Games and Learning

games and learning
a handbook from Futurelab 2005

Futurelab
By bringing together the creative, educational and
technology communities, Futurelab is pioneering ways of
using new technologies to enrich and transform the
learning experience. Through our independent learning
research, we identify gaps in the educational knowledge
base or resource provision and develop ideas for
compelling new learning resources.
A small, not-for-profit organisation, we act as a catalyst

by creating productive partnerships between people with
creative talent, technical know-how and educational
expertise. Our partnerships are diverse:
we work with individuals and large corporations,
practicing teachers and government bodies,
academics and venture capitalists.
Our activity comprises three interwoven strands:

research, prototype development and communications.
These core activities enable us to act as a think-tank
that nurtures new ideas and gathers intelligence; as an
incubator and tester of early-stage and untested
concepts; and as a hub supporting the multi-directional
flow of information and knowledge between
practitioners, policy makers, creators and learners.
Futurelab
1 Canons Road
Harbourside
Bristol BS1 5UH
United Kingdom
tel +44 (0) 117 915 8200
info@futurelab.org.uk
www.futurelab.org.uk
Games and learning
A handbook from Futurelab
By Richard Sandford and Ben Williamson
contents
01 Introduction: why games and learning? 1
Current context 1
Defining games 1
Defining games as learning resources 2
02 Learning from playing games outside school 3

Games as ideal learning environments 3
What is learned from playing games 5
Social aspects of games that support learning 6
Problems and criticisms 8
03 Using games inside school 9

Existing approaches to the use of games in school 9
Characteristics for selecting games for play in school 10
Case studies 12
04 Games designed for learning 19

Case studies 20
05 Young people designing games for learning 23

Case studies 24
06 Recommendations 26
The Sims 2
07 Annotated reading list 28
00 Key features tables centre spread
Acknowledgements:
This report was produced as a result of prototype development work at

Futurelab, and with our partners Hewlett-Packard, University of
Bristol, the BBC and the MRL Interactive, Nottingham University
(Savannah); Lateral Visions (Racing Academy); our colleagues on the
Teaching With Games project.
FOREWORD
One of Futurelab’s primary aims is to better understand

the role that digital technologies might play in education.
In order to do this, we bring together expertise from
practising educators, educational policymakers, children,
and the creative and technological industries, as well as
the academic research community, to develop and
evaluate prototypes of the sorts of digital resources that
might be seen in schools in the future. It is our findings
from clusters of related projects, along with our
intelligence about other related projects and initiatives
that we report in these handbooks.
The main aims of these handbooks are:
• to provide useful and jargon-free insights into policy

directions, research and projects developing in a
particular area of education and technology
• to summarise the findings from the prototypes and

processes Futurelab has developed in this area
• to provide useful pointers concerning the design and

use of digital resources in this area.
While these handbooks are not intended as definitive

statements, we hope you will find them a useful guide
and introduction to areas of interest and emerging
development. If you have any comments to make, or
suggestions of other projects and research we should be
aware of, please do let us know.
research@futurelab.org.uk
01 introduction: why games and learning?
Current context Across the world, educators are Defining games Defining a ‘game’ is complex
increasingly becoming interested in the potential role of and subject to multiple contesting theoretical and
computer and video games to support young people’s practical arguments. As long ago as 1971, EM Avedon
2
learning. In academic research circles video games are and Brian Sutton Smith pointed out that anybody who
now a popular subject of study not only in computer has ideas about games in part defines them, whether it
science departments but in media, communication be social scientists defining them through their
and cultural studies, literacy studies, and education psychological and social functions, anthropologists
departments too. defining them according to their historical origins, or
businessmen in terms of their usages. Currently,
To date, the majority of the research on young people’s
computer games researchers can still be found debating
use of computer games has focused on informal, out-
the definition of games; the entry of educators into the
of-school contexts – on what is being learned outside
fray often complicates matters further.
of the school gates. Studies in this area also tend to
concentrate on mainstream computer and video games For the sake of simplicity, this handbook uses the terms
available from high street stores and their potential ‘computer games’ and ‘video games’ to designate digital
application to the field of learning, rather than on applications that can be controlled by individuals or
professional and vocational simulations or on groups of players using a PC or a console such as a
specifically educational titles. In this handbook, Playstation or Xbox machine. This is a basic definition,
too, we examine how the use of mainstream games but other sources are available to guide anybody more
3
outside of formal educational contexts can support interested in this area . It does attempt more carefully,
learning processes. though, to define what it is about games that lend them
credibility as tools and resources to support learning.
Recent studies, however, have also begun to ask how
games might be used or adapted for use in schools. This
handbook reports on some of the latest developments in
the design of bespoke educational games. Such games
are designed to be as rich and dynamic as their
mainstream ‘cousins’, but are intended for particular
formal educational outcomes. It also asks whether and
how schooling should be adapted to accommodate the
1
use of games .
2005
1 | games and learning handbook
1 2
References to research articles, books and relevant project websites Brian Sutton Smith and EM Avedon (1971). The Study of Games. New
are included in these footnotes throughout this handbook. However, York: Wiley.
a reading list is provided at the end of the handbook which will point 3
Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s recent book Rules of Play (2005)
the non-specialist reader towards the most accessible and easily-
goes a long way to unpacking this debate. See reading list.
available texts in this area.
01 introduction: why games and learning?
Defining games as learning resources This is not, of course, an area unfettered by controversy,
Recent interest in games and learning stems from and the handbook reports some of the arguments
some complex debates about the very role and against games and the very real practical barriers to
practices of education in a new century, rather than their implementation in educational contexts that need
just from a simple belief that young people find games to be considered. Perhaps even more importantly, it
motivating and fun and, therefore, that they should be must be stressed that Futurelab does not believe that all
exploited in educational contexts. These debates young people across the UK have equal access to or
suggest, among other things, that computer games equal interest in computer and video games. Some of
are designed ‘to be learned’ and therefore provide the informal activities reported in this handbook are, it
models of good learning practices, and that by playing must be acknowledged, far from mainstream.
games young people are developing practical Rehearsing the arguments about how gender, race and
competencies and social practices that are equipping socio-economic conditions affect young people’s equality
them for 21st century workplaces, communication, of access to games, though, would fill an entire book.
and social lives. The handbook signposts these issues, but focuses
primarily on how games potentially offer fresh scope to
This handbook is intended to report the main learning processes now and in the future.
developments in this field, and to provide a number of
practical examples of computer games being used in
educational contexts. These vary from bespoke
educational computer games, to the use of
mainstream computer games in formal classrooms, to
the actual creation of computer games by school
children. It provides practical recommendations for
teachers interested in this area to begin implementing
games-based activities in their schools, and for games
developers aiming to design the titles that will be
Civilisation III
instrumental in learners’ education in future years.
2005
02 learning from playing games
outside school
Recent studies suggest that when young people are Games as ideal learning environments
playing computer and video games they are engaged in Setting aside, for a moment, the question of what
learning activities that are more complex and gamers may be learning through gameplay, research
challenging than most of their formal school tasks. This into games and learning increasingly argues that the
argument can be divided into three related strands: first, ways in which games are structured and the ways they
games as challenging learning environments; second, require players to act, means that games function, by
the sorts of things gamers may learn through game- virtue of a number of common characteristics, as
play; and third, the social factors that contribute to effective learning environments in themselves.
learning through games. Briefly, before outlining these
three areas, it should be noted that it is highly unlikely One characteristic of games that supports learning is
that many games exhibit or inculcate all of the that they challenge and support players to approach,
characteristics of learning that are listed; nor do we explore and overcome increasingly complex problems
suppose that games are good for learning everything or and thereby learn better how to tackle those problems
for every learner. in similar contexts in future. In the early 1980s,
4
Seymour Papert described this kind of activity using
5
computers as “hard fun”, while Thomas Malone saw
early computer games players entering a “flow” state
in which they were completely absorbed with gradually
increasing levels of difficulty matched to their current
level of skill and ability.
A second characteristic is that games offer the capacity

for players to try out alternative courses of action in
specific contexts and then experience consequences –
in other words to understand how manipulating
systems causes particular effects. This is as true when
playing The Sims, by guiding a family through a
Civilisation III
domestic crisis or a mother through pregnancy, as it is

when playing a motor racing game or a science fiction
shooter. ‘Interactivity’ is here seen as the key word,
where it is players themselves, rather than games
designers, who are seen as controlling and
determining the experience to explore a range of
different outcomes.
handbook 2005
4
Papert, S (1980). Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas.
3 | games and learning
Basic Books.
5
Malone, T (1980). What Makes Things Fun to Learn? A Study of
Intrinsically Motivating Computer Games. Palo Alto: Xerox.
outside school
6 The manner in which each individual player experiences

Steven Johnson agrees, arguing that playing a
computer game differs from most other forms of games this identity, though, differs, meaning that players are
since players rarely have to sit down and read a manual often responsible for constructing identities, for
before commencing play – they “literally learn hypothesising or conjecturing about the identity of the
by playing”: character they are controlling on a screen. Players also,
at least in part, construct these identities, merging the
Non-gamers usually imagine that mastering a game is possibilities of action in the game environment with their
largely a matter of learning to push buttons faster, own desires as players.
which no doubt accounts for all the ‘hand-eye co-
ordination’ clichés. But for many popular games, the From these perspectives, then, games are seen to offer
ultimate key to success lies in deciphering the rules, increasing levels of challenge, the gradual revelation by
and not manipulating joysticks. the learner of systems and rules governing individual
(Johnson 2005, pp42-43) interactions, and the experience of exploring and
developing different identities and the tools and
Learning by playing games according to this view is a practices that support these. It is for these reasons that
process of constant practice and interaction in games are often held up as examples of powerful
progressively more challenging tasks through which learning environments.
players gradually reveal underlying sets and systems
of rules.
Additionally, from the perspective of the narrative and

thematic aspects of games, players are often
encouraged to identify with particular characters and
their identities. By playing out the D-Day landings in
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, for instance, users
experience the particular identity and potential courses
of action available to a combat soldier on Omaha
Beach. Not only are these interactions confined to
performing particular sequences of actions; the games
can immerse players in the discourses associated with
particular contexts, so that identifying with the identity
of an in-game character might involve understanding
specific vocabulary items such as technical terms and
reading items of data in distinct formats such as maps
and graphs.
handbook 2005
6
Johnson, S (2005). Everything Bad is Good for You: How Popular
Culture is Making us Smarter. London: Allen Lane/Penguin. See

reading list.
outside school
These ‘texts’, then, require players to develop entirely

new literacy practices. Unlike reading a book, playing a
game demands interpretive competence with images,
sounds and actions as well as written words.
Successfully playing a game depends on the player’s
ability to recognise the game’s multimodal features,
what Gee describes as its “internal design grammar”,
and therefore to learn its underlying grammar and how it
communicates meaning. He sees this occurring through
The Sims 2 a four-part process where players probe the virtual
world of the game, form hypotheses about it, re-probe it
with those hypotheses in mind, and then, based on
feedback from that virtual world, accept or re-think
What is learned from playing games? those hypotheses. This process, Gee argues, is the basic
What has become clear as games have been theorised procedure of the scientific method.
as ideal systems of learning is that we need to ask more
Some of these arguments might be accused of providing
explicitly what it is that players may be learning. While
a sound basis for explaining how people learn about
games may offer powerful processes for learning, we
games themselves but not for how games might support
still need to ask what sorts of products in the form of
them to learn anything else. Gee, who does not
knowledges and skills emerge through gameplay?
necessarily countenance the use of computer games in
Responses to this question generally tend to argue that
educational settings, suggests that really good teaching
the sort of knowledge learnt through playing games is
in any educational domain should be about enabling
very different from what we aim to teach in school today.
young people to ‘play the game’, in other words ‘playing
7
Catherine Beavis , however, has argued that computer the game’ of scientist, of mathematician, of writer,
games represent new cultural forms with which young geographer, historian, and so on. He argues that it is
people are increasingly familiar and fluent, and suggests pedagogy that needs to adapt to the practices that young
that educational systems should not remain fixated on people are bringing with them into the classroom from
transferring to the young the traditional elitist vision of their use of computer games – that, as in games,
culture and society that they have sustained for decades. lessons need to support learners to probe the rules of a
Young people, she maintains, are learning skills and system, hypothesise about it, re-probe it, and review
practices more suited to the 21st century than anything their hypotheses. Good educational practices, he says,
schools prepare them for. already do this.
8
James Paul Gee , for example, has identified games as
“multimodal texts” whose features include the constant
handbook 2005
interplay of visual, aural, textual, gestural and bodily 7

Beavis, C (2002). 'Reading, writing and role-playing computer
modes. The argument runs that none of these modes games', in I Snyder (ed) Silicon Literacies; Communication,
taken singly provides much meaning for players; it is Innovation and Education in the Electronic Era. London: Routledge.
only when taken together as a multimodal whole that 8

Gee, JP (2003). What Videogames Have to Teach us About Learning
they make sense as a game. and Literacy. London: Palgrave Macmillan. See reading list.
outside school
9
Others working from a learning theory perspective Social aspects of games that support
have suggested that playing games brings young learning The third important aspect of learning
people into contact with the kinds of complexities that with games outside of school is in the social and
21st century workplaces will require them to be able to collaborative practices which emerge around them.
negotiate. The range of information sources that An American study of teenagers’ use of video games
players must negotiate during the course of just a few arcades in the early 1980s by Patricia Marks
12
moments’ play can, to the non-gamer, appear Greenfield identified that these were used by many
overwhelming. Alongside a 3D view of the virtual world as social meeting places, regardless of whether they
being explored, players might need to monitor health were joining in with playing the arcade games or not.
statistics for multiple characters, 2D terrain maps,
In the current period, then, how do the social relations
ammunition supplies, and so on. Strategy games such
fostered between players assist in the learning
as football management titles require players to
process? Perhaps the most widespread instance of
oversee and control vast quantities of statistical
this is the role that computer games play in young
information that are always changing according to
people’s everyday friendship cultures and
decisions made by the player and the complex
conversations. Some studies13 have reported how
algorithms of the program itself.
young people regularly visit each others’ homes to play
It is of course possible that these large and games together, and how inexperienced players are
indeterminate amounts of data are not always fully introduced to game-play strategies by more
10
understood. JJ Eilola has said that: experienced friends. Within these friendship groups,
support materials such as games magazines,
To cope with environments such as these offered by
books of hints and tips, and walkthrough guides are
[…] games, users learn to juggle multiple, dynamic
often shared.
vectors of information without attempting to
understand them fully. Instead, they play out multiple
hypotheses about connections among numerous 9
See, for example:
symbolic forces. (Eilola 1998, pp194-95) Facer, K, Furlong, J, Furlong, R, and Sutherland, R (2003).
ScreenPlay: Children and Computing in the Home. London:
Nevertheless, it is clear that young people playing RoutledgeFalmer
games are learning how to deal efficiently with dynamic Prensky, M (2001). Digital Game-Based Learning. New York:
McGraw-Hill (See reading list)
information sources in multiple modes and media.
Burn, A and Leach, J (2004). ‘ICT and moving image literacy in
11
Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen adds that what games English’, in R Andrews (ed) The Impact of ICT on Literacy Education.
provide are superficial information – not enough to London: RoutledgeFalmer.
10
satisfy young people’s educational needs, but enough for Eilola, JJ (1998). ‘Living on the surface: learning in the age of
global networks’, in I Snyder (ed) Page to Screen: Taking Literacy
them to get a grasp on it – and that in more overtly
into the Electronic Age. London: Routledge.
educational settings the role of teachers, peers and
handbook 2005
11
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S (2005). Beyond Edutainment. See reading list.
other supporting materials will be necessary to build
12
on these superficial understandings. Greenfield, PM (1984). Mind and Media: The Effects of Television,
Computers and Video Games. Fontana Paperbacks.
13
See, for example:
Facer et al, op cit (see note 9 above).

Williamson, B and Facer, K (2004). ‘”More than just a game”: the
implications for schools of children’s computer games culture’.
Education, Communication & Information, 4(2/3), 253-268.
outside school
14 In these environments, players take on specific roles by

Other studies report how the internet is also now
allowing young people to find groups with affiliated choosing avatars (virtual characters) with particular skills
interests despite geographical and cultural separation, such as medics, magicians and warriors. Nominally,
and to join informal ‘exchange networks’ in which success in the game is determined by individual players
material resources and immaterial advice are always gradually increasing their skill set and gaining level points.
circulating amongst members. Drawing from the work However, what makes these enormous games so unique is
of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger on the idea of the in-game communication they facilitate. Players are able
15 to carry on informal conversations, join ‘clans’ or ‘guilds’,
“communities of practice” , James Paul Gee describes
these as “affinity groups” whose members are discuss strategies, and form groupings with the variety of
responsible for jointly negotiating games titles. skill sets that all need to be mobilised to overcome
particular challenges.
The most extreme example of this to date is the website
apolyton.net, an ‘online university’ set up by fans of Notably, what these games offer players are
17
Civilization III which offers advice, mentoring, and even “apprenticeship into doing” . More experienced or ‘expert’
modules of study to assist players who wish to play the players are often seen mentoring or tutoring less
game more successfully. Many other websites are experienced ‘apprentice’ players, lending them objects or
dedicated to other titles, with hugely popular discussion skills, showing them around environments, and generally
forums allowing players to discuss games, make introducing them into what they have to do, how they
queries, and share advice. In other words, it is the should behave, and what discourse standards they should
members of the affinity group who are responsible for employ. The designers of these games, it might be said,
designing and agreeing the practices associated with simply provide the tools that make it possible for players to
playing particular titles, and for developing consensus design the experiences of the games themselves. To
on the rules of play depending on changing social outsiders, for instance, the language employed in these
circumstances and contexts. No single title, then, can games can appear incomprehensible because it mobilises
necessarily be seen as static, since it is players’ distinct lexical and grammatical items that are
interactions with them and their social negotiation of contextualised within the game world.
them that assigns meaning to them.
The recent successes of Massively Multiplayer Online

14
See, for example:
Games (MMOGs) such as Everquest, Lineage and World
Beavis, C (2004). ‘”Good game”: text and community in multiplayer
of Warcraft makes this and associated arguments about games’, in I Snyder and C Beavis (eds) Doing Literacy Online:
the potential learning merits of games more apparent. Teaching, Learning and Playing in an Electronic World. Cresskill,
NJ: Hampton Press
These ‘persistent worlds’ available on the internet can
Tobin, J (1998). ‘An America "otaku" (or a boy's virtual life on the
accommodate thousands of players simultaneously, net)’, in J Sefton-Green (ed) Digital Diversions: Youth Culture in the
support text-based chat, and are open-ended. They Age of Multi-media. London: University College London Press..
handbook 2005
15
have been described as “the learning environments Lave, J and Wenger, E (1991). Situated Learning: Legitimate
16 Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
of the future” .
16
Steinkuehler, CA (2003). Massively multiplayer online videogames as a
constellation of literacy practices. Paper presented at the International
Conference on Literacy, Ghent, Belgium.

17
Steinkuehler, CA (2004). The literacy practices of massively
multiplayer online gaming. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, USA.
outside school
The Sims 2
What might now be argued in summary about the Similarly, concerns over
relationship between games and learning in out-of-school children developing
contexts is that we have thousands of young people across repetitive strain injury
the world engaged in complex multimodal information- from playing games
handling tasks that are at the edge of their competencies; should be noted,
that they are exploring and hypothesising about systems although the evidence to
and rules and receiving feedback on how well they are support this claim is very
manipulating those; that they are mobilising distinct literacy difficult to find. The
skills in particular social contexts; that they are using the aggressive behaviour
internet to support each other informally, despite potential debate also continues.
geographical and generational dispersal; and that they are Some research is now
mobilising practices and skills suited to the workplaces of beginning to use
the 21st century. sophisticated analytical
techniques to ascertain
Problems and criticisms Many of the statements
whether particular types
provided in support of games are contested, and it must be
of players may be more
acknowledged that much of the recent theorisation around
susceptible to aggressive
games and learning is based on only small-scale studies,
arousal from playing games leading to actual aggression
personal reflections, or even conjecture. Many studies read 19
than others , instead of totalising all players as violent
computer games as texts and presuppose
games-crazed public threats. And furthermore, of course,
that players read them in much the same way. And it should
all young people need a balance between actual
also be noted that a great many computer games are simply
experiences and encounters in their social and cultural
banal, or overly complicated, or barely playable.
worlds and in the virtual worlds of their computer games.
More important, however, are the genuine concerns of some
The negative aspect of games that receives less mention in
parties that computer games are responsible for eroding
the media but prickles the attention of many academics is
young people’s social lives, or that they are
their tendency towards misrepresentation. Representations
even dangerous.
of female characters in games still err on the overtly ‘sexy’
There is a terrible contradiction in the UK at present that side; the majority of protagonists still tend to be
while young people’s activities in public spaces are being represented as male, white and Western; and enemies,
policed with ever-more feverishness, their use of television, particularly in war games, are still Japanese, German,
computers and games at home is also being criticised. On Vietnamese or Middle Eastern. Indeed, it might be argued
the one hand are safety-related fears over allowing them to that most games persist in representing the ideology of
play outside and a widespread conception that groups of male-led, white Western capitalism that should have had its
20
young people are always ‘up to no good’; on the other, fears day back in the last century .
handbook 2005
that playing on computers leads to obesity, aggressive 18

Anecdotally, some computer games developers have recently begun
behaviour, or grooming by predatory adults. These fears do, marketing games for electronic dance-mats where the challenge is to
in the most part, need to be taken into account. dance increasingly complex, exhausting steps – one such game, Sonica,
helps to learn Spanish along the way:
Obesity is on the increase amongst the young, and it is clear www.rm.com/Primary/Products/Product.asp?cref=PD326564&position=1

19
that there is a need to engage them in healthy physical Bolton, A (2005). Styles of playing violent games. Paper presented at
18 DIGRA 2005 conference, Vancouver, Canada.
exercise away from computer games and television .
20
For a discussion on gender and games see, for example:
Cassell, J and Jenkins, H (1998). From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender
and Computer Games. Boston: MIT Press.
03 using games inside school
The news that commercial entertainment games support work, with students analysing the different structural
learning out of school is steadily leading to an interest in ‘grammars’ of games, books and films. Students might
using such games within more formal educational settings. also investigate how particular games such as the Grand
Teachers and researchers have begun using games within Theft Auto series have been demonised in the media.
lessons and developing schemes of work as resources to
The use of games within wider sets of activities is perhaps
support the other activities undertaken in the classroom,
the most prevalent model in use today. In the US, the urban
though this is, as yet, an under-explored area.
management game SimCity has been used as the basis for
23
Many of the gains in learning that games are alleged to a national FutureCity competition . The initiative aims to
promote in school can be matched to the characteristics of enable young people to develop skills and understandings
learning from them in out-of-school use, as illustrated in related to engineering and mathematics. Students manage
the table on the centre pages of this handbook. Using a city in the game, create physical models, produce
games in schools also comes with its own particular graphical representations of maths and physics concepts,
opportunities and problems. and write essays supporting their vision of the city of the
future. This approach, then, centres around a game, but
This section briefly outlines a number of existing
embeds it in a much wider selection of educational
approaches to the use of games in schools, then identifies
activities that support the development of team working,
a number of characteristics (both positive and negative)
communication and presentation skills, as well as maths
associated with the use of games in school, before
and science applications and computer skills.
describing three illustrative case studies.
There are many other examples of games used in schools,
Existing approaches to the use of games
from electronic dance mats to support PE lessons, to the
in school There are different approaches to using
use of School Tycoon as a stimulus to develop students’
commercial games in formal settings. At the simplest level,
numeracy and fiscal skills. Few if any of these approaches,
a game might be used in a motivational capacity as a
however, have attempted to incorporate purely
reward for good behaviour or excellent performance. After-
entertainment-based titles into the classroom as resources
school initiatives are also flourishing, such as the ‘e-games
21 for young people to play rather than study.
league’ in Nottingham , which seek to encourage
disenfranchised youngsters back into school by What, then, might be the characteristics that would lead us
acknowledging their interests and abilities as expert to consider an entertainment-based computer game as
gamers. There are also anecdotal stories of teachers who potentially enabling play as a learning activity in and of
have re-engaged disruptive students by allowing them to itself in a school classroom? The following provides a brief
22
‘tutor’ their peers in games titles . summary, with further considerations discussed in the
table that forms the centre pages of the handbook.
In other more formal educational approaches, games have
been used as a starting point for discussion based on a 21
Nottingham e-games league website:
handbook 2005
teacher demonstration, perhaps asking why the developers www.nottinghamschools.co.uk/eduweb/sites/egames-template.aspx

chose to portray certain elements in the way that they did, 22
One such example was reported in:
or examining the content of a game to see if it matches with McFarlane, A (2002). Listening to children, parents, teachers.
Paper presented at Game On: The Conference, Edinburgh, UK.
what the class have learnt in other lessons (how historically
Proceedings available at:
accurate is Sid Meier’s Pirates!, for example?). Games that www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/gameonproceedings

are based on movies or feature similar scenarios to books tcm4-122140.pdf
23
might also be used in classrooms to support media studies www.futurecity.org
This approach does not necessarily support the

teaching of political and historical facts, but arguably
engages learners by allowing them to explore,
manipulate and discuss the underlying factors and
variables that have contributed to historical processes,
and to try out alternatives.
Cultural appropriateness Using a computer game in a

school context is, of course, fraught with all sorts of
culturally-specific implications. Should a World War II
Civilisation III
game be used in a history class if members of that class
are of Japanese or German origin? To what extent is it
appropriate to use a game that features a high degree of
violence? What sorts of games will engage both boys and
Characteristics for selecting games for
girls? For the most part, these questions can only be
play in school24
answered by teachers ‘on the ground’ based on their
Authentic challenges As with games played out of school, understanding of their students’ sensitivities, dispositions,
games played in school need to be sufficiently challenging and according to the aims of their intended scheme of
to stretch students’ abilities. Unlike games played outside work. Having a Japanese or German student in the room
school, games played in school are more likely to need to while playing a WWII shooter produced in the US may prove
be rooted in some firm reality, or present strong internal to be an excellent learning experience if the teacher wishes
consistency and logic such that actions are connected with to focus students on that game’s ethical and cultural
logical outcomes. Much has been made of the potential values, its biases and its exploitation of stereotypes.
educational use of SimCity, yet no one would propose it was
Assessment The place of assessment in the use of
a wholly accurate representation of urban planning and
computer games in schools remains, as yet, under-
governance. Its system and rules, however, are consistent.
explored. Feedback such as scoring systems can, to a
Players can try out alternative courses of action and
certain extent, provide some indication of progress in a
experience the effects of the decisions they have made,
game, although the application to learning is unclear.
often encountering technical language used contextually,
For instance, is the success of a player as embodied in
and receiving immediate feedback on how they are
the game an indication that something has been
progressing – are they raising the employment and
learned? Can that be transferred outside of the game
economic profile of their city and the health and well-being
at all? Much more important questions are at stake if
of its population, for example, or are they sending it
games are to become integral to schooling,
hurtling towards anarchy?
particularly around the formative assessment of
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Experiencing alternatives and consequences players’ current progress and the possibility of setting
Another use of games in classrooms is to have students goals for further progress.
play politically or historically based strategy games,
such as Rise of Nations or the Civilization series. These
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games can support learners to explore how particular These characteristics have been identified by researchers at
Futurelab through a range of different ongoing projects. They are
actions in the past could have changed world history. For
presented as a stimulus for debate rather than a definitive statement.
example, what would have happened if indigenous South
Americans had been able to defend their territory
against the Spanish Empire?
Teacher’s role When using traditional computer-based

learning tools, the teacher’s role is recognised to be
paramount in securing a successful learning experience.
The outcomes of any lesson-based computer activity will
depend on the introduction of the task, the interventions
made during the activity and the way that the activity is
set in the context of students’ wider educational
Racing Academy trials

experience. There is every reason to expect this role to
be even more central to the successful use of
commercially-developed computer games. In two
examples of the use of mainstream games in
classrooms reported below, teachers to some extent
underestimated the depth of knowledge required about
Reflection Players’ ability to reflect on what they have the game to fulfil this central role adequately. It is clear
achieved through gaming also need further investigation. that teachers need a detailed and thorough
Much learning theory holds that students should perform understanding of the game, both in order to identify
an activity, then abstract from it to explain what it is they learning opportunities and to develop students’
have learned. Playing a game does not support this understanding of the game sufficiently for them to be
process. Should it? Should players have to have developed able to learn by using it. The time teachers have to
quite specific ideas about what they have learned from a become familiar with the game therefore provides one
part of a game before they are allowed to progress further? important criteria to consider in selecting games for use
Or do games support quite different forms of knowledge in schools.
and skills acquisition? Is learning through games a holistic
rather than serial experience? The goals of the individual A few words of caution Formal educational
teacher and school will dictate the extent to which these environments are very different to the informal
questions of assessment inform the selection of a game. contexts in which games are usually played, and bring
with them many constraints that make introducing
games as learning tools more of a challenge than
might be thought.
A point to consider is that there is little point in

introducing a commercial game as a learning tool where
other established tools can perform the same task
adequately. It might, for example, be worth thinking
whether a spreadsheet might fulfil the same role as
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some resource management games such as

Championship Manager. Similarly, a computer game
does not necessarily have to be the latest, cutting edge
edition. It’s not competing against other games but
against a whiteboard. In a formal environment games

look very different from in the living room.
Case Studies
The following examples of recent use of computer The most important point in understanding how games
games in formal classroom settings highlight some of engage players in educational environments may be
the opportunities and difficulties specific to this use. that good games engage players in multiple ways and
the interplay between these different forms create
Civilization III: re-playing history? Civilization III dynamic learning opportunities. Different play styles
(2001) is a turn-based strategy game and world history and tastes enriched classroom conversations, often
simulation. The player is ruler of a stone-age tribe and leading to discussions that produce important ‘taken-
has to guide their progress from building their first as-shared’ meanings. [...] Discussions between
cities to the space age through managing the use of different player types drove them to articulate and
trade, technology, diplomacy and combat. In his PhD defend different strategies, even rethinking their
25
fieldwork, Kurt Squire introduced the game into a US orientation to the game as when Marvin, a
high school as the basis for a unit on world history in builder/explorer, implored Joey to rethink waging war.
urban learning environments. (Squire 2004, p241)
The study found that students who played the game Europa Universalis II: concrete experience Europa
responded to it very differently, although most began to Universalis II (2001) is a real-time strategy game set in
develop approaches that moved away from simple ‘one Europe between 1419 and the Napoleonic era. Players
cause = one effect’ understandings. Instead, the control the direction of a European state as it struggles to
students developed complex strategies that tended to survive the Hundred Years’ War, resist the efforts of Spain
follow a pattern of problem identification, causal to colonise the world and last through to the rise of
26
interpretations, brainstorming solutions, implementing Napoleon. In Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen’s PhD study ,
these solutions, examining results, and repeating their 72 Danish high school students played the game to
interventions. As they interacted with the rules of the support a history course.
game, then, students developed alternative approaches
Like Squire, Egenfeldt-Nielsen reports problems with
to the system as a whole.
developing students’ understanding of history. Their lack of
In terms of learning specific concepts, the study reports prior appreciation of historical events, for example, proved
that students did not necessarily develop or increase problematic for some students, who were unable to make
their knowledge of, for example, the socio-political roles links between elements in the game and history, or who
of monarchy, despotism or government. They did, were insufficiently literate with the game itself to recognise
however, observe, experience and begin to explain in these elements were present.
broad conceptual terms the effects of these institutions
on their civilisations. There was a clear need for
students’ understandings to be supported towards
deeper intellectual engagement with these concepts.
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Squire’s study concludes that there are not strict 25

Squire, K (2004). Replaying History: Learning World History
outcomes related to the use of games in educational Through Playing Civilization III. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
University of Indiana. Url:
contexts, but that the diversity of responses from students
website.education.wisc.edu/kdsquire/REPLAYING HISTORY.doc
can lead to instances of shared intellectual thinking: (retrieved 08/09/05).

26
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S (2005). Beyond Edutainment: Exploring the
Educational Potential of Computer Games. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, IT-University of Copenhagen.
The following table sets out the key features of learning with
games in informal contexts and describes how these might
be interpreted in schools.
On the back of this centrefold, some key issues about games
in school contexts have been summarised, particularly those
which may have an impact on how and why particular titles
are chosen for use in school.
These characteristics are by no means definitive or final. We
certainly acknowledge that it is highly unlikely that any single
title could ever exhibit all of the positive characteristics we
have attributed to games here. If you have anything you wish
to add, please do get in touch with us.
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learning with computer games
in and out of school
Characteristics Outside school

Challenging & adaptable Games tend to be at their most enjoyable when they are difficult but ‘just do-able’, rather than
when they are too easy; they make demands that are at the edge of players’ competence.
Absorbing & immersive Playing a good game can immerse players in a state of ‘flow’, the condition in which they
are completely absorbed in an activity that closely matches and stretches their abilities.
Non-didactic & Games do not have to be explained and players do not have to read manuals or practise
practice-based activities before beginning to play; the rules are learned through practising ‘in the game’.
Authentic & experiential Tasks have immediate application; challenges must be overcome ‘just in time’ and are
consistent with the experiences within the context of the game environment.
Interacting with rules, By interacting with the game system and its rules, players experience what it is like to
alternatives & consequences exercise alternative forms of control and authority, and to experience the consequences
of particular courses of action.
Feedback & ‘assessment’ Games provide immediate feedback on players’ performance, offering scores, visual and
audio cues, and notification when individual goals have been accomplished.
Social & collaborative Games are central to friendship cultures, where peers exchange their views and
knowledge about games; these exchanges also occur over the internet amongst
geographically and generationally dispersed groups.
Material exchange Verbal advice and material resources such as magazines and demo discs are a currency
of exchange amongst game players; players are often not just playing a game, but
gathering data and information and forming knowledge about it.
Expertise & Some players are expert at particular games, while others are new to them; expert
apprenticeship players can take on new players as apprentices, guiding them through titles by playing
together, tutoring them online and sharing other materials with them.
Identities Players experience what it is like to inhabit particular alternative identities, such as
military medics, warrior trolls, city planners, sportspeople or pregnant mothers; they
experience and practice the actions peculiar to each.
Literacies Games situate players in particular literacy practices associated with the identities being played,
immersing them in peculiar vocabularies and social customs; often these literacy practices are
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associated with real-world professional domains, or are consistent within the fantasy.
New media literacy Games prepare players to deal with complex electronic environments, to negotiate and
handle data in multiple formats simultaneously, to interact with images, sounds and
actions, and to interact with others through electronic channels.
Reflective practice Players are often involved in reviewing and rethinking their performance in games,
reconsidering the strategies they have employed to overcome challenges and thus reflecting on
how well they are able to manipulate and exploit the system and rules of the game being played.
In school
Games to be used in school should provide progressively complex challenges which are clear and finite and can be
repeated; players should be able to adapt the level of difficulty (from novice to expert) if necessary.
Players need to be absorbed in meaningful activities whose aims and goals they clearly understand and the
accomplishment of which stretches their current competence.
Using a game in the classroom should not necessarily need players to be ‘trained’ beforehand; players should be
allowed to practice playing, often by failing and revising and re-trying tactics, but may need support from staff or peers.
Tasks should be related closely to real-world practices and concrete experiences or be consistent with the fantasy, and
not staged as practice for some later test or exam, or, worse still, as reward for completing a ‘learning activity’.
The game demands that players interact with the rule system, by taking responsibility for actions in alternative contexts, and
by seeing their impact on the outcomes of the game as a whole.
Players should be able to infer from the feedback supplied how their actions have caused particular effects, and whether
these effects are the ones that were desired; scoring systems provide immediate and constant ‘assessment’ of progress and
accomplishment, although cannot as yet provide any improvement or further progress.
Games to be used in classrooms should promote dialogue and the exchange of knowledge and opinions; they don’t need
to be multiplayer titles, but should have some cultural relevance to the participating players.
Playing a game should be supported by the availability of additional resources such as walkthrough guides and hints and
tips on the internet in order to promote wider understanding and knowledge about it.
It should not be assumed that all players in a classroom have the same expertise; some may be recruited to ‘tutor’
others how to play, including pointing them towards relevant resources or sources of information.
Games in the classroom should allow players to take on new identities and to experience these identities’ demands and
challenges, and to consider their potential courses of action; players may begin to understand alternative perspectives
in particular social and political contexts.
The literacy demands in games vary from the fantastical to the professional and are often as complex as the literacies of
subject domains as diverse as science, literature and history; in-game literacy demands may extend and stretch players’
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linguistic repertoire in particular contexts.

Playing games in classrooms can prepare players for 21st century working and learning practices, by dealing with diverse
media and complex data, multi-tasking, communicating and working with others, making decisions, analysing pictures, audio
and actions as well as written words, and to engage in ongoing development through ‘on the job’ practice.
Space for reflection is rarely present in games; players in classrooms should be provided space to review their
performance and what they have learned by playing, eg to ask why particular courses of action always fail or how it is
they have learned to overcome particular problems.
other considerations associated
with using games in schools
Age appropriateness Games are now categorised and sold according to age ratings defined by the Pan-European
Game Information (PEGI) group in Europe or by the Entertainment Software Rating Board
(ESRB) in the US. These ratings also include a description of the content, and may help to
illustrate the appropriateness of a title being considered for use in school.
Accessibility Few games are designed for people with any sort of motor, visual, auditory or cognitive
impairment, and specific titles or aids from specialist developers may need to be sought.
Equality of access Inequality of access to computer games at home may negatively affect how easily or
comfortably some young people adapt to the use of games in schools – as true of gifted
and talented students who choose not or are forbidden to play games at home as of
students from economically deprived households who cannot afford them.
Save & exit points Many games require a large investment of time from players to pay rewards, and must
provide appropriate, regular points for players to save their progress and exit the game if
being used in short lesson-based blocks .
Teacher expertise Some teachers report being nervous of using computers generally in schools due to
some students’ superior expertise and teachers’ perceived ‘loss of authority’ if unfamiliar
with a program being used; teaching with games may require teachers to become very
familiar with the titles intended for use in their classrooms.
Formative assessment There are as yet no hard and fast rules for assessing what or how young people are
learning from games, particularly for identifying progress and for setting further goals;
this is an area for essential future investigation.
Technical infrastructure There are many areas in which the technical demands of a game will limit its
appropriateness for classroom use. For example, many schools don’t have CD-Rom or
DVD drives on individual machines, preferring to distribute software from a central
server. Students are unlikely to have administrative rights on computers. Additionally,
standard on-board graphics cards might be insufficiently powerful for recent games and
students might not be able to use the same machine every time they play a particular
title, meaning their saved games might be inaccessible.
Health & safety Obesity, repetitive strain injury and aggressive behaviour have all been attributed to
playing games. Games alone are unlikely to cause any of these, but care must be taken
to ensure young people do not spend all their time sedentary performing repetitive tasks
on a joypad, and to ensure that they do not associate aggressive behaviour in a game
unproblematically with approval for behaving similarly in their real lives.
Cultural representation Gender, nationality and racial difference are often misrepresented in games, where, for
example, often females are ‘sexy’, often heroes are white, male and Western, and other
racial groups represented by negative stereotypes .
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Case Studies
As with any game-based educational tasks, there were

difficulties with assessment. How, for instance, do you
know whether any observed improvement is due to the
game? How do you reward playing a game? Though there
are no conclusive answers to these questions, it is possible
to conjecture that assessment in games could be based on
comparing evaluations of students’ progress within the
Racing Academy trials

whole class, or by relating their game achievements to
existing forms of assessment. In the example provided
below of Myst being used in a primary school, the teacher
referred to SAT results.
Computer games such as Civilization III and Europa

He concludes, however, that using the computer game Universalis II do not necessarily fit into any single specific
provided most participants with a rich concrete experience curriculum, either. Indeed, what many critics have
on which they could build understandings. The game identified as being powerful about computer games are the
became part of an entire resource pool including other sorts of skills and capacities they mobilise in players that
media, peers and teachers, as well as other instructional are not normally mobilised by schools. Although, then, the
and social activities. The study supported the idea that two examples above both have a basis in history, they do
relevant and engaging games can invite investment from not necessarily support learning about history in the same
players, but not necessarily from students; in other words way that more conventional activities might.
the participants in the study enjoyed playing the game, but Perhaps more surprisingly, these two studies reveal some
did not make the links with education, between play and counter-intuitive student engagement patterns. For
study. Egenfeldt-Nielsen therefore concludes by stating example, ‘clever’ pupils were reportedly annoyed that their
that games used in classrooms need to be framed by skills were ignored. Knowing that they could excel in the
specific educational goals and directions for exploration, more conventionally scholarly activities of text analysis and
and that educators must not presume that curricular composing essays, they were less confident using the
learning opportunities reside within the games in isolation. games. Additionally, student buy-in was revealed not to be
The findings from these two studies also seem to reflect a given; many students needed convincing of the value of
some common difficulties. Notably, in both instances, the playing in lessons, having inherited some wider social
teachers were found to underestimate the depth of game assumptions about games. On the other hand, in both
knowledge required of them and their class. It was also studies the researchers reported success with traditionally
found that the complexity of the two games required that disengaged groups of students.
students became familiar with the game interface. A period
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of learning about the game was required before learning

through the game could become possible, and encouraging
this familiarity required work from the teachers too.
Case Studies
Using these techniques, Tim Rylands has seen a

significant improvement in literacy and communication
amongst his students, particularly amongst boys in
his class.
Principally this use of a computer game is as inspiration

for creative activities. Rylands’ approach is not to
immerse children in the complexities of digital worlds,
but to use these environments to inspire and engage
learners. Much of its effectiveness, it should be
acknowledged, comes from the work put in by Tim
Rylands himself, both in preparing associated activities –
designing maps of the areas explored, or writing a
manual for looking after the plants encountered in the
game environment – and during the class, when he
Myst
spends much of the time working hard to elicit

sophisticated responses from his class. For this
Myst: literacy learning through games The Myst
particular approach to succeed, teachers would be
series of PC-based fantasy games is one of the most
required to work as hard as or harder than they do
successful in the history of the industry. In the game
currently when preparing and giving a lesson.
narrative, the world of Myst is contained within a
mysterious book, while travel between the worlds
contained within is through special ‘linking books’
– the power of literacy is central to the game,
lending it special relevance for classroom use.
27
Tim Rylands , Becta ICT in Practice awardee 2005,
uses the Myst titles in his Year 4 literacy classes to
develop his students’ expressive and creative use of
language. Sitting in the centre of the class, facing the
whiteboard on which the game is projected, Tim takes
his class ‘for a walk’ through the detailed first-person
landscapes of the game, narrating as he goes or sharing Myst
the task with a member of the class. Every student has a
journal in which they record their impressions and
reactions to the scenes in front of them, other children’s
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turns of phrase or good examples of writing from the

game itself. These recorded snippets of language inform
their own written and spoken language abilities. The
class also reads sections of Tolkein’s The Hobbit, and

compares the visual and written accounts of the two 27
Tim Rylands maintains a useful website outlining his approach to
fantastical imaginary worlds. using games in his primary school classroom: www.timrylands.com.
04 games designed for learning
The research into how games can support learning Like mainstream games, these bespoke titles are
both in and out of school has led to a recent interest in designed ‘to be learned’, the principal difference being
developing bespoke educational games. Of course, that they are designed as systems whose rules and
many websites already offer digital games designed to content are based on educational principles. Sometimes
support a specific curricular agenda. The recent these principles take the form of specific curriculum-
interest differs in that it proposes to develop games related content, such as periods in history or
that have the same quality, level of playability, and engineering challenges. Other times, however, these
immersiveness of the bestselling mainstream games. games are intended to develop young people’s
Given that most commercially available games these competency in skills that are at present not recognised
days cost upwards of £1 million to produce, this is an by the curriculum.
ambitious undertaking. However, a number of
The other notable difference with some of these games
prototypes are emerging that provide a rationale
is that they are designed for learning not simply in
for such developments, and which are beginning to
lesson-sized ‘chunks’ but as experiences that need to
demonstrate what might be possible to achieve in
take place across an entire afternoon, a day, or even
this arena.
weeks. For example, Homicide, developed by the
What these developments are consciously seeking to Learning Lab in Denmark, teaches science,
avoid are the pitfalls of earlier learning games, such communication and organisational skills to students
as those which only offer a period of play once a who take on roles as crime scene detectives.
multiple choice question, a mathematical equation, or Computers provide clues, data analysis tools, evidence,
a spelling test have been completed successfully. Such video footage and scientific data such as fingerprint
games imply that they are only ‘for fun’ and that their and DNA analyses, and students in the classroom carry
role is simply as a reward for the hard ‘educational’ out their investigation with their teacher operating as
28
work previously completed. Current developments ‘chief of police’ . Homicide is designed to take place
seek to blend hard educational work into the act of over many days, during which the students’ usual
playing a game. timetable is abandoned.
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Homicide: www.futurelab.org.uk/showcase/homicide/homicide.htm
Case Studies
Racing Academy
Racing Academy
This section identifies how many of the considerations
described above have been incorporated into the design of
two prototype games developed in collaboration with
Futurelab. These games are attempts to merge compelling
information indicating the available power of each engine is
and challenging gameplay with specific educational
provided. In level two they can select from four different sets
outcomes.
of tyres, choosing on the basis, again, of a set of statistical
and graphical data. To complete the third level, players have
Racing Academy: authentic tasks and expert-apprentice
to adjust the gear ratios of their car by manipulating slider-
networks Racing Academy is a prototype for an online
scale settings.
motor engineering and driving game in which players are
expected to have to deal with increasingly complex Setting up a car in Racing Academy is not, then, simply a
engineering principles, including those based in maths, case of choosing components from a hierarchical list on
physics and design technology, in order to construct and which it is clear which ones are the ‘best’ – as it would be in
race motor vehicles against each other. The underlying most commercial car racing games. Instead, it is designed
vehicle and travel surface physics are highly accurate, to direct players into an analysis of complex mathematical
meaning that the vehicles in the game behave almost and graphical data, mastery over which allows players to
exactly like their real equivalents; making an adjustment to set up vehicles that are sufficiently fast to beat the
a car in Racing Academy has a very accurate effect. computer opponent.
It is an attempt to accomplish three distinct video game- This sets it apart from other educational games titles in
related aims. First, to tap into the potential motivational which gameplay comes as a reward for completing other
value of motor racing games in order to engage teenagers. decontextualised tasks such as multiple choice questions. It
Second, to investigate the potential of a motor racing game is in this sense that Racing Academy might be said to
to support young people to learn about engineering, support authentic tasks. The engineering tasks themselves
including maths and physics, through ‘authentic practice’, are part of the game, as it is the manipulation of the vehicle
ie in a context with real-world application. And third, to settings that is as important as actually racing the vehicle.
handbook 2005
explore the potential benefits to learners of having access Players are therefore engaged in tasks rooted in specific
to text-based ‘chat’ facilities, as in MMOGs, that might contexts that are meaningful in the sense that they are an
allow them to support and challenge each other. intrinsic part of the game as well as related, in an accurate
way, to real-world practices outside of the game. One
In order to complete the Racing Academy prototype

participant in a trial of the game reported that he enjoyed it
successfully, players have to beat a computer competitor
because, unlike most racing games, “it made me think”. It is
by racing as fast as possible down a quarter-mile drag strip
envisaged that players in a full version of Racing Academy
over three levels of increasing difficulty. In the first level,
should learn how to handle the same sorts of data that
players have to select the most suitable engine for their
motor vehicle engineers must master.
vehicle from six available. Statistical and graphical
Case Studies
For the prototype, an online messageboard environment Savannah: feedback and reflection Savannah is a
was developed which allowed players to communicate with location-based game that challenges children to survive as
each other through typed messages during the game. a pride of lions on the African plains. It is divided into two
Players during the trial worked together in teams of five, distinct elements. One part of the game sees children enter
with team scores, rather than individual scores alone, the ‘virtual savannah’. This is located outside in a playing
privileged. This team-based scoring system was intended field, and its sights, sounds and challenges are accessed
to promote a spirit of cooperation, and especially to through GPS-enabled hand-held computers connected
promote the idea that players able to succeed more easily with headphones. Research, planning and reflection
in the game should assist anybody less able to do so. activities take place in ‘the den’ – a classroom space where
the challenges are set and where there are a number of
Some players quickly proved themselves to be more adept
different resources, including books, information sheets,
in the Racing Academy game than others. While choosing
video tapes and web pages, to allow children to research
an engine in level one that could be used to beat the
lion behaviour. The game itself occurs over three levels on
computer opponent was not especially difficult for any of
the virtual savannah, with time in the den in between each
the students, setting the gear ratios in level three proved an
level for players to review past performance and plan
especially challenging task. While playing this level in
strategies for action in subsequent levels.
particular, there were a number of notable instances
during which some students adopted the role of the Savannah differs from other computer-based games in that
‘expert’, tutoring more ‘novice’ or ‘apprentice’ players by it provides a determined time and space in which players
sharing with them advice and ideas to improve their are encouraged to review their progress, receive a score
chances of success in the game. and feedback on their performance, and to plan how they
will approach subsequent levels.
The potential benefits to learners playing online games
such as Racing Academy are in the social dynamics they During play on the field, however, a number of feedback
promote, and in how the negotiation of complex data in mechanisms indicated to players how well or how badly
meaningful contexts becomes an integral part of the they were playing. An ‘energy bar’, familiar to players of
experience of playing them. Racing Academy illustrates most action and adventure role-playing games, was always
that it is possible to map specific information for young indicated on the PDA screen. If players were doing
people to learn onto the functionality of a game, and still particularly poorly, they would also receive text messages
maintain some of what makes similar games fun in the such as “You are getting dangerously hungry”; if they failed
first place. Racing Academy makes the knowledge of in killing an animal the message would read “Your attack
engineering that young people need to learn context- failed”. In the event of a successful attack, players would
specific, and demands that they put it into practice. receive a text confirmation along with added points to their
Through an iterative process of trying out solutions, energy bar.
revising their assumptions, contacting peers for help, and
handbook 2005
trying out alternatives, the students who played the

29
prototype were developing understandings by mobilising, The first prototype of Racing Academy can be downloaded from the
Futurelab website to try out now. We are looking for feedback from
testing and consolidating them through shared practise in a teachers and students on its use in order to improve later versions.
29
social context . www.futurelab.org.uk/download/projects/racing_academy.php
Case Studies
Savannah trials
Savannah trials
More subtly, however, the game system provided not just ‘what’ had happened, but ‘how’ they had made
feedback in the form of images and sounds that it happen, for instance identifying that attacks on large
indicated to the students where they were located in the animals by single players were inevitably unsuccessful,
virtual savannah, and what other animals or objects and that in subsequent levels they should therefore
were in proximity. The sound of rustling grass, buzzing team up. Playing Savannah was not just a passive
flies or a trickling river alerted them to the different process of proceeding through designed levels, but in
areas they were travelling through, and potentially what many respects was an experience at least partly
benefits or hazards awaited them there. If they chose to designed by the players themselves as they modified
‘scent’ an area, they would see a picture of a lion their strategies and tactics in order to make the best
‘spraying’; if eating another animal, an image of a possible use of the time and space offered to them by
bloody-faced lion gorging on meat, and so on. These the game rules.
feedback mechanisms are all important elements in
The players also developed some interesting strategies
informing players on an ongoing basis whether they are
that subtly modified the game itself. After seeing the
having any sort of impact whatsoever on the game, and
savannah map, a number of children set about drawing
in motivating them to continue playing it.
maps on pieces of paper that they could then take
In the den area, players were encouraged to review their outside with them as navigational aids. One group,
performance and to plan strategies for better success. notably, even requested boxes and poles that they could
An interactive whiteboard was available, on which the then take onto the field in order to use as physical
players were able to view a map of the territory of the markers for the locations of prey or waterholes.
virtual savannah. They were able to view their ‘tracks’ on
It would seem, then, that some players of Savannah
the territory by using a ‘time slider’ which showed where
were able to make effective use of the ‘reflective’ time
and when events on the map had occurred, where
provided for them in the den by identifying how their
attacks had occurred, and where some of the potential
strategies and actions on the field had impacted on
prey had been placed. This facility proved significant, in
handbook 2005
their overall success. They were then able to modify

that it prompted the players to consider what had and
those actions in order to maximise the possibility of
had not worked well during their period of play on the
improving how they played.
field. In this respect, then, players were able to identify
05 young people designing games
for learning
Alongside the interest in how young people might learn This interest is, in short, about knowledge, about how
from playing games there is a growing recognition that different groups report knowledge according to their
the processes of enabling young people to make differing world-views, and about how those world-
computer games is worthy of further exploration. The views always insist on being the dominant discourse.
act of designing games is seen to be motivational, to Young people should, then, be allowed to develop
raise self-esteem and perceptions of self, and to their awareness of these contesting discourses.
contribute to learner voice. The fact that games The argument for supporting young people to create
authoring might enable young people to create their own their own games can be formulated as an attempt to
games-based learning environments might even be said develop their critical awareness of media and
to contribute to the current personalisation agenda of interested media authorship.
tailored education, individualised learning goals, and
From another perspective, the idea of children as games
increased participation of students in defining what and
designers arises from research in the 1980s and 1990s
how they are going to learn in school.
which saw game design promoting the understanding of
It also comes in large part from the understanding that mathematical systems and logical reasoning. Seymour
31
video games are a part of children’s cultural life, in Papert’s group at MIT, for instance, used the
much the same way as books, film and TV are, and programming tool Logo to help children construct their
therefore need to be understood by young people as own mathematical games, the logic being that making
distinct cultural and social artefacts that are authored. these environments enabled the children to construct
Numerous studies of young people’s engagement with their understandings of the material they were working
30 32
media have indicated a sometimes troublesome with. Yasmin Kafai and Mitchell Resnick claim that by
relationship between young people and the media to making computer games, students are able to learn
which they are exposed. Whether they are watching computer programming skills and associated skills in
television, surfing the web, or playing games, it is mathematics. Making games, this argument maintains,
usually necessary to intervene formally in order to makes mathematics and computer programming an
develop sophisticated critical awareness of the active and subjective, authentic rather than
processes of authoring such media and their ‘impacts’, decontextualised, process of investigation and
including how those media construct their audiences. knowledge construction.
It is now increasingly being acknowledged that if we wish to

develop young people’s ability to use and consume media
safely, then they need to be taught to adopt critical
questions about its production – questions which may arise
if young people themselves participate in its production.
This argument broadly fits under the New Literacy Studies 30
See, for example:
2005
banner, an increasingly popular school of thought which Sefton-Green, J (ed) (1998). Digital Diversions: Youth Culture in the
sees literacy not just as a discrete set of skills but as social Age of Multimedia. London: UCL
Buckingham, D (2003). Media Education: Literacy, Learning and

practices related to time and space and to contested Contemporary Culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.
relations of power. In the current era of proliferating media 31
Papert, S (1980), see note 4.
and communications channels, young people are 32
Kafai, YB and Resnick, M (eds) (1996). Constructionism in Practice:
increasingly becoming party to contesting and contested Designing, Thinking, and Learning in a Digital World. Mawhaw, NJ:
literacy practices. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
for learning
Case Studies
The initiatives reported here in particular are working to Gamelearning.net: games as visual expression
promote children’s capacity to generate and understand Jacob Habgood at the Institute of Learning Sciences,
34
games with the same fluency encouraged in film and print. Nottingham , has taken a similar approach to
integrating learning with computer games. Using the
Making Games: learning new media literacy inexpensive authoring tool Stagecast Creator, he set up
The Making Games program at the Institute of an after-school computer club at a Sheffield primary
33
Education , working with software developers Immersive school, working with 40 students to create their own
Education, will provide students with a game authoring games in order to explore the educational benefits of
tool. It will allow them to plan their game in a 2D map and authoring games (for example, developing logical
transform this map into a rich 3D environment, which they thought patterns, mathematical understandings and
can then furnish with items from the tool’s menus. Game creative skills) and to discover ways to better integrate
narratives can be decided using simple decision trees, learning within a game.
allowing students to program consequences for player
The Stagecast tool allows users to program games using
actions and decide on the events that can take place
pictures. For young learners, this shifts attention away
within their game. The whole game can be exported into a
from the complex mathematical programming and
standalone player small enough to be e-mailed to a friend
graphic design associated with making games, and
for testing.
allows them to concentrate on creating rules and
Researchers on the project are looking at how making narrative frameworks. During these clubs, the children
games supports young people to combine and made up back stories to accompany their games, and
productively use knowledge drawn from English, many sketched out their ideas on paper before
maths, media studies, design and technology and ICT. approaching a computer.
The theoretical basis for the project is that young people
Habgood’s research reports that this allowed children
need to develop a critical and analytical awareness of
with poor literacy skills to begin creating rich and
games, just as they do for print journalism and television.
complex playable environments without the need for
These ‘games literacy’ skills, according to researchers on
lengthy written work. Consequently, the boost in
the program, will allow users to become much more than
confidence this lent some children meant their
simply unquestioning, uncritical consumers of games
confidence in other subjects rose too. Although the
media. It therefore aims to involve both the creative
project has illustrated the value that some children gain
production of students’ own games through the use of the
from making games as an educational activity, it also
authoring tool, and the critical analysis of games. The
acknowledges that for some children making games is
project also investigates how pedagogies to support the
neither motivational nor educational. Games, in other
development of games literacy might be designed and
words, are not a panacea for all.
supported through use of the tool.
handbook 2005
33
www.lkl.ac.uk/research/pelletier.html
34
Gamelearning.net provides links to game authoring tools suitable
for children, as well as to research findings from the project:
www.gamelearning.net
for learning
Case Studies
Adventure Author: games as story writing

Adventure Author is a prototype developed by Dr Judy
Robertson of the Edinburgh University School of
Informatics and Glasgow Caledonian University, with
35
support from Futurelab . The application is designed to
allow young people to create adventure games for others
to play. Users can choose from a selection of characters
and environments, and can then set puzzles and riddles
Adventure Author
for other players to solve.
The project is intended to support young people’s literacy

through interactive storytelling. By authoring their games,
users are encouraged to think about and design plots and
characterisation, and to arrange coherent links between Gamics is similar, but tends to use existing games as the
individual scenes, as well as to write meaningful dialogue basis for the production of comic-strip narratives; its name
to assist players. Research trials also indicated the is derived from ‘games’ and ‘comics’. Gamics creators, like
importance of critical feedback: authors of the games Machinimists, use the raw material of games – the
received reviews from peer players, and then revised their environments and characters – to create new and novel
games accordingly. The process of using Adventure narratives that often share few if any thematic or narrative
Author as a creator, then, was one of authoring, similarities to the games from which they have been
arranging, editing, reviewing and revising. The benefits made. Examples are available at www.gamics.com.
here were seen to reside with the game authors, with
game creation scaffolding them into multimodal narrative Both Machinima and Gamics, though still niche exercises,
creation, as well as with the game players, who were illustrate how many people are beginning to use games
engaged as critical reviewers of games media. not just as items for consumption, but as vehicles for
production. As yet under-researched, these emerging new
Machinima and Gamics: re-using games media media forms have not originated from major corporations,
As well as these overtly educational enterprises in young but from the grassroots of game culture. In future years, it
people’s use of digital tools to author games, there have will certainly be worth keeping an eye on this field, and it is
been a number of developments related to wider games almost certain that increasing numbers of school-age
culture that have potential implications for the future of young people will be actively producing their own media in
games and learning. these modes during their out-of-school time. What
Machinima is a growing trend in the use of games media educators may be able to learn from such practices is,
to create movies. Usually created in multiplayer online as yet, unclear. As ever with games media, it may well be
games, Machinima movies can be made easily by players educators who will need to run to catch up with the
handbook 2005
who meet online, create and perform scenes within the emergent understandings, skills and capacities of
environment of the chosen game, and then edit those their students.
scenes together into a continuous narrative. Some of
these players control characters, while others act as

‘cameramen’. Numerous examples, many of them very 35
www.futurelab.org.uk/showcase/
ambitious, may be found at www.machinima.com. adventure_author/adventure_author.htm
06 recommendations
Recommendations for further research • Providing support for the creation of ‘serious games’
to the standard and scale likely to be needed to fully
Although this is a rapidly expanding field, there explore their potential for education at a time when
are outstanding questions that would merit industry is unlikely to take this risk.
further exploration:
• Which children benefit from learning with games

in which contexts? Recommendations for educators
• To what extent are existing research findings from There are a number of schools already using games for
small-scale studies still valid when learning with learning; for those considering taking this step, we
games is introduced in mainstream settings with large would recommend the following:
numbers of teachers and children? • Educators should be clear about the exact learning
• What measures or tools can we develop to assess (in a goals they are hoping to achieve when using games.
way accessible to children, educators, industry and Motivation, reward, curricular objectives, development
policy communities) what children are learning of skills and competencies are all valid modes of use;
through gameplay? students need to know in advance what they are
expected to get out of playing.
• To what extent can games themselves act as
assessment mechanisms? • Educators should not feel that they have to use every
aspect of a game in a lesson. It is more likely that
In many of these areas, collaborative research between there is a particular mode or game area that suits the
industry, the schools sector, assessment bodies and area of study. Reciprocally, teaching with games may
research communities is likely to be needed. be beneficial in extra-curricular twilight or ‘event’
activities.
Recommendations for the • Without support from the teacher, students may not
policy community make the link between game activities and the wider
concepts that are the focus of the lesson. Time for
The policy community can play an important role in: review and reflection during and after play is likely to
be important.
• Providing a forum to facilitate dialogue between the
different sectors likely to be involved in games and • Teachers should be able to assess the impact of using
learning, to ensure clear understanding of a game. Will existing forms of assessment be
complementary and conflicting goals between, for sufficient? Or do more specific forms of evaluation
example, commercial games companies, educational need to be planned?
institutions and assessment bodies.
• Educators need to be aware that not all children will
• Funding the further research required to provide enjoy playing games, have equal competence in
answers to the questions raised above. playing or have access to them in their leisure time. It
is also possible that some students will not value the
• Offering schools the opportunity to explore the
handbook 2005
use of games for educational purposes. They may feel

potential of games for learning by allowing flexibility
comfortable with their ability to complete more
in curriculum and timetabling.
conventional schooling activities, and threatened by
weaknesses in their ability to play games.
1
For more on engaging teachers and students in the process of
designing educational resources, see "Designing educational
technologies with users" (Facer, K and Williamson, B 2004), available at
www.futurelab.org.uk/research/findings/handbooks/02_01.htm
06 recommendations
• Teaching with games requires significant familiarity • Supporting network distribution should be considered,
with games on the part of teachers. However, many as many schools do not have CD-Rom or DVD drives
young people are very good game players, and their on individual machines, preferring to distribute
expertise can be employed to develop other students’ software from a central server.
and their teachers’ competence.
• If possible, options should exist to allow game states
• Teaching with games will require planning in to be imported and exported easily, allowing teachers
conjunction with school technical support staff in to set the game up to a certain place and specify which
order to identify any potential network or challenges their students should then solve.
specification difficulties.
• In the development of ‘learning games’, games
designers should work closely with teachers from the
beginning of the development process, to ensure the
Recommendations for designers
end product is appropriate from a pedagogical and
and developers
practical viewpoint.
These recommendations address both developers and
• Space for reflection should be built into the game,
publishers of commercial games interested in
where players are able to consider and review their
introducing these to school settings, and designers of
achievements and failures and have the opportunity to
‘learning games’:
make connections between their gaming activities and
• Games oriented towards classroom use should the learning goals.
include enough information to advise teachers which
• Learning should be integrated with gameplay, rather
parts of the curriculum the game addresses or, if the
than dividing the game content between ‘learning’ and
game is not oriented towards a particular curriculum,
‘fun’. It should not be assumed that compromises can
what alternative learning benefits it offers.
be made with fun purely because the game is designed
• The environment in which the game will be played to be educational.
should be considered. Questions to ask include
whether gameplay episodes fit into a lesson period, or
whether the game demands long periods of play that it
would not normally be possible to accommodate in a
single lesson? Are there plenty of opportunities to
save the game? Will students have to play at the same
machine every time they want to load a saved game?
• A range of video and audio settings should be provided

in the game options, such as the graphics resolution.
School equipment is often more limited than domestic
equipment, and currently schools are only likely to
invest in games that will run easily on their existing
equipment.
handbook 2005
07 annotated reading list
This is a small selection of recent media related to the field Kirriemuir, J and McFarlane, A (2002). Literature Review in
of games and learning. Although not exhaustive, it provides Games and Learning. Bristol: Futurelab Series.
a pointer towards some of the useful books, articles and Concise review of the research literature in computer
resources in the field. games and learning, which seeks to identify what is
happening while playing games that educators might
Books and articles benefit from understanding, how games might be used in
formal classrooms, and what features of games might be
Clark, A (2005). Learning by Doing: A Comprehensive
useful in other learning practices and software.
Guide to Simulation, Computer Games, and Pedagogy
in e-Learning and Other Educational Experiences. Koster, R (2005). A Theory of Fun for Game Design.
Pfeiffer Wiley. Scottsdale, Arizona: Paraglyph Press.
Aldrich describes the role of games and simulations Entertaining, illustrated text from a respected and
currently in use in educational contexts, and argues the successful game designer which argues that the most
case for developing new game and simulation genres to effective games are puzzles that challenge the mind and
support young people to learn the skills essential to 21st require players to analyse patterns. The fun of solving these
century workplaces. puzzles is what acquaints games with learning.
Gee, JP (2003). What Video Games have to Teach Us about Prensky, M (2001). Digital Game-Based Learning. New
Learning and Literacy. London: Palgrave Macmillan. York: McGraw-Hill.
Gee extends his expertise in linguistics and literacy Prensky suggests that today’s learners have changed, and
learning to argue that video games are complex that video games players are developing skills and
multimedia texts; to be able to play them, players must competencies that others are not learning, such as
develop competencies in multiple ‘literacies’, including decision making, data handling, multi-tasking, and
visual, auditory and gestural, as well as verbal, literacies. information processing.
These skills, he suggests, are shared by social groups
Salen, K and Zimmerman, E (2004). Rules of Play:
playing and communicating together.
Game Design Fundamentals. London: MIT Press.
Johnson, S (2005). Everything Bad is Good for You. London: Comprehensive review of what makes a good game, which
Penguin/Allen Lane. discusses many types of games including board games and
sports as well as computer games.
Johnson argues that many modern mass media, including
It outlines what should comprise the ‘design’ of a game,
television soaps and video games, are much more
detailing the sorts of rules that will make people want
demanding than conventionally thought. He refers to
to play it.
schools as being “too dumb” for children, who are
becoming accustomed to much more complex demands
from their video games.
28 | games and learning handbook 2005
Online dissertations Game Research: www.game-research.com

Database of articles and other items related to the art,
Squire, K (2004). Replaying History: Learning World science and business of computer games.
History Through Playing Civilization III. PhD dissertation
Squire provides an in-depth report on the theory of games Game Learning: www.gamelearning.net
and learning, and the practicalities of using the computer Reports on working with children as young as 7 years
game Civilisation III to support formal classroom old as games authors, as well as the wider research on
learning activities. games and learning.
website.education.wisc.edu/kdsquire/dissertation.html
Pan-European Game Information (PEGI): www.pegi.info
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S (2005). Beyond Edutainment: European equivalent of the ESRB: providing information
Exploring the Educational Potential of Computer Games. on video game content and ratings, for parents
PhD dissertation and children.
Describes the practicalities of introducing the strategy Ren Reynolds: www.ren-reynolds.com/bibliography.htm

game Europa Universalis II into a scheme of lessons Games journalist and thinker’s vast bibliography of
in Denmark. www.itu.dk/people/sen/egenfeldt.pdf articles related to games, most of them available online.
Silversprite: www.silversprite.com
Websites Independent research in games, particularly their
Becta Computer Games in Education project: educational relevance, including surveys of teachers’
www.becta.org.uk/research/ use of games in schools.
research.cfm?section=1&id=2835 The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA):
A small-scale pilot study project involving the use of six www.tiga.org
computer games in school settings, offering some Organisation representing the interests of UK game
insights into various aspects of games in education, developers and publishers.
some points for developers, and some areas for
further research. Tim Rylands: www.timrylands.co.uk
Website of a primary school teacher in the UK who uses
Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB): computer games to support the literacy development of
www.esrb.org his students.
American organisation providing age ratings and
information about video games Water Cooler Games: www.watercoolergames.org
Regularly updated website dedicated to exploring the
Gamasutra: www.gamasutra.com non-commercial use of games, such as in education,
Industry-oriented site with an academic bent, containing politics and advertising.
articles on all aspects of games design from theory to
2005
code: “the art and science of making games”

Game Studies: www.gamestudies.org

Game Studies is an online journal dedicated to publishing
the latest articles on research into all aspects of
computer games.
E-mail discussion lists

GamesNetwork:
listserv.uta.fi/archives/gamesnetwork.html
Includes searchable archive of online discussion
threads on all aspects of games.
Becta Games in Education:

lists.becta.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gamesandeducation
A practical information-sharing forum for those
interested in examining the potential of computer
and video games in education: archives are available
to members.
Serious Games:
www.seriousgames.org/maillist.html
This list encompasses a wide range of discourse within
this area but most is focused on education, training, as
well as policy and management exploration initiatives:
2005
Futurelab
1 Canons Road
Harbourside
Bristol BS1 5UH
United Kingdom
tel +44 (0) 117 915 8200

www.futurelab.org.uk

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games and learning

a handbook from Futurelab 2005

A small, not-for-profit organisation, we act as a catalyst

Our activity comprises three interwoven strands:

tel +44 (0) 117 915 8200

02 Learning from playing games outside school 3

03 Using games inside school 9

04 Games designed for learning 19

05 Young people designing games for learning 23

07 Annotated reading list 28

00 Key features tables centre spread

This report was produced as a result of prototype development work at

One of Futurelab’s primary aims is to better understand

The main aims of these handbooks are:

• to provide useful and jargon-free insights into policy

• to summarise the findings from the prototypes and

• to provide useful pointers concerning the design and

While these handbooks are not intended as definitive

A second characteristic is that games offer the capacity

domestic crisis or a mother through pregnancy, as it is

6 The manner in which each individual player experiences

Additionally, from the perspective of the narrative and

Culture is Making us Smarter. London: Allen Lane/Penguin. See

These ‘texts’, then, require players to develop entirely

interplay of visual, aural, textual, gestural and bodily 7

only when taken together as a multimodal whole that 8

Facer et al, op cit (see note 9 above).

14 In these environments, players take on specific roles by

The recent successes of Massively Multiplayer Online

Conference on Literacy, Ghent, Belgium.

that playing on computers leads to obesity, aggressive 18

Obesity is on the increase amongst the young, and it is clear www.rm.com/Primary/Products/Product.asp?cref=PD326564&position=1

teacher demonstration, perhaps asking why the developers www.nottinghamschools.co.uk/eduweb/sites/egames-template.aspx

accurate is Sid Meier’s Pirates!, for example?). Games that www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/gameonproceedings

This approach does not necessarily support the

Cultural appropriateness Using a computer game in a

Teacher’s role When using traditional computer-based

Racing Academy trials

A point to consider is that there is little point in

some resource management games such as

against a whiteboard. In a formal environment games

Squire’s study concludes that there are not strict 25

can lead to instances of shared intellectual thinking: (retrieved 08/09/05).

Characteristics Outside school

linguistic repertoire in particular contexts.

As with any game-based educational tasks, there were

Racing Academy trials

Computer games such as Civilization III and Europa

of learning about the game was required before learning

Using these techniques, Tim Rylands has seen a

Principally this use of a computer game is as inspiration

spends much of the time working hard to elicit

turns of phrase or good examples of writing from the

class also reads sections of Tolkein’s The Hobbit, and

In order to complete the Racing Academy prototype

trying out alternatives, the students who played the

their overall success. They were then able to modify

It is now increasingly being acknowledged that if we wish to

Buckingham, D (2003). Media Education: Literacy, Learning and

Adventure Author: games as story writing