Gamafication There Seems to Be an Ongoing

Gamafication There seems to be an ongoing debate about the effects that computer and video games have on young people. One view holds that the violence they portray may desensitize and change behaviors for young people, the other that the skills necessary to be productive in a global environment can be enhanced through video gaming.

Whether one is an avid gamer or not, many of the basic ideas in gaming, "particularly when combined with the guidance and support of an excellent teacher" assist in learning through patterns, exploration, extrapolation, higher-level thinking and critical approaches to a number of problems (e.g. what do I need to do to get to the next level? What kinds of strategies should I employee, etc.) (Bjerge, 2011). In games like World of War craft, for instance, the goal is not just menace and mayhem, but strategies and tactics.

One of the criticisms many have about the American educational system is that it is tactical, and rarely strategic. For instance, much of the education we receive in the public school system is about knowledge memorization -- what year did Columbus arrive in the New World, what was the major reason for the American Revolution or Civil War, etc. Instead, gaming forces the participant to think past the facts and project (extrapolate) moves into the future, much like chess.

There must be knowledge, but that knowledge must be more than rote memorization of facts -- it must be useful knowledge. One Educational psychologist began pushing this idea as far back as the 1950s. Benjamin Bloom developed a theory of knowledge that almost mimics the expectations of a good gamer. Briefly, Bloom uses taxonomy of learning, which we can envision as a triangle with many different tiers. The bottom level, or the most basic type of learning, is simply rote knowledge or facts.

As learners move up the pyramid, they move into higher forms of thinking and learning that allow them to master subjects to a greater degree. Once facts (remembering) is done, the learning then moves to understanding the concept, the applying the concept to real situations, then analyzing what happened, then evaluating the potential outcomes, to the final stage of taking all the learning and creating something new.

The idea is that learners should move up the pyramid in order to become masters of a topic -- not simply work at the bottom stage of remembering, and thus push the paradigm of scientific knowledge forward (Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains, 2011).

If we think about this from a gaming perspective, or as a model for education, moving up each layer (level) requires that one take knowledge from the past level, learn more, apply past knowledge as well as creativity and curiosity, to figure out pieces of the puzzle, garner new skills, synergize those skils, and make continual adaptations to strategies and tactics. Plus, as one moves higher in gaming levels, the requirements are "a more advanced knowledge of the challenges, collaboration and teamwork, communicatio, and other 21st-century skills are required" (Bjerge).

Now add on eye-hand coordination, kinesthetic memory, honing the skills of problem solving and consequences of actions, and we have an almost perfect model that may be taken from course to course and into a paradigm of lifelong learning. Finally, gaming is.