Abstract
Will video games change the way we learn? We argue here for a particular view of
games—and of learning—as activities that are most powerful when they are personally
meaningful, experiential, social, and epistemological all at the same time. From this
perspective, we describe an approach to the design of learning environments that builds on the
educational properties of games, but deeply grounds them within a theory of learning
appropriate for an age marked by the power of new technologies. We argue that to understand
the future of learning, we have to look beyond schools to the emerging arena of video games.
We suggest that video games matter because they present players with simulated worlds: worlds
which, if well constructed, are not just about facts or isolated skills, but embody particular
social practices. Video games thus make it possible for players to participate in valued
communities of practice and as a result develop the ways of thinking that organize those
practices. Most educational games to date have been produced in the absence of any coherent
theory of learning or underlying body of research. We argue here for such a theory—and for
research that addresses the important questions about this relatively new medium that such a
theory implies.
Video games and the future of learning
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