly incorrect. She makes this claim without addressing any work by Squire, Aldrich, etc., so it appears she didn't do a literature review prior to writing.

She cites one study with two games that were less effective at helping learners remember, and she believes that discounts the dozens of other studies on the topic. First, maybe those games were poorly designed. Second, if you're just measuring "transfer and retention" rather than application, I wouldn't be surprised that a game didn't do as well. Games are often better at moving from recall to application--but of course, she didn't measure application.

games research e-learning

Simulation game for change management. Try to get the staff of a fictional junior high to adopt peer tutoring. I failed on my first attempt.

games changemanagement simulation

Tool for curating existing resources in a gamified learning experience. Lets learners explore resources at their own pace but with some structure from levels, badges, etc. Learners can comment on resources and discuss with each other. The free edition doesn't allow uploads, but you can link to content elsewhere online. The teacher edition has limited uploading but is still free for teachers. The corporate version is has more features but is costly.

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Research highlights on learning with avatars, games, and simulations

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Free tools (or at least tools with free demos) for developing games

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Free tool for creating web-based games & educational interactive activities. Can be used to create Facebook games.

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Open source educational software for preschool and elementary students, including math & science games and reading practice

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Digital storytelling using the Sims 3, telling the tale of a homeless father and daughter. Really great emotional work with both the images and the writing.

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Portfolio with samples of simple and complex Flash simulations, corporate e-learning, and educational games. Several of the examples are from Edheads.org, some of my favorite simulations and games.

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Interactive animated multiple choice quizzes and simple games for 11-16 year olds in multiple subjects.

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The author calls this a new learning theory combining behaviorism & cognitivism. I see a new instructional design model that combines elements from a number of different sources, but I'm not sure I see a new learning theory. The model seems very complex; how long would you have to work with this before you internalized all the separate parts of the model?

Student results were better using this model. However, the control group was tested before doing a roleplaying game and the experimental groups did the game prior to testing. This could just show that roleplaying helps students understand characters in the Aeneid. Free registration required.

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Live blogged notes from AECT about systems thinking, innovation, and games for learning. Lots of side comments too, including some good connections to instructional design and getting too bogged down in multiple theories.

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Research on educational games from Eduweb

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Free games, tools, and graphic organizers, including a Venn Diagram, priority chart, timeline, and timer. You can create your own casual games with questions, like a word game based on "Space Invaders."

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Collection of educational games. Learn about the Darfur crisis, wolf ecology, or brain structures, or practice vocab.

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Annotated list of educational games, all related to science and math.

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18-week study comparing performance of high school students who learned math in a traditional classroom or with a game. Both classroom and game learning resulted in improvement in skills, but students who played the game scored significantly higher.

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