What's in a game?
It started out as a small experiment with P5/6 pupils at St Columba's Primary School in Dundee - could mental agility games such as Nintendo’s Dr Kawashima's Brain Training have an impact on children's ability to learn? To the surprise of many educationalists, the answer, it seems, is yes.
One person who was certainly not surprised was Derek Robertson, LTS's Development Officer for games-based learning, who led the experiment. As head of Consolarium, the Scottish Centre for Games and Learning, Derek is a tireless advocate of the power of games technology.
Yet while he expected to see improved performance amongst the pupils of St Columba, even Derek was taken aback by the impact of the game.
In the pilot study, pupils spent 20 minutes each morning playing More Brain Training from Dr Kawashima on the Nintendo DS. Pupils then sat a maths test and results were compared with that of a test taken before the experiment began. All of the pupils’ scores increased, particularly children who were seen to be struggling with mental maths. The average time taken to complete the test also dropped from 17 minutes to 13 minutes and 19 seconds.
On the back of this early success, LTS teamed up with HMIE and the University of Dundee to extend the research. The extended project, which ran from April to June, involved 900 pupils and 32 schools across the country. Results will be out soon. In the meantime, Derek sat down with Connected to discuss the project.
C: Can you tell us more about the Pilot Project?
DR: It was all about getting the brain active and switched on. To start with, we set what was at the time a 5-14 Level D maths assessment, which involved pupils doing 100 sums as quickly as possible. We repeated the test 10 weeks later, and the results from the group playing Nintendo each morning were incredible. Their speed was up by an average of four minutes compared with the control group, and with the lowest score being 65 out of 100, accuracy improved too.
C: In a BBC interview, concern was raised that games are a ‘gimmick’ and that a good teacher doesn’t need technology to motivate their class. How would you respond to that criticism?
DR: There’s a moral panic associated with games - they have become like a modern day folk devil. There will always be some critics but I have had emails from people across the world - from Holland, Australia, Italy - wanting to replicate this experiment.
Many, many people are catching on to the benefits of gaming as a motivational and educational tool. I’m not some kind of heretic! The use of ICT, and games in particular, is about education tapping into a resource that has cultural resonance for pupils. This is something that pupils buy into that can also raise attainment levels.
C: What feedback have you received from teachers?
DR: Educators have been a very receptive audience so far. Most teachers recognise that technology is a tool for learning and teaching. The role of the teacher is fundamentally central. They are the leader and these resources are there to help.
Teachers need to ask themselves 'I am the teacher - how can I best employ this resource for my class?'
C: You mentioned speed and accuracy, but Curriculum for Excellence is of course about creating a more meaningful and rounded learning experience. Where do games fit in?
DR: What was more important than the scores was the effect the games had on the social fabric of the class. The pupils were focused and concentrating, their heads were down. What’s more, they worked together to get to grips with the game.
Having this shared challenge brought them together into a cohesive group that was collegiate and supportive. Existing hierarchies were flattened. How much more meaningful can education be?
C: What’s next for the Consolarium?
DR: With this project, we are trying to articulate a sound evidence base that provides the kind of critical mass we can learn from. Another Consolarium initiative enjoying great success is a project where we gave Nintendogs to a P2 class in Aberdeenshire. It's an inter-disciplinary project packed full of rich tasks, but with caring and nurturing at its heart.
The pupils who have used Nintendogs before act as mentors for their peers (Top Dogs), fostering collegiality. That's what I call an effective contributor. The project provides a hub through which rich, cross-curricular learning can happen. Pupils begin to recognise:
'Learning is not done to me - I’m an active participant in my own learning.' Down the line, I hope that projects such as these will continue to inform us in relation to how we teach children.
C: What role do you see games playing in education in the future?
DR: As LP Hartley said in the opening of The Go-Between: 'The past is like a foreign country - people do things differently there.' We can’t afford to look at how education was. We can’t afford to stand still. Education must continue to evolve and adapt to the needs of its learners. What games can help us to create is a rich, dynamic and challenging learning environment - it’s a way into the traditional curriculum that really resonates with pupils. Their excitement and enthusiasm is palpable.
- Posted on 16 June 2008 under games-based learning, pedagogy, research, issue 21, features.
- Tagged as computer games, derek robertson, nintendo ds.
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Marshal Anderson, 4 December 2008, 12.09 pm
LP Hartley said 'We can’t afford to stand still.' and I think that's true, but it doesn't mean we don't pause to reflect, and it doesn't mean that we grab each new piece of technology that children use and try to hijack it for education. Take a look here for instance:http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/nov/23/human-behaviour-science-dementia I guess it just worries me how gung-ho we often are about these technologies and the effect this sort of thing has on many class teachers who look at it and wonder if this is yet another thing you must take on board.