One of the most essential skills that 21st century teachers and students require is the ability to embrace change. John Seeley Brown argues that people playing games know how to embrace change because they want to solve the game, bet- ter their scores or even seek to change the game. In one of his co-authored books, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change, Thomas and Brown (2011) discuss the importance of play for learning.
We need, they say, makers and tinkerers. While these are skills, they are also mindsets about how we value play. Sadly, some teachers and students have to be re-skilled to play; to be encouraged to make messes through trial and error and to discover the powerful learning acquired by failing at times. The posts below are expansive and reflect many of Brown’s views. An example of participatory learn- ing is provided in P1 below.
P1. Participatory Learning
Jackson gives us the simplest example and only example:
Music provides another example: all too often music is “taught” in the classroom. What a fruitless exercise, “music” (is) without instruments—William Jackson. Dec 9. 2012.
P2. The Playing Field
The next focus is on digital play. The metaphor of a digital sandbox is a metaphor when referring to playing online games. We know of a sandbox as a container with sand in it. There are no rules, no tools, no problems to solve, no time limits or restrictions. All that is created there is in the minds and hearts of the visitors. A dig- ital sandbox often has all of these elements. Digital games have a set of problems to solve to win for oneself, for a team or for the larger good. So, games are a valuable resource in teaching and learning that provide situated and embodied learning.
I have always embraced the concept of the “digital sandbox”, wherein, the connectivity, the visualization of data, the transfer and manipulation of data, is brought together in a conceptual space that has plastic qualities that can be useful for work and for play. Teachers have the unique opportunity to take advantage of this appealing, malleable force; I believe the “playful”, experimental qualities are often short-changed for the need to take it all too seriously, to be efficient, and profitable, rather than considering some- thing else. Consider that, if computers mirror the human mind, does not the
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Edwards’ ideas are expanded upon by Cua:
«The concept of education as a “playing field” means that the learning environments at MACRO (society) level and at MESO level (educational institution or the work place) and the assessments are not controlled. The students should be introduced to “ill-structured”
problems since like actual playing, the same challenge that arises from the interactions of the players will not happen again. The problem that students will face is “authentic.”
Students in the class IN THE PLAYING FIELD will not possibly face the same challenge as the PLAYING continues. This means, that a one-size-fits-all-syllabus is outdated. An examination designed to test knowledge is also outdated.»—Francisco Cua. Dec 4. 2012.
In turn, Cua’s ideas are clarified by Edwards giving a concrete example: «My control is based on the design of “the game”, and maintaining its rules. This is where the educator must be in complete control. To play a game, all must know and abide by the rules. There is an infinite set of possible outcomes given that the rules are followed. The nature of educational play, without controls or rules will also result in an infinite number of outcomes, but most will be useless outcomes.
Follow the process of a typical business or medical school practice scenario.
The outcomes align with observable, assessable outcomes. My model is based on Monopoly and SimCity, wherein “wealth”, (broadly defined as accumulation of virtual property and all kinds of skills) is accumulated as role-playing progresses.
My “game board” is the creation of a virtual city. Every student gets a square city block to develop as they see fit. They are not allowed to instigate crime. To earn credit (and the main element of my assessment), they must express their engagement through role-play that is defined by authentic (and authenticated) research. What has stood out for me over the years that I have run this “game”, is that after a period of personal avatar development, individuals express a need to generate civic-minded activity. They then go on to use the role they created as a model for their real-world career ambitions. I call this processes “virtuality”, but have yet to formally study it from an objective perspective.»—Jonathan Edwards. Dec 4, 2012.
Changing from the field of economics and management to studying social behaviour, our next poster gives her approach to using games.
«I use virtual reality in teaching sociology and educational psychology students. My stu- dents become involved together with children and young participants in the community of players. My students conduct field research, for example on attitudes and interests of chil- dren and teenagers. My students can watch the social behaviour in groups as well as the isolated interpersonal relationships. They can analyse language, dress preferences, norms and values, etc.»—Renata Stefanska-Klar. Dec 4, 2012.
human mind develop most rapidly as a result of “play” and from the drive of
“curiosity”?—Jonathan Edwards. Nov 19, 2012.
So, the classroom becomes a playing field, or rather, the place where problems are engaged (in).—ibid.
I have adopted the idea that the 21st century classroom paradigm should be a “playing field”, a place of serious games—Jonathan Edwards. Dec 4 2012.
P: Participatory Learning, Playing
Edwards next provides more detail:
«I merge two English words together: virtual and reality to describe the dynamic mental and physical interactivity between what science-fiction author William Gibson called
“cyberspace”,8 and reality. Virtual, visual, mental and physical interactivity is experienced by people who play role-playing digital games with avatars, and by information workers who represent data by visuals other than just words and numbers. The role-playing for college and career was my response to the needs and desires of my students who had had limited success in an education institution.
My essential question to them is: “What is your heart’s desire?” They cannot instigate crime, and so they must use their wealth to develop their avatar’s role in the life of the city. Given what they are bringing to this playing field, and the research that they are moti- vated to pursue, and the social interactions in the real classroom, the game plays itself—
with my mentoring.
I remind them constantly that nothing exists until they “write it down”, or draw it, or picture it. They quite naturally begin to build the world they experience around them. I begin with some suggestions and advice, but my role fades. They are writing their own lit- erature. They teach each other their roles and express a citizenship that amazes observers.
With the advent of social networking, a new social principle is emerging, ill-defined as it is, but replacing telecommunication. Proof of this: our own collegiality here on this forum, which, lacking a better term, is almost a virtuality community—but not fully, since we are not sharing a full-blown virtual community, with a fire department or a car dealer- ship, or a park!»—Jonathan Edwards. Dec 5, 2013.
He continues with another example of learning from play:
«There is one more inspiration for me that I have never had the time to study, and have lost track of. There was (about 30 or more years ago) an experiment carried out by a major USA university—Univ. of Chicago, I think. The economics department was chal- lenged that their entry level curriculum was flawed, and needed to be “fixed”. The depart- ment members put their postulate out that even a sixth grade student (about 13 or 14 years old) could learn economics by the department’s methods. To prove this, they formed a class of these students from the local public schools, with the intention of teaching them the basics of economics. To do so, the university guys created a “virtual amusement park”
and they mentored the students’ building of and operating of this amusement park in real, authentic time and activity—right down to impact of weather conditions on attendance, and food costs for all vendors if it rained. Of course, they could only visit a real amuse- ment park once or twice, if ever, let alone really build one. The students produced charts, created job descriptions, budgets, profitability studies of rides, etc., and of course, by the end, someone had the bright idea to make a video game, which became Roller Coaster Tycoon.
The study supported my ideas: that you didn’t need a video game or a one-on-one interface with a computer, but only the availability of resources to conduct meaningful research; that you needed a virtual “playing field” that would be appealing to students and gain their attention. Something was happening (scenarios being proposed and then played out) with all of the participants’—their imaginations were being harnessed by imaginary
“play”.»—Jonathan Edwards. Dec 6, 2012.
8http://99u.com/articles/7014/the-power-of-uncertainty. The power of uncertainty.
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Next a caution not to get too carried away with play:
Play is integral to learning and so to education. This is not news in educa- tion. But the invention of virtual playing fields for learning in inventing is just beginning.—Louis Brassard. Dec 7, 2012.
Lange points out teachers do still have some freedom:
“Play” is the … approach to learning that Bill Gates (The Gates Foundation) has proposed. I would be cautious about using only one approach to learning/
teaching because even games can become boring. Any variety of methods that promotes understanding seems logical. Any methods that promote the use (of) knowledge to solve a problem seem appropriate.—David Potter. Dec 9, 2012.
I hope that children are taught on how to think rather than led to find answers by imprinting certain patterns. (Playing games) offers surprises and other opportunities for discovery that are innovative. It is the creation level that needs to be further develop(ed) rather than a repetitive process.—
Dorina Grossu. Dec 14, 2012.
Correct me if I am wrong, but curriculum does not exactly dictate how a teacher is supposed to convey the message. If you want to put some purpose behind the calculus or arts you are free to do so. Then perhaps the problem relays (back) to the rigid framework or incapability of a teacher to flex out of the school books a bit…. There is no better way (than) to restate a prob- lem than to defragment it and reassemble it with the life situations found around us.—Carl Lange. Dec 14, 2012.
Grossu sums up why playing games is important:
Potter’s caution about using games exclusively is a caution for any singular teaching approach in the production of knowledge. Education in many countries appears to have adopted participatory learning with open classrooms, teachers doing team teaching and students engaged in group and team projects. Yet we know there will always be highly effective teachers and students who do not teach and learn best using these approaches. Potter recognises that an informed balanced
P: Participatory Learning, Playing
approach for diverse learners is essential where quiet reflection and independent study are provided and at other times, noisy even chaotic games and group prob- lem-solving are advanced.