Game, Play, and Serious Games (Text in EN)
Guest contribution: Dr. Kevin Jennings is an educator and recent graduate of Charleston Southern University’s doctorate of education program with a focus on Serious Game Design. He resides in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
An interesting phenomenon often occurs when adults, and children who want to be adults, are asked to play a game; they emphatically resist, but why? It may be because they feel games are beneath them or only for children. As if one graduates from fun and games to focusing solely on serious, adult things. It’s also unfortunate and unhelpful to view games as the metaphorical dessert one gets as a reward for eating a well-balanced meal. Modern research says games and play are extremely valuable for cognitive development, among other things. Serious Games, a specific type of educational game, may be used to take advantage of these benefits.
A Microcosm of Reality
Simply put, games are a microcosm of reality, a scaled-down version of our world. Dr. Jordan Peterson, Clinical Psychologist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, puts this idea into perspective by describing football (European), basketball, and ice hockey as hunting games. Players work collectively to shoot a projectile at a target. Players work to improve their tactics the next time. Communication, collaboration, and delegation of tasks, are of the utmost importance. Players learn how to handle failure and victory while expanding their skill set. Games put us through analytical and emotional strain, revealing traits about ourselves. Does stress result in yelling or breaking under pressure, or will a leader emerge? Will you be “as cool as the other side of the pillow”?
Games and play have documented mental benefits. Dr Andrew Huberman, professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford’s School of Medicine, says play can enhance one’s ability to focus and is an active area of research for ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Evidence suggests that play allows people to engage in more creative and dynamic thinking and leads to better leaders. Workers in this environment are more effective and happier.
Play can be used to experiment with new ways of being in various contexts, including employment, relationships, surroundings of all kinds, and even one’s relationship to oneself. Unlike the real world, games and play offer us a safe environment to take risks. Games may have consequences; you can lose, run out of time, etc., but these are nothing compared to the consequences of the real world. Games and play are cheaper; they offer multiple chances to learn and grow. Failure doesn’t mean you lose a job, a spouse, or a life-changing opportunity.
The Future of Teaching: Serious Games?
Serious Games are an effective means to interweave games and traditional teaching methods, such as direct instruction, group work, and “drill and practice”. Akin to a blank canvas, Serious Games can take the shape of your choosing; educators develop and add various pedagogical methods to target desired skills, monitor statistics, and look for leaders. In addition to a traditional “unit plan,” an educator may add games, a narrative, a collective problem, and a leaderboard, among others, to enhance learning and brain elasticity. While Serious Games show great promise, they require quantifiable data to support their well-established qualitative findings.
Guest contribution: Dr. Kevin Jennings is an educator and recent graduate of Charleston Southern University’s doctorate of education program with a focus on Serious Game Design. He resides in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
