Videogames in Education
Comparing Students’, Student Teachers’ and Master Teachers
Opinions and Experiences
David Kaufman
Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, Canada
Keywords: Videogames, Education.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to compare secondary students’ experiences and opinions about videogames
and their use in education with those of student and experienced master teachers selected by a university to
serve as teacher educators. The results of this study demonstrated that a significant majority of secondary
school students and student teachers played videogames, compared to a significant majority of experienced
master teachers who did not play them. A majority of secondary students and student teachers thought it
was a good idea to use videogames to help teach in secondary education, compared to a majority of
experienced teachers who did not think this was a good idea. However, a majority of respondents from all
three groups thought that videogames could add educational value to the secondary curriculum. There were
significant differences for all three participant groups between those who played videogames versus those
who did not.
1 INTRODUCTION
Videogames are a common form of entertainment
for students in North America. Their participation is
often a social experience that happens at home with
friends or other players in multiplayer online games
like Free Realms™, Halo™, or World of Warcraft
™. These games often require strategic thinking,
technical language, and sophisticated problem
solving skills (Shaffer, 2006). The levels of player
participation, skill mastery, and thought processes
required by videogames are attractive to secondary
students because they present engaging and
challenging virtual experiences which players are
able to control and eventually master. The power of
videogames to engage young people and hold their
attention for long periods of time is a subject of
great interest to educators and researchers (Kaufman
and Sauvé, 2010). There is a growing sense that
videogames are educational; they can teach
something (Aldrich, 2005, p.134). Many educators
recognize that videogame technologies are highly
sophisticated; students are interacting with subject
content in ways that differ greatly from established
methods of classroom instruction. Some writers
even assert that students are exposed to learning
processes outside of school that are deeper and
richer than the processes they are exposed to in the
classroom (Gee, 2005, p.112). Therefore, it appears
that videogames can provide constructive,
meaningful experiences for students, incorporating
educational best practices and learning theories that
are relevant in today’s world.
However, there is concern in the educational
community about the effectiveness of videogames
for supporting classroom instruction, how to adapt
them into the existing curriculum, the logistics of
implementation, and controversy about their
possible negative effects.
2 A LEARNING RESOURCE
The ability of videogames to engage and hold the
attention of players is well known. They provide the
opportunity of learning by doing, by experiencing
situations first hand, and through role play (Rickard
and Oblinger, 2004, cited in Annetta et al., 2009,
p.74). Videogames are user-centered, promoting
challenges, co-operation, engagement, and the
development of problem solving strategies (Gros,
2007, p.23). Seymour Papert (1994) explained that
the best videogames draw children into some very
hard learning (Papert, 1994, cited in Prensky, 2001,
101
Kaufman D..
Videogames in Education - Comparing Students’, Student Teachers’ and Master Teachers Opinions and Experiences.
DOI: 10.5220/0004383701010105
In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2013), pages 101-105
ISBN: 978-989-8565-53-2
Copyright
c
2013 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)
p.180). Aldrich (2005) stated “people learn better
when they don’t know they are learning” (p.34). In
designing and producing a commercially successful
videogame, game developers create experiences that
motivate players, requiring them to use different
kinds of problem solving and thinking skills so they
can learn to master the game’s content.
Research literature suggests that playing
videogames outside of school can help to
contextualize content learned in the classroom.
Videogames can provide an authentic learning
experience for some students by presenting content
in a meaningful way that gives them prior
knowledge for dealing with academic material at
school (Abrams, 2009, p.344). Videogames are a
form of alternate literacy practice that is not readily
recognized by educators who are required to meet
curricular needs (Madill and Sanford, 2007, p.435).
They have little experience with videogames and do
not see the multiple learning opportunities available
to their students. Halverson (2005) argued that
participation in game based learning environments
can help educators appreciate playing videogames as
a legitimate form of learning (p.7).
3 BARRIERS TO VIDEOGAMES
IN THE SCHOOLS
The literature demonstrates that there is considerable
resistance by educators to using videogames in the
schools. Klopfer and Yoon (2005) explained
“…videogames and learning have had a tumultuous
relationship because many perceive videogames as
taking away time from productive learning
activities…” (p. 35). An adversarial relationship
exists between the cultures of gaming and schooling;
school leaders and teachers react negatively to
videogames and gaming culture (Halverson, 2005).
Videogames are portrayed as a distraction from
education that prevents reflection by offering
immersive, addictive experiences (Pelletier, 2005).
De Freitas (2006) commented: “…there has been a
dominant perception of gaming as a leisure pursuit
with no pedagogic value…” (p.16). She suggested
there were legitimate barriers affecting the use of
videogames for learning in schools that included
lack of familiarity with game-based software, lack of
communities of practice for guidance and support,
limited preparation time for learning, lack of access
to the required hardware, the cost of software, and
the need for necessary technical support (De Freitas,
2006, p.16).
Kirriemuir and MacFarlane (2004) contended
that obstacles to using videogames in the classroom
include the length of scheduled class periods,
verifying a videogame is suitable for learning
purposes, the necessary support materials and
training required for teachers, and the costs
associated with purchasing hardware and software
(Kirriemuir and MacFarlane, 2004, p.7). In 2008, the
department of Educational Technology at Korea
National University surveyed 479 elementary and
secondary teachers to determine the factors that
inhibited them from using videogames in the
classroom. Six significant factors were identified –
budget limitations, curricular inflexibility, fixed
class schedules, lack of support materials, negative
opinions about videogames, and student unreadiness
(Baek, 2008, p.669).
The literature shows that the use of videogames
in education is a contentious issue. The purpose of
this study is to address this issue by comparing
secondary students’ experiences and opinions related
to videogames and their use in education with those
of student teachers and exemplary experienced
teachers.
4 RESEARCH METHOD
4.1 Participants
Three unique groups were surveyed at a western
Canadian university. The master teacher group
consisted of 27 exemplary professional educators
selected by SFU to act as mentors. The student
teacher group consisted of 45 student teachers
training to become professional educators. The
secondary student group comprised 85 grade ten,
eleven and twelve students from four secondary
schools in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada. Participants in each of the three groups
were required to give their consent. Anonymity was
maintained in this study; the participants were not
asked to give their names.
4.2 Procedures
The online survey consisted of five sections that
featured a combination of 35 multiple choice and
open-ended questions. Section One examined the
participants’ level of experience and knowledge of
videogames. Section Two asked about their specific
experiences with video game hardware and software,
frequency of play, with whom the participant played
videogames, and experiences of playing videogames
CSEDU2013-5thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation
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at school. Section Three examined the participants’
opinions about controversial issues concerning
videogames. Section Four examined participants’
opinions about videogames and their use in
education. Section Five provided open-ended
questions that asked about participants’ experience
with videogames and opinions about using them for
educational purposes.
The researchers recruited the respondents
personally through class visits and meetings, and
participants then completed the surveys during a
two-week period. Master teacher and student teacher
survey participants were provided with a unique
URL web address hosted by Fluid Surveys
(http://www.fluidsurveys.com), a Canadian web-
based online survey system. Secondary student
participants were provided with a unique URL web
address hosted on the SFU Web Survey site
(http://websurvey.sfu.ca). They completed the
survey at computer laboratories in their respective
secondary schools. Two classes of secondary
students completed hardcopy versions of the online
survey that were provided by their teachers.
The data analysis consisted of using PASW
(SPSS ver18) to conduct descriptive and inferential
data analyses. The three groups were compared on
several key items; then an independent samples t-test
was used to compare videogame players versus non-
players about their opinion regarding the use of
videogames in education.
5 FINDINGS
5.1 Videogame Playing Patterns
A majority of secondary students and student
teachers reported that they played videogames,
compared to a majority of master teachers who said
that they did not play videogames. These figures are
significant when compared to the age distribution for
each participant group. 97% percent of the
secondary students were between the ages of 14 and
24 years. 90.5% of the student teachers were
between the ages of 18 and 34 years. 96% of the
master teachers were older than 35 years, and 48%
of them were over 45 years. The results suggest that
the majority of young adult participants (under 35
years) play videogames and a majority of
participants over 35 years do not play videogames.
5.2 Opinions about Playing
Videogames
Almost a quarter of secondary students reported that
playing videogames was their favorite kind of
entertainment (22.1%) and almost half (43.0%) felt
that videogames were just as much fun as other
forms of entertainment. More than half of student
teachers reported that videogames were fun but that
they preferred other forms of entertainment (55.6%).
However, more than half of the master teachers did
not think videogames were fun and preferred other
forms of entertainment (51.5%). The results show
that there is a significant difference of opinion
between secondary students and master teachers
about the entertainment value of videogames.
5.3 Using Videogames to Help Teach
Almost half of secondary school students (47.7%)
and a great majority of student teachers (77.3%)
think that using videogames to help teach in
secondary education is a good or a great idea. More
than half of the master teachers (53.6%) think that
using videogames to help teach in secondary
education is not a good idea or is a terrible idea.
5.4 Educational Value in Secondary
School
Table 1: Educational Value of Videogames.
Educational
value
added
Secondary
students
Student
teachers
Master
teachers
N % N % N %
Much
21 27.3 2 4.5 0 0.0
Some
38 44.2 24 54.5 15 53.6
Little
18 23.4 16 36.4 8 28.6
None
0 0.0 2 4.5 5 17.9
A majority of secondary students (71.5%) and
student teachers (59.0%) think that there is
educational value in using videogames in the
secondary school curriculum. An interesting fact
here is that the master teachers were almost evenly
split in their opinion on this question; 53.6% thought
that videogames add educational value, while 46.5%
did not. Another question in the survey asked
secondary students what their teachers would think
about using videogames in the classroom. 58% os
secondary students said their teachers would think
this was a good idea; however, 71% of master
teachers said they thought it was not a good idea.
VideogamesinEducation-ComparingStudents',StudentTeachers'andMasterTeachersOpinionsandExperiences
103
The secondary students’ responses were much too
optimistic.
5.5 Comparison of Non-Player Vs.
Player Opinions
Table 2: Comparison of Non-Player vs. Player Opinions
about using Videogames in the Classroom.
Respondent
N Mean* (SD) t p
All respondents
-Non-videogame
player
45 2.80 (1.39) 3.83 .000***
-Videogame
player
3.81 (1.45)
Secondary
school students
-Non-videogame
player
6 1.17 (0.41) 9.84 .000***
Videogame
player
55 3.87 (1.66)
Student teachers
Non-videogame
player
18 3.72 (1.18) .297 .768
Videogame
player
3.62 (1.17)
Master teachers
Non-videogame
player
21 2.48 (1.17) 3.09 .005**
Videogame
player
7 4.00 (1.00)
*Based on a five-point Likert scale
** Significant at the .01 level
*** Significant at the .001 level
Respondents who played videogames were
significantly more positive than those who did not
play about the idea of using videogames in the
classroom. However, there were no differences
observed in the student teacher group between
videogame players and non-players as both groups
responded quite positively about using videogames
in the classroom.
6 DISCUSSION AND
CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study strongly suggest that
professional educators do not have the same level of
experience or knowledge about videogames
compared to secondary students and student
teachers. Because experienced teachers do not play
videogames, they are not aware of the broad range
of game software experiences their students have
outside of school, particularly the level of social
networking that now takes place with multiplayer
online games played through physical or wireless
internet connections. The results demonstrate that
there is an ‘electronic entertainment generation gap’
between professional teachers, secondary students,
and student teachers. Master teachers are in
positions of educational leadership in their school
districts, yet the survey results point to a significant
lack of understanding about this influential form of
entertainment technology in which students actively
participate outside of school.
The survey results also showed that the student
teachers are more open to the idea of using them for
educational purposes than the master teachers. As
they assume positions of leadership in a school or
district, this group might contribute to a greater
acceptance among educators of using videogames to
supplement instruction.
There are educators today who believe that
videogames can motivate students who do not
respond to traditional methods of instruction. Kurt
Squire (2005) considered this fact when he wrote his
case study about teaching history with Civilization
III
TM
(Squire, 2005). A few educational institutions
and individual educators continue to take the
initiative and use videogames for teaching
educational content. However, the educational
research literature and the results of this study
demonstrate that a significant gap exists between
experienced educators versus secondary school
students and student teachers about their experience
and opinions related to videogame technology.
Students are enthusiastic adopters of technology, but
they do not necessarily possess expert knowledge
about how to use it wisely. Educators with limited
videogame experience do not understand the
technology’s potential for classroom instruction.
Given the levels of challenge, creative quality,
engagement, and immersion contained in modern
videogames, educational administrators and
policymakers need to work with educators to better
understand the influence and scope of this form of
electronic entertainment. Current cohorts of student
teachers need more training about how to help
students and their parents deal with the growing
influence of these new technologies and how to
incorporate them effectively as a useful addition to
their curricula.
CSEDU2013-5thInternationalConferenceonComputerSupportedEducation
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