This workshop was conducted at the TESOL Kuwait Conference in February 2023.
Graphics used in the presentation were downloaded from online resources. The two main sources relate to Black Stories (workshop theme) and Alice Is Missing (main picture and the longest of the presented games).
You can watch all recorded presentations here https://www.games4teachers.net/videos/
game-based learning vs
game-assisted learning
This is not a presentation. It is a workshop about the application of games in the classroom, and on how to adapt various commercial games to be used efficiently in the classroom. So, since it is a workshop, hands-on experience, let's play a game!
Game #1 BLACK STORIES
Your teacher only answers Yes-No Questions.
You (= students in the classroom) have a limited number of time, e.g., 1 min or a limited number of questions, e.g., 21 questions to find out what happened in the story.
A woman walks into a café.
She asks for a glass of water.
The waiter draws out a gun…
He points it right at her…
The woman says “Thank you!” and she walks out happily…
The woman had hiccups.
She wanted a glass of water to stop it.
He thought that frightening her will work better, so he tried to scare her.
This worked really well!
The hiccups stopped!
She was so happy that she said “Thank you” and left.
Usually, the answers to Black Stories are quite simple or they relate to acceptable but obscure sports or pastimes. Some stories refer to marital life, betrayal, death, etc. These topics may be culture-sensitive, and you (=teacher) should verify which stories you want to use in the classroom, and which you want to avoid.
There is a mobile-phone version of the game that can be easily bought on Google Play and Apple Store, and can be played right from your phone.
- Did you like this game?
- Did you learn or practice anything?
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
There are numerous reasons to use games, game elements, playful activities, and communicative activities in the classroom:
- break routine
- unexpected event
- reward
- warm-up
- cool-down
- instant feedback
- cooperation / competition
- doesn’t feel like learning
- Was it game-based learning?
- Was it game-assisted learning?
- Does it even matter? GBL or GAL?
What is the difference between game-BASED learning (GBL) and game-ASSISTED learning (GAL)?
- Do you use games to introduce, practice, and apply skills and knowledge – long games & scenarios? --> GBL
- Do you use games as short, optional activities that spice up the lesson? --> GAL
There are a few main uses of the term. Some are more broad, some are more precise, but it is not a well-defined term and used specifically -- at least not as well as game-based learning.
- synonyme to GBL
- used sparsely in phrases like computer-game assisted learning or serious games assisted learning
- stress on assisting other elements within the learning process rather than creating the basis for it
- denotes using any games while GBL is often related to educational games
- GBL can be associated with serious games while GAL should not
Why should we use games in the classroom?
What is the difference between games and playful activities?
To put it in simple terms:
games have rules, time limits, goals, players, judges, win states, losers, etc.
playful activities don’t…
- no rules
- no limits
- no formalised goals
- no winners or losers
In order to understand the application of games in the classroom, it is helpful to see overlaps and discinctive features of games, playful activities, and educational games.
To put it bluntly, many educational games are poor games. The playful/fun element is in atrophy, and the challange vs skills (game-like structure) is driven towards specific and single learning outcome. At least that can be said about many educational games.
Another group of mistakes in educational games or the application of (educational) games in the classroom is:
- binary choices
- correct or wrong
- high risk of mistake
- winners and losers --> advances students always win
- constant competition --> weaker students always lose
- little cooperation
On top of that (games, playful activities, and educational games), we should not lose sight of serious games/simulations. These have been used for decades as training tools in the military, police, firefighting, national/government/local administration workers. Many successful commercial games are serious games/simulations. Many social campaigns to raise awarness relate to or have specifically designed serious games.
And then there is gamification which is the application of game elements, mechanics, and/or dynamics (not whole games!) in non-entertainment activities in order to raise motivation, engagement, and results.
- 5-15 min
- describe X in a sentence but do not use the key word
Charades and similar games can be easily played in a few modes:
- describe X using sentences or stories but do not use the key word
- describe X using single words but do not use the key word
- draw the meaning of X but do not write anything
- show or act out the meaning of X but do not say anything
The teacher conducting the game of Charades (or any other similar game like Taboo, Word Slam, HINT, etc.) limits the Teacher Talking Time and boosts Student Talking Time. This relates to both student-to-student converstations and student-to-teacher converstation/interaction.
A skilled teacher may cease talking altogether while playing those games as everything can be easily communicated through gestures: time, turns, next word, success, partial success, failure, points, hints, etc.
As a result, teacher can stop talking, students play a game (=high engagement), but the lesson is strictly controlled by the teacher via game rules and mechanics. It is not the teacher that stops the game or moves from team to team, it is the game that progresses according to its own rules.
The students have a stronger feeling of agency which helps in raising their engagement and motivation.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 5-15 minutes
- multiple pictures represent ideas
- students in teams guess ideas
- students create new puzzles
In Concept, players use a big mat with around 100 pictures. They place markers to show main and sub-concepts. In the game, there is a list of examples, and there is a demo version with 20+ puzzles that can be downloaded.
Simple concepts can relate to everyday actions or objects. All shown pictures relate directly to the main concept.
Other puzzles may be more complex. There is a main concept = animal; however, there are additional sub-concepts that should clarify the main concept = foodstaff + clarifications, = night + clarification.
Obviously, this game can be played with students who are learning languages and need to master various vocabulary lists. What other applications of Concept can you think of?
As the game mat presents dozens of various concepts, the game can be used for virtually any subject and course. This is a game of major associations, connotations, and denotations. It shows how people think and how they connect ideas/concepts.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 5-10 min
- draw starting characteristics for your creature
- describe why your creature will beat your opponent’s creature
- keep on battling inventing solutions, parries, feints, and counter-attacks!
Superfight is a typical party game. The rules are simple. The game is quick. The more players argue (in a friendly manner) the better. It is sometimes difficult to judge who the winner is and 1) that is fine as winning is not really the goal of the game, and 2) the more students become invested in the game the better as talking and interacting are the real goals of a party game.
For example, two teams need to argue why these creatures would overpower one another:
Creature 1
- Viking
- leeches opponent's health when touched
- on a velocipede
Creature 2
- Bruce Lee
- swinging a shark on a chain
- can only see movement
Obviously, this game can be utilised to practice vocabulary or modal verbs. However, why not use it for ethical discussions, historical figures and their impact on societies, etc.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 5-15 min
- everyone in the team gets the same card = the same picture
- the Spy has a blank card
- each person describes the place in the picture = one sentence
- the team find the Spy
- the Spy guess the place
Imagine that the place depicted on the card is a submarine. How would you describe it so other players know that you know the place, but at the same time you do not give enough clues to the Spy to guess that the place/card is a submarine?
Imagine that you are the Spy. What clues would you be looking for to distinguish from places that other players may be hinting, e.g., shopping mall, sports centre, library, playground, classroom, hospital?
What will you say to pretend that you know the place/card, and not give away yourself as the Spy?
Again, it is a quick game to test and practice vocabulary. However, to be played successfully, students need to build meaningful sentences -- single words are not enough. When students start describing activities that are not typical for the place, but are still possible, the game becomes most interesting. So, everyone will have most fun (=practice) from the game after playing it a few times over the course of a few lessons. Coming back to Spyfall brings the biggest benefits.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 10-30 min
- 5 types of cards: people, aspects, places, things, and events
- use the cards to build your own stories in teams
- use vocab lists and add details/words to your stories
- add something to stories of other teams --> editing
Once Upon a Time is a typical story-telling game. In the proper game, players try to play their own cards as quickly as they can. They build a story from the elements they find on their own cards. They also try to take over the story from other players.
However, those mechanics are too complex and too competitive for a typical classroom. Unless you teach competitive storytelling course 😉
It is the easiest and most profitable to play Once Upon a Time as a cooperative task.
- arrange students in teams of 3-6
- give each student 3 cards
- one student starts a story --> put down one card --> say one sentence
- the next student (clockwise) puts down another card behind the previous card (--> make a line) --> and says one sentence that continuous the story
- then the next student
- they go on until they have 8-12 cards in the line or when time is up (=Teacher decides it is time to share stories or write down stories)
- students share stories OR students write down stories
- optionally, students can pass their stories for other students to correct, edit, expand, enrich with vocabulary
- optionally, when students finish their stories, you can remind them about vocabulary lists and ask them too add missing vocab
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 10-30 min
- just like Once Upon a Time but with cubes / dice
- there are various sets of 9 cubes per package
- there are theme-based sets of story cubes
- there are big cubes in shops with toys for children
Story Cubes and Once Upon a Time are based on the same premise. You get ideas from the pictures printed on cards/dice, and you build stories from those pictures.
There are various sets of Story Cubes with different themes. You can limit the story to typical elements by using the standard set, or you can expand possible set of ideas reaching out for fantasy or science fiction or anything else thay you or your students like.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 5 min
- draw a card & say its name
- draw another card & say the names on both cards
- draw another card & say all names
- How long can you go? How many cards can you remember?
Ooga-Booga is a typical party game. It is simple and quick, and it is hilarious. As a party game, it has the typical advantage of being both cooperative and competitive at the same time. As a teacher, by adding or adjusting the rules, you can easily adapt the whole game to your needs, lesson requirements, or the age of the students.
To play a game
- you put one card and say aloud what is printed on it (or make the action if the card shows an action)
- then the next player puts another card on the previous card, and says/acts the first card, and then the second card
- then the next player does the same with three cards
- then the next player does the same with four cards...
- players go as long as they can remember all cards
- if players start helping each other, allow them! they are creating a team organically
Ooga-Booga works great as a tool
- to boost memory
- to show students that they can learn something new in a few minutes
- to show students that teams can do more than individuals, and that they are more efficient
- to have a bit of fun!
- How many cards can you remember without looking at them?
- How many cards can you rememember as a team, when you all help each other?
- What mnemotechnics can you use?
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 20-40 min or even a few hours
- draw cards with the story text
- make choices
- your choices influence the story
- suffer the consequences
- try to solve the mystery
Although here the game is presented, Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of 250+ books of various lenght and language complexity. They all share a similar structure: readers make choices every few pages, and those choices have a direct impact on the story and characters. Some books have 30+ different endings!
War With the Evil Power Master was first published as a book (1984), then as a card game with a simple board (2019), and then a free card game demo was made available online for print-and-play.
The demo game requires cards and a dice. In the classroom, the dice can be substituted by a mobile phone app that simulates dice rools or by cards or by a PowerPoint with a built in dice simulator (check the slide above).
In a game, players need to
- read the text on the card
- sometimes play a mini game
- sometimes draw an additional card
- make a story-based choice that will direct players to the next card --> make your own choice = make your own story
The slide above shows you the whole beginning of the demo. The text is 2 pages long. If you estimate that students will need to read those cards for 1-2 minutes, then play the mini game for 1 minute, then discuss which story-choice to make 1-2 minutes, it turns out that a single card may require 5+ minutes of classroom time. If an average game is 15-25 cards' long, this translates to 75-125 minutes! Playing a game like that at one go is out of a question. Anyone will get bored half way through. [Quick readers could play the whole game much quicker, but then we are not talking about classroom joint reading and debating. This would be a completely different task with different learning goals.] So, most likely, you will need to break this game into much smaller chanks to play it over many days, maybe even many weeks. But it is worth it...
Another option is to simplify the text on each card. To be honest, some of the sentences, structures, and lexical items may be too difficult for your students. First, you must always check the game to know if your students will be able to play it!
However, when we talk about dozens of cards that need to be read and simplified, be prepared for dozens of hours of writing and editing... It takes a lot of time... But again, it is worth if you can find a way to engage your students in this game/activity in the classroom.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 45-60-90 min
- a chain of puzzles
- possible story line
- answers to some puzzles lead to further puzzles, and all culminate in the final question/puzzle
There are a lot of games that follow a similar path to Choose Your Own Adventure, namely ready --> choose --> progress in the story --> have fun! You may look into Time Stories, Unlock!, Escape Rooms, Treasure Hunts, etc.
Playing any of those games will require a lot of time. Typical treasure hunts and escape rooms take 60 min of playtime alone, not to mention explanations and setting up. But again -- it is worth it!
Find a local games shop, play those games in a team, decide if you can use those games in your classroom. Decide if you need the whole game or just some elements.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
We reached the moment when you need to make up your mind.
- Do you like games?
- Are you ready for games in your classroom?
- Which games?
- Why?
- Are you ready to adapt them?
So far we were talking about games that are successful commercial products, and as such are supposed to be good game = bring the fun factor to your classroom. However, most of them are rather short, and probably are much better for game-assisted learning (introducing ideas, cool down activities, revision, testing, etc.).
In order to embrace game-based learning, it requires a game that is more demanding (not necessairily complex), and as such the whole process of explaining concepts is done within and throughout the gameplay. It is playing the game that teaches a specific subject matter. Alice Is Missing is a game that can be used to teach conversations, negotiations, debating, asking questions, using tenses, experiencing (for a later discussion) ethical dilemmas, etc.
The following slides present preparations to play Alice Is Missing. It is a cooperative role-playing game with a sort of who-done-it story.
The whole game is played with cards. Players take cards that show them who they are in the game and what motivations they have. Every 5 minutes, one player receives an additional card from the Game Master, and that card relates to people, objects, or places that somewhow bring players closer to finding out what happened to Alice.
Players communicate between each other only via a chat / the phone making any communication delayed, but also making the whole communication channel transparent and available throughout the game.
The explicit goal of the game is to find Alice, but the real goal of Alice Is Missing is to go through an experience as a group, and to communicate about feelings.
Students need to be informed about basic mechanics: wait for clues, read the clues, spread the message, and discuss possibilities.
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
- 10-20 min
- pictures with events & dates
- players arrange pictures chronologically
- players score points on accurate placement of pictures in the timeline
Think for yourself. What Learning Outcomes can your students reach when playing this game.
My answer is YES.
A more precise answer is YES, but thing twice and plan a lot in advance. Then test and iterate after each lesson.
But do not force games into the classroom if you do not feel it.
In the end, every teacher needs to decide for themselves which games they like most, which games will be favoured by their students, and which games will align best with their learning goals. Hopefully, teachers, students, and learning goals choices will direct you the the same/similar games. Otherwise, you will be torn... Always prioritise your students! If they are not drawn into the game or game element you are presenting them with, games-based/assisted learning is not going to be effective.
A woman stopped three steps from a hotel.
If she moves exactly three steps, she will be completely ruined…
She will lose everything she has!
The woman is playing Monopoly.
She is three steps away from a plot with a lot of hotels on it.
If the next round she rolls 3, and moves 3 steps, she will lose the game…
- Do not panic!
- Do not panic!
- Play games for fun
- Play analogue games
- Play party or family games
- Simplify & simplify again, and adapt
- Go for cooperation mode even in competitive games/tasks
- Clear & short instructions
- Teams are always better
- Ask students for feedback
- COTS = commercial-off-the-shelf games are great for education
- Buy or borrow?
- Private or school-owned?
- State school vs private school?
- Free demo vs COTS?
- Adapted or COTS?
- Shared? Published? With Attribution?
- What are the copyrights?
- What is in the small print?
- Do you know your rights and duties?
If you have any questions, write to me. The comments section is at the bottom of this page. Or write an e-mail to me if this works better for you.
If you would be interested in another workshop, Special Interst Group, research, publication, or any other mode of cooperation, please let me know.
- go to local game shops, have a look, and play
- talk to your students and play their games
- then adapt... adapt... adapt...
- Game-based Learning https://www.edutopia.org/topic/game-based-learning
- Game-based Learning https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/game-based-learning (2021)
- Game-based Learning https://www.teacheracademy.eu/blog/game-based-learning (2020)
- Liuxia Pan, A. Tlili, J. Li, F. Jiang, G. Shi, H. Yu, and J. Yang, How to Implement Game-Based Learning in a Smart Classroom? A Model Based on a Systematic Literature Review and Delphi Method (2021)
- Richard Van Eck, A Guide to Integrating COTS Games into Your Classroom (2008)
- Richard Van Eck, Digital game-based learning: Still restless, after all these years (2015)
- Shera Bariuad, 12 Game Based Learning Platforms (2022) https://www.edapp.com/blog/game-based-learning-platforms
- Sigmund Tobias, J. D. Fletcher, and A. P. Wind, „Game-Based Learning” Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology (2013)
- Mikolaj Sobocinski https://www.games4teachers.net
