Pedagogical Science

Vlasenko L., Sulima I.

National University of Food Technologies (Kiev, Ukraine)

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL GAMES?

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, games are “an activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime.” Further, the Brainy Dictionary refers to games as, “A scheme or art employed in the pursuit of an object or purpose; method of procedure; projected line of operations; plan; project.”

In training and educational settings, games may be commercial ones that have either been modified or reconfigured or simply used as designed. The goal in using such games is to teach learners real-life skills (for example, interpersonal communication, creativity, time and resource management, problem solving and decision making, change management, and team building). Games may also be developed by trainers or others specifically to address workplace and life issues. They typically follow rules and guidelines similar to those used to create their commercial relatives. Normally, this means that there are processes for starting and ending, determining the winner, scoring and/or rewarding participants, and creating an air of competition.

Additionally, standard components/parts or equipment is used.

From a training and educational perspective, effective games should meet at least the following characteristics:

• Meaningful. At the very least, any game or other event used in training or education has to directly contribute to the program objectives and help learners gain new insights, knowledge, and/or skills. Failure to meet these criteria can create a situation in which valuable learning time is wasted and future management support for additional learning endeavors is potentially lost.

• Time-Effective. Games can range from a few minutes to hours long, depending on the objectives and intent. The game or activity selected really depends on the time allotted for the session, the ultimate goal of the learning event, resources available, and expertise of the facilitator or educator

• Cost-Effective. Most trainers and educators do not have unlimited resources or budgets for support materials. This is why the games and activities offer various options. Most people can likely obtain either the primary or alternative suggested materials at little or no expense if they use their creativity. For example, depending on the organization (profit, not-for-profit, or non-profit) and focus, you may be able to get others to donate materials or items for your sessions.

• Adaptable. By using games that allow for flexibility or change, you will have a larger “tool box” of resources from which you can pull when you need games and activities.

You always want to choose games that tie to your content and reinforce the message you are delivering. You often have a choice of formats and also different potential topic applications.

• Non-Threatening. Threats and intimidation are short-term motivators and are counterproductive.

That is why any game you use in training or teaching others should be designed in a manner that celebrates successes and rewards learners rather than putting people in the position to fail or to be embarrassed. For this reason, you need to be aware of personal and cultural sensitivities—and possibly even allow people to put out of participation in a game or activity if that seems appropriate. Built into many of the games and activities are suggested rewards or incentives to assist in building a motivating learning experience while adding a bit of fun to the learning environment.

• Participative. The best games are those that involve people on a mental and emotional level.

The more senses you can involve, the greater the chance they will “get it” and used what they learned later. Look for games that appeal to the three learning styles/modalities and as many of the multiple intelligences as possible.

In most sessions, your games and activities will be designed or adapted to supplement and reinforce your program objectives.

What Are Activities/Exercises?

Activities or exercises (terms that are often used interchangeably by trainers and educators) are interactive events in which learners are challenged and engaged in their own learning. These events can be in the form of real-life simulations or role plays or other techniques in which they are encouraged to use actual or improvised materials. They often involve the use of such elements as novelty, time, props, music, and creativity.

Activities share many of the same characteristics as games. While some may involve the used of props or other materials, others (brief stretching activities) do not. They are typically used to accomplish such things as energize, relax, motivate, cause reflection, and teach concepts.

The Importance of Games and Activities in Learning

Like any other learning strategy, activities and games should be designed and used with the ultimate goal of reinforcing key elements of a learning event or engaging learners in order for them to better work toward attaining information, understanding concepts, or melding as a team. Games and activities should not be purely entertainment. Learning objectives must be defined, and these must be attained. These objectives might focus on team cohesiveness, enhanced communication, problem solving, or other workplace-related issues.

Some researchers suggest that using games and similar methods to share or expand knowledge in the classroom is an excellent way to help learners move concepts from the classroom into their long-term memory. Through repetitive activities, you can reinforce key concepts better than just by explaining them and moving on. Many trainers and educators use tools such as games and puzzles to create learning events during which students or participants can personally take ownership for part of their learning. Through such activities, learners are able to immediately reinforce concepts in memory and apply what they experience in the classroom in an upbeat, fun manner.

Part of the effectiveness of games and activities comes from tapping into early life experiences.

At those times in life, many people learned to play games as a form of entertainment and enjoyment, without realizing that they were actually learning key life skills and knowledge in the process. When you were a child playing games like Monopoly, Dominoes, cards, did you think about the fact that you were using deductive reasoning, resource management, strategic planning, and other skills that you would later find a use for in the workplace and in life? You likely did not. You were probably just laughing, enjoying your friends, snacking on junk food, and having FUN!

This prior experience and emotion can easily be recaptured through well-planned and executed classroom events. By encouraging learners to relax, laugh, and enjoy the experience, you can affect learning.

In fact, many of the common commercial games mentioned above can be adapted to accomplish your learning goals if you just plan a bit. Similarly, crosswords and word search puzzles can be excellent vehicles for reminding learners of key concepts and terms and for testing their memory or cognition in non-threatening and innovative was. These tools can also be excellent icebreakers and pre-tests to get learners thinking about what they are going to experience in the learning event. One nice thing about them is that they can be created using inexpensive software you purchase or find on the Internet.

The Relationship of Games and Activities to Brain-Based Learning

One of the added benefits of using interactive approaches in learning environments is that, in addition to actively involving learners and getting them to work with one another, you can potentially engage them on an emotional level by adding an element of excitement through friendly competition, time limits, activity, movement, and sound. Through laughter, you may stimulate the flow of blood to the brain, which in turn releases substances such as endorphins.

This can help stimulate the neurons in the brain and increase the opportunity for learning ot occur. Additionally, such techniques can set the stage for enhanced comprehension while adding an element of novelty, energy, and fun to goal attainment.

The games in the teaching-learning process of English

In the easy atmosphere, relaxed, used these games created, the students remember things faster and better. Many teachers often look from above the fact that in a relaxed real learning takes place, and the students use language to which they have been exposed and have been performed earlier. The most support comes from Zdybiewska, who believes games to be a good way to practice language, as they provide a model for school use language in real life in the future.

Games encourage, entertain and promote fluency. It has been shown that these have advantages and effectiveness in the educational vocabulary in different ways. The first part, the games bring relaxation and fun for students. So help them to learn and retain new words more easily. Second, extend the ability to play usually friendly and they keep the students interested. These create the motivation for learning English, are involved and actively participate in educational activities. The third part, vocabulary games bring a truly global context in the classroom, and enhance the use of English in a more flexible and communicative. Therefore, the role of games in educational jargon cannot be denied. Why do you use the game during class “The games are fun and play them like school children through the school games experience, discover, and interact with their environment.” (Lewis, 1999:56). The game adds variation to a class and increases motivation. Through games of schoolchildren can learn English the same way they learn their mother tongue without being aware of it and without stress, can learn a lot.

The English class to be supplemented as a second language, teachers often use games. The justification for the games in the classroom has been well demonstrated to the students for their benefits through various modes. These benefits range from cognitive aspects of language to the more cooperative dynamic. The wider benefits of the games are:

Affective: _ Promote creative and spontaneous use of language.

_ They promote communicative competence.

_ Motivate.

_ Having Fun.

Cognitive: amusement-reinforce and extend the focus on communication and grammar.

Dynamics, “The student-centered.

“The teacher acts as facilitator.

– It encourages whole class participation.

– Promote healthy competition.

– Use the four skills.

-Requires minimal preparation after the boom.

– Easily adjusted for age, level and interests.

Results

Proposed educational games (second part) to work with units of English program in sixth grade.

This will take into account the learning objectives, so that consideration is assumed that the process should be focused on the development of the personality. In this sense it was very aware of the issues raised by LS Vygotsky (1968:102), which states that learning is a social activity and not a process of individual achievement, or an activity of production and reproduction of knowledge through which , the subject assimilates social modes of activity and interaction. Therefore, educational games are selected because they specify what is to be achieved in this grade.

REFERENCES

1. Abbot, Ferry et al. (1989). The Teaching of Ingles as an International Language.

2. Vygotsky, L. S. (1968). Thought and Language. Havana: Editorial.