Games-based learning

Games-based learning is one of the latest ideas to improve the schooling experience for a large number of 8 to 10 year olds. The children who first participated in games-based learning attend a small primary school on an
island in the middle of the Atlantic. The idea was the brain-child of teacher Rodriguez Desai who wanted the children he was teaching to improve their ability to learn in a more relaxed way. He also wanted them to have the opportunity to socialise with pupils from other schools. He noticed that, in the early 1990s, boys in particular brought hand-held games consoles into school as part of the end of term activities. These boys were not very highly motivated in class and were thought to be of lower than average ability. When Rodriguez began to watch these 'failing' boys he was amazed. He realised that the skills needed to play these hand-held games included high-level, intelligent reasoning.

The boys had to analyse situations, develop strategies for dealing with the
problems, solve the problems and work with one another to gain the best outcome. Rodriguez began
to understand that learning to play computer games could actually benefit all kinds of learners. He
started to think about the best ways he could use them to teach pupils who were not normally keen
on traditional school work.

Many teachers believed that playing this type of game in school was just a waste of time. It only encouraged pupils to play about in the class and could never be a reasonable and valid learning tool. Rodriguez aimed to prove this notion wrong. Using a small group of children, both boys and girls, Rodriguez has shown how the right type of game can be both engaging and educational. For example, he gave one group of ten-year-old maths pupils a hand-held games console and a brain-training programme. These pupils played the game every morning for about 15 to 20 minutes. By the end of the month's trial there had been a big leap in their mathematical test scores compared to the non-gaming group of children who had only used work cards and text books to practise their maths.


Other teachers have been inspired by Rodriguez and use a variety of 'games' to help their pupils to learn in class. Some now use 'dance mats' which have letters on them. These mats and letters help younger children to create words, enhancing their reading and their spelling abilities as they 'dance'. Another experiment involved a programme called ‘You Can Be Anyone’, which lets pupils create an Internet representation of a person who could be themselves or anyone they choose. The pupils involved were encouraged to write scripts for these characters to help with their creative writing. Many boys found this so motivating that they wrote interesting and continuous dialogue for the first time in
their school lives. Their teachers were delighted with the outcome and so were the boys.  They entered into the make-believe world with an enthusiasm they had never brought to the traditional English lesson.