Play with Learning
Adults
Play & games articles
dice
Some of the articles that have caught my attention in the last couple of weeks:
Play
Swings & Roundabouts in Whitehall: Pat Kane article for Play England’s Play Today http://j.mp/jKQWXV
Wanted: More Playful Parents http://j.mp/mII7ph
Games & education
How social media and game mechanics can motivate students – http://on.mash.to/ieEOyQ
Computer Games and the Future of Assessment by Gee and Shaffer in latest WCER Research highlights http://j.mp/l1E4gs
Storytelling in education and games http://j.mp/ktkVQQ
Video Games and Learning theory http://j.mp/juDIHp
Gates Foundation funding innovative education incl games http://bit.ly/iNzTqR
Serious Games: Can Gaming Teach Kids About Life? http://j.mp/jTGCd2
Gamification
Gamification time: What if everything was just a game? From BBC News http://j.mp/jdbxTK
The ‘Gamification’ of education http://j.mp/lZQReJ
Gamification: When two tribes go to work – The Independent http://j.mp/iLQQNW
What Gamers Want: Researchers Develop Tool To Predict Player Behaviour. From NCSU http://j.mp/kcJtIq
Psychology
Kinder, Gentler Video Games May Actually Be Good For Players. From Ohio Uni http://j.mp/mHGSYF
Violent video games reduce brain response to violence and increase aggression according to Uni Missouri http://j.mp/j7jSPs
Proof video games aren’t for teens: Average Gamer Is 37 Years Old http://bit.ly/lbD5AX
The Role of Failure in Gameplay from Chris Bateman at iHobo http://j.mp/jl6dNR
Re-Play: What can’t you play? http://j.mp/khKiVF
Resources
100 Learning Games Readings compiled by @deangroom http://j.mp/kFq2lY
Great selection of games and learning resources from @instituteofplay http://j.mp/m5EYIH
Random
The Game Narratives Drinking Game. http://bit.ly/j3NqXp
Failed Sim
classroom
I have had the pleasure and privilege of attending and presenting at this year’s Games + Learning + Society conference in Madison, WI.
My talk was one in the wonderfully honest, encouraging and educational strand, Hall of Failures. The strand was an opportunity to share experiences of projects that have delivered surprising results or haven’t met expectations. For me, it encapsulated the essence of games – improving through failure.
the essence of games – improving through failure
I talked about a project from a few years ago – a game-like simulation for school teachers that despite some excellent content, rigorous prelaunch testing and good intentions simply didn’t deliver what the users needed or wanted. We revised it. It stopped being a game but started being useful for this particular audience. It taught me a lot.
Although the accompanying notes are sketchy, here’s what I presented:
Families that play together
generations
There’s a lot of research that seems to state the blindingly obvious but sometimes it is reassuring to discover that our innate beliefs are sound. Like having a local park improves your health or this piece from Concordia University published in the journal Family Relations that reminds us that families that play together are more cohesive. It’s true apparently even with adult grandchildren and their grandparents.
One aspect of the research that struck me was Hebblethwaite and Norris’s assertion that ‘grandparents often use such get-togethers as opportunities to teach, mentor and pass on legacies. “They share family histories, personal experiences and life lessons,” says Hebblethwaite. “They pass on family values, traditions and stressed the importance of family cohesion.”‘
It is quite an unfashionable position to suggest that we adults might learn from someone else (as opposed to with) but I think there is a basic truth to it in many circumstances. And it doesn’t contradict the assertion that adult learning is based on conversation. On the contrary, the fact that ‘playing together’ breaks down barriers, provides shared experiences and takes us out of the daily routine encourages dialogue in ways that are more relaxed than other equally worthwhile activities. Even collaborative jobs provide less coalescing potential because of the inherently serious and productive nature of ‘work.’
One of the unspoken objections to the idea of a ‘teacher’ is the suggestion of hierarchy in the relationship. Personally, I find it easy to accept a hierarchy associated with greater knowledge and experience; but only a fool of an expert would discount the possibility of discovering something new from less-learned others. The Concordia research flags the transactional nature of inter-generational leisure that makes the relationship balanced. Play is a catalyst for the grandparents too: the grandchildren receive family culture and philosophies while their elders are exposed to new ideas and technologies. It’s a winning combination.
But then we knew that, didn’t we?
A degree of value?
student demo
Today the UK parliament votes to triple fees to study for a higher education degree. Given the composition of the House of Commons, the outcome of the vote is largely predictable. The effect on future generations is less clear.
When student tuition fees were introduced in 2006, Universities UK (UUK), the representative organisation for the UK’s universities, commissioned PwC to assess the economic value of higher education. They calculated that over a lifetime graduates would earn £160,000 more than holders of A-levels without degrees. This extra income was assumed by many to mitigate the £9000 debt (not including living expenses) that young adults have when they leave university.
Of course, that’s not the whole picture. If we assume students can live off £80-100/week during term time (to pay rent, bills, food, clothes, etc) and enjoy the cost-free luxury of parents at other times, it adds another £9000 over the course of a typical three year degree. Even before this proposed increase in fees, that would leave the average 21 year old graduate with an £18,000 millstone of debt around their neck. {i’, being wildly optimistic with these figures, too. In 2004, before fees were introduced at all, the NatWest bank estimated the average cost of a degree was £26,000]
Graduates will pay that off over time. There’s no question of it but it means years of payments and the virtual impossibility of saving for any other cause, the deposit for a house, for example.
Before the government of the 80s taught us that living beyond our means was a good thing, ordinary folk avoided debt like the plague. Many working class families simply could conceive of borrowing that amount of money for something apparently intangible. It’s an entirely different proposition if one has the Bank of Mum and Dad to pay off any outstanding loans.
Now the coalition government wants to triple those fees. £9000/ year for the best universities. £27,000 for the typical degree, not including living expenses. Put another way, that’s £100/ month for 22.5 years with the students living on free air. If you’re a parent and don’t want your child saddled with crippling debt, you’ll need to start saving before your child is born. If you want a degree yourself, you’ll be university-debt free by the time you are 44. 44.
How many poor kids or parents do you know able to make that sacrifice? Would you in these economically uncertain times?
There’s a misconception that only the student benefits from a degree, it’s the reason many resent paying their taxes to support the university system. But, it is a flawed argument. We all benefit from having the most educated society possible. Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that everyone should have or needs a degree (although I passionately believe everyone should have the right to the best possible education to whatever level they choose). Every single one of our lives is improved by talented, educated people in all walks of life whether they are doctors, engineers, teachers, dare I say, even artists and musicians.
I oppose the rise in tuition fees because I believe they will stop poor but gifted young people from being stretched at university, exacerbating the already shameful inequalities on our education system. And I oppose the rise in fees because I believe our society will be impoverished economically, culturally and intellectually by fewer graduates.
The cost of education is high but the cost of ignorance is much much higher.
Creativity, Wooing Women and Disneyland
The evolutionary psychologist, Geoffrey Miller, has published many papers speculating about the development of human creativity – that is, why would we evolve in such a way that we create apparently wasteful artefacts such as art, poetry, humour and music? According to Miller it is all about the Mating Mind – it’s peacock feathers and courtship or as John Keating in Dead Poets Society says, it is “to woo women.”
the magic kingdom
Now a new study suggests it might not be about sex at all. Or at least not all about sex. Research (pdf) published in the International Journal of Tourism Anthropology (yes, really), suggests that Disneyland, as the epitome of popular culture, storytelling, music and dance, tells us all sorts of things about entertainment, and it has nothing to do with woo-ing. Unless you have a thing for mice.
The paper proposes that rather than being about courtship, the creative aspects of the human brain and the behaviour they provoke is all about passing on information between generations; it is how parents play with their children, how society bonds and how it develops communally. “The brain circuitry involved in both the generation of, and response to, these traits was selected for because it enabled parents to increase their fitness by increasing their ability to influence their offspring” say the authors Craig Palmer of the University of Missouri, Columbia, and Kathryn Coe of the University of Arizona.
This idea of entertaining culture being part of child development ties in with the idea that play is part of a training ground for adaptability more than more obvious role-playing. In his book The Ambiguity of Play, play theorist, Brian Sutton-Smith argues that the dynamics of play mirror the biological processes that lead to adaptive variability, that is, play is characterised by quirkiness, unpredictability and redundancy.
By linking family behaviour with the activities associated with these theme parks, Palmer and Coe are connecting community bonding with play and reiterating the importance of shared parent-child amusement. Maybe going to the Magic Kingdom is more like entering the Magic Circle afterall.
1 in 3 a gamer
gamer
On the MCV website today, the UK trade body, UKIE, speculates that 1 in 3 of UK population is now a ‘gamer.’*
I’m sure they are attempting to challenge and dispel the stereotype of the teenage boy hunched over a console in his bedroom. It’s the games industry’s attempt to mainstream and normalise gaming. Changing the perception of the ‘typical’ gamer from the ghetto of adolescents to middle-aged woman is (possibly) shrewd marketing – it creates an air of respectability, permanence and familiarity – “see, games are not so bad after all!” it says.
But reports like this irritate me. It’s difficult to fully explain why. I suspect it is because I regularly have to respond to people contesting such hysterical reporting. It’s to do with definitions of gamer such as ‘someone who had played a game on a mobile, handheld, console, PC, Internet or interactive TV at least once in the last 6 months.’(BBC, 2005, Gamers in the UK: Digital play, digital lifestyles – which claimed 59% of the UK are gamers). Their problem is this: playing an occasional game no more defines me as a Gamer than writing a holiday postcard makes me a Writer.
playing an occasional game no more defines me as a Gamer than writing a holiday postcard makes me a Writer
The long and the short of it is there is a world of difference between the typical Call of Duty player and someone casually dabbling in Farmville.
People wouldn’t be half as upset if they weren’t blindly categorised with obsessive gamers. Attempting to ‘civilise’ the stereotype of gamer by incorporating such wildly different usage patterns is rather optimistic because only the hardcore proponents are comfortable with the label. It’s not a helpful way to encourage a more positive attitude towards gaming.
It’d be much better if we celebrated the fact that one in three are finding time to play and having a positive experience from it. Now, that feels like something worth a headline.
* Incidentally, there’s no source or evidence attributed to the claim but others have suggested similarly high figures.
Free iPhone
iPhone - personal medical assistant
While I was in Leeds this week, I came across a fascinating research project that is having a major impact on undergraduate studies.
Following an earlier collaboration between health schools across the north of England called ALPS (Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings) which explored the value of mobile computing for medical students, Leeds Medical School has implemented a programme whereby it gives iPhones (or iPod Touches, if preferred) to its new undergraduates. The phones are free. So is all the data. The students must merely maintain a pay-as-you-go contract with O2. It sounds like a scam. It isn’t.
The devices are intregral to the curriculum being used in lectures, labs and most interestingly, during placements. It offers students a single tool to access and record information and data – something invaluable to medical professionals treating patients.
I think it’s a great idea. And, not surprisingly, it’s proving enormously popular with undergraduates. I wonder what other courses might follow the initiative?
Grown Ups and Growing Up
At the weekend I joined many others in celebrating my mum’s forty year’s service to the Girls Brigade in Coventry, England. Forty years. Forty years. Since she was sixteen, apart from a break to have her own children, she’s encouraged, supported and empowered thousands of girls by giving her time and energy to provide safe, worthwhile activity for them. I think that’s amazing. And utterly admirable.
She’s not alone, there are thousands of adults regularly volunteering their spare time to offer young people safe places to go in the evenings, weekends and holidays. This is an invaluable, possibly life-saving, contribution to the lives of teenagers, particularly those from poor background who have few, if any, recreational options.
According to research from Boys Town published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, “youth from low-income backgrounds were twice as likely to report early sex onset (by age 11) and more likely to report early delinquency (by age 10) than those from middle-income backgrounds. By contrast, youth from middle-income backgrounds were 1.5 times more likely to report early alcohol use (by age 10) than those from low-income backgrounds. Furthermore, those that showed early and frequent involvement with risky sex, delinquency, and alcohol use beginning in late childhood and extending throughout adolescence showed an increase in long-term crime, alcohol use disorders (AUDs), and risky sex behaviors in young adulthood.” The report powerfully makes the case for early interventions to transform the lives of young people. An earlier study by Cohen and Piquero (2009) calculated that a life of crime typically costs society £2.5m for each individual, £640k for heavy drug use, £320k simply for dropping out of school.
Even if one doesn’t recognise a moral duty to nuture and support our young people, there is a compelling economic case to give them every opportunity to excel and live a productive life.
Despite age and organizational rules forcing my mum to retire from an official capacity in the Girl’s Brigade, she’s still committed to helping each week. And I suspect she’ll continue to do so until the day she dies.
As she looks back over her life, I hope she recognises how her positive influence may have changed so many lives for the better. I hope one day, I’ll be a be able to say the same.
Carlton Reeve
Carlton is the founder of Play with Learning. He has a PhD in the design, development and deployment of game-based learning resources. Complementing his academic background, Carlton has years of practical experience at the BBC and independent media companies producing and commissioning world class and award-winning media for the likes of the United Nations, BBC, National College for School Leadership, Open University and the Victoria & Albert museum.