The integration of games into classroom practice is no longer a novelty! Teachers embark on their pedagogical stance and deliver learning content through vocal and visual stimuli, alongside activities that are designed to challenge students cognitively. This is where students reflect on what they have learned, memorise the concept, and apply their knowledge.  Educational games (EGs) are now used by teachers as critical tools to increase engagement, motivation, and concept retention for students. EGs provide a space for learners to play and process similar learning goals in a different technical context.

In my recent poster presentation at the HERDSA conference in 2024, I explored key strategies through which teachers can ensure the benefits of using games in their classroom. Grounded in the notion of the Theory of Experience by John Dewey, the paper contrasted two separate learning environments (education): the traditional environment which is defined as a system characterised by passive learning, rote memorisation, and adherence to pre-determined, teacher-driven skills, where teachers have authority and students are considered to be empty vessels to be filled with information; and the progressive environment which emphasises learning by doing and experiential learning, with an active interaction with the environment, making the classroom a discursive situation whilst promoting social engagement and the development of activities that are tailored towards meaningful and engaging learning experiences.

This paper further claims that while those two exist, my paper suggests that the change in the dynamics of the classroom setting for teachers is now more transformative and reflective. Furthermore, beyond traditional boundaries, there exists a greater need to provide individualised feedback and cater to various learning skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, creativity, communication, and technological skills.

Teacher’s Preferences: Striking a Mixed-Balance

Through interviews with primary school teachers, I investigated how their experience of learning, reflecting, and adapting to new pedagogies and technologies could increase their students’ learning experience.  The idea here was to dive deeper into their experiences where they taught with and without games, and how the inclusion of games balanced the learning possibilities in their classroom.

When I asked the teachers about what they think about traditional and progressive education (stating the above definitions), their answer was: Mixed-Balance. They preferred to have both digital and hands-on activities, including some memorisation of concepts to aid with kids’ critical and creative thinking thought processes when applying different learning tools.  Specifically, when they discussed subjects relevant to sciences, mathematics, and technology. Interestingly, one teacher stated how she observed the generation's learning patterns and reflected upon how digitising entirely (all memorising subjects) has led foundational learning skills relevant to cognitive load and intellectual capacities into scarcity. This also interconnects with how teachers believe that subjects are better processed in learners’ minds with a mixture of techniques to enable their practicing and revision tasks that are potentially achieved through games.  The mixed-balance category portrays that it leans toward progressive learning techniques; however, mixing learning methods and integrating technology in a balanced manner, enables their students to achieve all-rounded learning.

Teacher’s Preferences: Embracing Progressive!

To the teachers, the reconstruction of experience is a continuous process, and making it socially valuable through using EGs that enable it in the classroom is essential. It enables a dynamic student-centred environment that expands onto the educational practices for the teachers.

Ultimately, teachers’ preferences lean towards progressive, but they do appreciate hands-on activities and rote learning/memorisation to some extent to build foundational skills that they observed to be deteriorating in the current generation.  This relates to their beliefs and how they were taught in their primary schools, where rote learning or repetition or memorisation techniques were highly prominent. Although they do not solely rely on and support this approach, they believe that specific learning methods and strategies should not be entirely discarded as those are the best approaches for particular subjects.  This relates to how growth in experience interrelates with the purpose formed through curriculum or learning content, which allows the teachers to resonate with the teaching strategies and provide a ‘dynamic’ learning environment that delivers possibilities for learners to discover and explore.

Games in the Classroom: A Strategic Integration

Beyond reflecting on philosophies of learning, teachers also showcased their preferences for using games as they integrate them into their dynamic classroom setting. This also holds multiple tools that they evaluate before they use in the classroom, finding realistic examples, and providing more student-centric activities to allow students to experiment, be creative, and trigger their critical thinking skills. For teachers, computational thinking, pattern recognition, creative exploration, and critical reflection emerged as key goals that EGs could uniquely support.

So, what is the point of having a mixed-balance and progressive (dynamic) classroom? I recognised in this research that despite all technological advancements, some skills that are associated with hands-on, repetition (rote), and foundational skills of writing, drawing, etc, cannot be fully digitised. No digital platform can justly replace the cognitive benefits of these embodied learning experiences. The mixture between those still exists. Now that we are in an Artificial Intelligence era, the discussions expand onto whether it impacts positively or negatively on the learning skills development for the students.

All teachers had three suggestions in common as they selected the games through these platforms:

• Alignment with curriculum guidelines and learning objectives
• Provision of realistic and relatable content
• Facilitation of meaningful ‘takeaways’ for students

Given the limited time provided for the preparation and verification of their tools, teachers tend to lean towards their epistemic beliefs and knowledge based on past experiences and assess the games.

The table below summarises the list of platforms/tools/resources teachers use throughout their selection process.

Final Thoughts

These insights have been helpful to new teachers joining their practices, and the intentions towards the gaming industry where they can consider these points towards designing and developing educational games that meet teachers’ preferences. In the end, it is the teacher who holds the joystick to meaningful educational change!

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