Overview of research on the educational use of video games

This paper overviews research on the educational use of video games by examining the viability of the different learning theories in the field, namely behaviorism, cognitivism, constructionism and the socio-cultural approach. In addition, five key tensions that emerge from the current research are examined: 1) Learning vs. playing, 2) freedom vs. control, 3) drill-and-practice games vs. microworlds, 4) transmission vs. construction, 5) teacher intervention vs. no teacher intervention. keywords education • video games • edutainment • learning • video games • overview • behaviorism • constructionism • cognitivism • socio-cultural • instructional technology • playing • teacher More than once we have heard that research on video games is an emerging field in which there has been no prior research, even though this is clearly not the case. Unfortunately, amnesia shackles too many researchers. In providing a comprehensive overview of the educational use of computer games, the paper contributes to the cure for this amnesia and highlights key tensions emerging from the current research that should be considered by practitioners and researchers alike. The method behind this overview The paper presents the most influential research on the subject based on an extensive search of the literature. The following database resources were used: Eric, Psych info, Medline, Ingenta, Emerald, ProQuest, Game Studies, Game-research.com, Simulation & Gaming and several others, as well as the most recent literature overviews, conference proceedings and websites of researchers. References found throughout these sources have been further expanded by examination of the references cited there. dk-2006-3.book Page 184 Wednesday, August 23, 2006 9:08 AM