EDUC 6814 DEJ # 3 Making Learning Fun: Quest Atlantis, A Game without Guns

Quote: " On the other hand, some advocates of game-based learning suggest that educational video games are the only way that educators can  adequately engage the  "video game generation" (Katz, 2000; Prensky, 2000). The need to  design educational video  games represents more than an attempt to harness their tremendous motivational power: Digital multimedia  provide  a  resource for  children  to develop a sense of autonomy and an awareness of  consequentiality. Jenkins (cited in  Laurel, 2002) suggested that children today have fewer means for expressing agency, and even fewer opportunities for engaging in play, than they have had in the past. Their physical space for exploration and play has been reduced from several square miles to an electronic screen."
I don't believe that game-based learning is the only way to promote self-efficacy.  However, we do know that students are motivated when it's time to play a game.  I haven't really thought of physical exploration being reduced to an electronic screen.  So, the importance of designing and implementing "good" games that create social collaboration, a meaningful place to play, and a safe environment would fall in line with good pedagogy.

" Further, in addition to the thousands of quests assigned by teachers and participating staff, children ages
9-12  in  both school and  after-school settings have voluntarily completed hundreds of educational quests without  any mandated requirement. These findings, coupled with dozens of student and teacher interviews, suggest that the QA context is engaging, meaningful, and educational."
 I think that it speak volumes when we know that our students are engaging in activities both in school and out of school that are part of the curriculum.  As teachers, if what we are doing with our students is relevant, then we should expect our students to continue these activities on their own.  By providing the opportunities for motivation, we are modeling for our students the importance of content.  Personally, when a student comes to school and says, " Since we created digital stories in school, I taught my mom and dad how to create a digital story last night", to me, that's what teaching is about. So, to be able to latch on to a program like QA, and  find success in student learning should be a sign to teachers to investigate the advantages of using games in the classroom.


"Numerous scholars and  learning theorists have advocated experiential  learning the belief that learning involves real-world participation, the belief in the intimate relations between experience and education, the certainty that understandings  are  derived  from  and  modified through  experience, and  the  conviction that
action and reflection are necessary features of meaningful learning (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1984). Regarding inquiry-based  learning, there is broad consensus among educators and psychologists in a variety of fields that students learn best when the learning process involves inquiry, as opposed to the memorization of the facts and principles that were generated from someone else's  inquiry (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993; Barab, Hay, Barnett,  &  Squire, 2001; Bransford et  al.,  2002; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, & Soloway, 1994; National Research Council, 1999)"
As a Reading/Lang. Arts and Science teacher, I am 100% behind the advocates for real-world or authentic participation.  Our science curriculum is based on inquiry and it doesn't take long to realize that students learn best when they experience the process and reflect on the experience. Games allow students to be in a simulated or virtual world and make decisions with the opportunity to reflect by either continuing or doing the action over again until they are successful.  We often hear, "experience is the best teacher",  as educators we need to keep this in mind when developing our curriculum.  

Reference:  Barab, Sasha, Michael Thomas, Tyler Dodge, Rober Carteaux, and Hakan Tuzun. "Making Learning Fun: Quest Atlantis, A Game without Guns." Educational Technology Research and Development 53.1 (2005): 86-107. Web. 10 Feb. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/30220419.pdf?acceptTC=true>.

Additional Resource:   20 online tools to make Learning Fun 
I chose this resource basically because I'm always searching for ways to engage and motivate students.  I particularly like the Stacks activity through Scholastic, it promotes book clubs, chats, and online games.