Innovative Pedagogies for ESD and
GCED:
Is Game-Based Learning the Future?
Paul Darvasi @pauldarvasi
Aleksander Isaksen Husøy @alhusoy
Sandhya Nankani @litsafari / @litsafariapps
Alexandr Iscenco, MEGA Co-founder

Eric Zimmerman

The rise of computers has paralleled the
resurgence of games in our culture. This is no
accident. Games like Chess, Go, and Parcheesi are
much like digital computers, machines for creating
and storing numerical states. In this sense,
computers didn’t create games; games created
computers.
- Eric Zimmerman

When information is put at play, game-like
experiences replace linear media. Media and culture
in the Ludic Century is increasingly systemic,
modular, customizable, and participatory. Games
embody all of these characteristics in a very direct
sense. Increasingly, the ways that people spend their
leisure time and consume art, design, and
entertainment will be games - or experiences very
much like games.
- Eric Zimmerman

Video Games as Art

Dr. Henry Jenkins

Games in Education
Nordahl Grieg Upper Secondary
@alhusoy
spillpedagogene.wordpress.com
CORE PRINCIPLES:
- Games in and of themselves have no magical or
miraculous properties
- Treat games like any other learning medium
- The teacher, not the game dev sets the
educational agenda
- Motivation/entertainment should never be the core
justification
- Learning outcome stems NOT primarily from
interaction between student and game
- Digital excursions - Allowing students to
experience the life of others

Empathetic learning

GAMES THEN …
The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very
valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to
be acquired or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all
occasions . . . we learn by Chess the habit of not being discouraged by
present bad appearances in the state of our affairs, the habit of hoping
for a favourable change, and that of persevering in the search of
resources.
—Benjamin Franklin, “The Morals of Chess”

GAMES NOW …
Source: Joan Ganz Cooney Center
Sesame Workshop

GAMES FOR CHANGE
Kids who play multi-player games online are more likely to have a positive attitude toward people from
another country: 62 percent of online gamers hold a favorable view of people from different cultures
compared to 50 percent of non-gamers.
– Online Gaming and Youth Cultural Perceptions survey, Ireland, Killian Forde and Catherine Kenny

THE PRODUCER’S CHALLENGE
“
“Imagine if we could build learning
games that provided the same kinds of
complex motor and cognitive demands as
fast paced action games while featuring
narrative content that was curricularly
relevant. Games all feature stories laid
atop interactive mechanics. One
approach to learning games might be to
build narratives that reinforce
educational content while employing the
same familiar game mechanics. Teachers
could also have students imagine how
existing commercial game narratives might be
retold to be relevant to class content.”
– Jordan Shapiro, MindShift Guide to Games and Learning

AT THE CORE IS STORYTELLING
BIG BELLY BUSINESS, LIBERIA
LOW-LITERACY WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING

BEHIND THE SCENES

OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL?
“
Source: Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop

CULTIVATING A GAME MINDSET
Quest to Learn, NYC

A GAME MINDSET IN
LOW TECH ENVIRONMENTS

WWW.JOINKIDMAP.ORG
Kids Inclusive and Diverse Media Action Project

Resources on GBL
• www.IKTipraksis.no (Guides/lesson plans to using non-ed games)
• http://store.steampowered.com/curator/7389497-Extra-Credits-EDU/
• www.etc.cmu.edu/ - Carnegie Mellon
• www.gamesforchange.org/play/ (games organized by ages and topics)
• www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews (Curated learning games rated by educators)
• https://killscreen.com/ (Quality game journalism)
• http://www.polygon.com/
• http://www.teachapps.org - National Literacy Trust, UK
• http://teacherswithapps.org - Reviews for and by teachers
• http://www.childrenstech.org - Children’s Technology Review
• http://megageneration.com - Example of game-based e-learning for ESD: MEGA Game
• https://www.khanacademy.org - Example of gamification-based e-learning: Khan Academy
• http://peace.americancouncils.md - Games on conflict resolution and peace building
• https://www.coursera.org/certificate/gamification - Course on introduction into gamification
• http://www.joinkidmap.org - forthcoming checklist for evaluating children’s media w/ratings