Педагогические науки/5. Современные методы преподавания
Тулегенова А.М, Айтказина А.
Евразийский национальный университет, Казахстан
Types of games in education
The methods of teaching always demand creativeness
from their users. That is why there is a plenty of original ways of how to make
lesson more interesting and effective. In that case, games are to be one of
these original ways.
Firstly, let us clarify what the word “game” means.
According to the Johan Huizinga it is “a free activity
standing quite consciously outside ”ordinary” life as being ”not serious”, but
at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity
connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It
proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed
rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings
which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference
from the common world by disguise or other means.” [1] Chris Crawford perceives “ four common factors of games representation
["a closed formal system that subjectively represents a subset of
reality"], interaction, conflict, and safety ["the results of a game
are always less harsh than the situations the game models"].”
Games fulfill a number of educational purposes. Some games may be
explicitly designed with educational purposes, while others may have incidental
or secondary educational value. All types of games may be used in an
educational environment. Educational games are games that are designed to teach
people about certain subjects, expand concepts, reinforce development,
understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill
as they play [2].
In this article we present the following classification of educational games:
Under traditional
games we mean games which were created and used so far. They may be board
games, card games etc.
Board games: A board game is a game that involves counters or
pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked surface or "board", according
to a set of rules. Games can be based on pure strategies, chances (e.g. rolling
dice) or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to
achieve. Early board games represented a battle between two armies, and most
current board games are still based on defeating opposing players in terms of
counters, winning position or accrual of points (often expressed as in-game
currency).
Under innovational
games we understand new types of games which came with the wave of
technologies. They include computer games, video games etc.
Computer
games: A computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than
on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the
simple graphics and gameplay of early titles to a wide range of more visually
advanced titles. These games tend to be drill and practice games. Generally
players simply keep on experimenting with actions until their scores improve.
In
conclusion we want to point out that nowadays games are to be one of the
significant parts of education and their wide usage brings necessary dose of
creativeness in every lesson of every subject.
2)Chris Crawford 1981, chapter 2.
3)Kiili, K. 2005.
Digital game-based learning: Towards an experimental gaming model. The Internet and Higher Education
8 (1): 13–24.
4)Prensky,
M. 2006. Don’t bother me Mom—I'm
learning. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.