Playing or Designing a Board Game can be a Performance Task.
Usually, when educators talk about gaming in the classroom, they mean video games. I have nothing in particular against video games as a learning tool. Yet, I believe that what makes video games engaging is that they are games, not that they are digital.
I have created games for my own classroom that my students found highly engaging, which were simply printed on paper. I think educators should be more worried about the thinking level of the games we use with our students than with whether they are digital.
Another topic which is currently discussed in education circles is coding - writing computer programs. I am fully in favor of this. In fact, many of my students plan to study computer science to try to work in this industry. Yet, when students are first learning to code, they may be able to form ideas of games that they are not capable of actually programming. Designing a board game helps students who are interested in a career in gaming learn what makes a fun game.
In short, I think that designing a board or card game can be an engaging, real world learning project that can help students use several disciplines together in context, such as:
This is the very model of the 21st century, interdisciplinary learning project.
On June 17, 2014 I gave a presentation at the Sizzlin' Summer Conference for Franklin County Schools. In it I make a case for the educational value of board games, provide a framework for assessing their educational rigor, and give some hints on designing games for either teachers who want to make their own, or who want to give this as a project for students.
Presentation
These are the links I used in researching the presentation, as well as some other resources for educators interested in board game design.
Reference Links
I have created games for my own classroom that my students found highly engaging, which were simply printed on paper. I think educators should be more worried about the thinking level of the games we use with our students than with whether they are digital.
Another topic which is currently discussed in education circles is coding - writing computer programs. I am fully in favor of this. In fact, many of my students plan to study computer science to try to work in this industry. Yet, when students are first learning to code, they may be able to form ideas of games that they are not capable of actually programming. Designing a board game helps students who are interested in a career in gaming learn what makes a fun game.
In short, I think that designing a board or card game can be an engaging, real world learning project that can help students use several disciplines together in context, such as:
- Mathematics - geometry, algebra, and statistics
- Writing and composition
- Visual arts
- Graphic design
- Marketing and entrepreneurship
- Psychology and economics
- Performing arts such as storytelling and theater.
- Digital media - such as the digital creation and manipulation of images and video.
This is the very model of the 21st century, interdisciplinary learning project.
On June 17, 2014 I gave a presentation at the Sizzlin' Summer Conference for Franklin County Schools. In it I make a case for the educational value of board games, provide a framework for assessing their educational rigor, and give some hints on designing games for either teachers who want to make their own, or who want to give this as a project for students.
Presentation
These are the links I used in researching the presentation, as well as some other resources for educators interested in board game design.
Reference Links