Game-Based Learning: An Emerging Technology

Game-based learning is likely to enter mainstream use in the educational community within two to three years.  According to the 2011 K–12 Edition of the Horizon Report game-based learning is one of the six educational technology trends to watch.  The Horizon Report is highly accurate at identifying emerging technologies.  Game-based learning will affect students in today's classrooms because of its ability to engage and motivate students, to get to the next level and succeed.  Game-based learning has come a long way from its earliest form of single player drill and practice games like Reader Rabbit and Math Blaster.  The games of today include productive role of play, which allows for attempts to use experimentation to solve real world problems.  These productive role play games encourage students to develop critical thinking skills. The Horizon Report (http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf) identified several classroom games that may be seen in classrooms within the next few years. 

Classroom Games:

• Hexagon Story (go.nmc.org/aneal), an award-winning alternate reality game (ARG) in which students must solve a mystery by answering initiation questions across multiple disciplines and following clues sent to them via email, text messages, etc. from fictitious characters.
• Mind Snacks  is a popular app in the iTunes store that boosts students’ foreign language skills and fluency. 
• PopMath Basic Math is another well-received iPad game app that turns the notion of flashcards into a timed or un-timed game filled with colorful bubbles to sharpen arithmetic skills.
• Community of Reading Engagement (go.nmc.org/ujriu) is a game that uses juvenile literature to focus on higher order thinking skills. It is a web-based game with a fun game show format. 
• A Crash Course in Saving the World (go.nmc.org/tjwmt). EVOKE developed a free and open social networking game that simulates real global issues to empower people to find new and innovative solutions.
• Finding Identity (go.nmc.org/zjjig). Finding Identity is a social science game that teaches K-12 students about history, culture, and life values using a 21st century approach to storytelling and collaborative puzzle solving.
• Ghosts of a Chance (go.nmc.org/rrbbw). Ghosts of a Chance allows visitors to the Smithsonian American Art Museum a chance to decipher codes, follow treasure maps, send text messages, and uncover hidden objects in this multimedia scavenger hunt.
• Quest Atlantis (go.nmc.org/hisxo). Designed for students, ages 9-16, Quest Atlantis is a simulated, 3D learning environment that combines strategies from commercial gaming with educational research on what motivates children to learn. Students participating in this game learn and apply skills in multiple disciplines, including mathematics and environmental sciences.
• Quest to Learn (go.nmc.org/gdayk). Quest to Learn is an entire public school in New York City founded in 2009 devoted to teaching children through game play. Among other key features, the school is focused on rigorous college preparation and inquiry-based learning.
• World Without Oil (go.nmc.org/shzdy). World without Oil was a collaborative and social imagining of the first 32 weeks of a global oil crisis. The simulation was designed for participants to gain a better understanding of disaster response.

Watch the video below to listen to Jane McGonigal talk about the ways that games can help to solve real world problems such as hunger, poverty, and climate change and attain the “epic win.