Computer games and young learners

C O M P U T E R G A M E S A N D
Y O U N G L E A R N E R S
N I K P E A C H E Y | L E A R N I N G T E C H N O L O G Y C O N S U LTA N T
Nik Peachey | Writer | Trainer | Learning Technology Consultant

Nik Peachey
Learning Technology Consultant,Trainer ,Writer
Associate Trainer - Bell Educational Services
20Years World Wide Experience in ELT
PRINCE 2 Project Manager

M.Ed Tech ELT

CELTA Trainer

DELTA Trainer

ICT Trainer
NikPeachey@Mac.Com
My ebook project:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/digital-classrooms-online-video
Author: Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19576895/Web-20-Tools-for-Teachers

A D I G I TA L S T O RY
S T O RY WA R M E R

W H Y P L AY ?

W H Y E V E RY S T U D E N T N E E D S A
P L AY G R O U N D T O S U C C E E D
• Our education system is increasingly embracing a
black-and-white way of thinking, in which 'learning'
and 'play' are diametrically opposed. 'Learning' is the
serious stuff that happens inside a classroom and can
be measured via multiple choice questions and a No.
2 pencil. 'Play' is frivolous, fun, and worst of all,
optional. - Darell Hammond
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darell-hammond/why-students-need-a-playg_b_1746950.html

– A L B E R T E I N S T E I N
“Play is the highest form of research.”

V I D E O G A M E A D D I C T I O N
H T T P : / / W W W. V I D E O - G A M E - A D D I C T I O N . O R G /

W H AT M A K E S V I D E O G A M E S
A D D I C T I V E ?
• The High Score - Trying to beat the high score (even if
the player is trying to beat his own score) can keep a
player playing for hours.
http://www.video-game-addiction.org/what-makes-games-addictive.html

• Beating the Game - The desire to beat the game is fed
as a player "levels up," or finds the next hidden clue.
A D D I C T I V E ?

• Role-Playing - There’s an emotional attachment to the
character, and the story makes it much harder to stop
playing.
A D D I C T I V E ?

• Discovery - The thrill of discovery (even of places that
don't really exist) can be extremely compelling.
A D D I C T I V E ?

• Relationships - Online role-playing games allow
people to build relationships with other players. For
some kids, this online community becomes the place
where they're most accepted, which draws them back
again and again.
A D D I C T I V E ?

• Trying to improve on yourself
• Trying to beat the game
• Building emotional attachments
• The thrill of discovery
• Building relationships and feeling accepted
A D D I C T I V E ?

L E T ’ S M A K E L E A R N I N G
A D D I C T I V E

W H Y C O M P U T E R
G A M E S ?

A C H I E V I N G A S TAT E O F
‘ F L O W ’ .

F L O W T H E O RY
• intense and focused concentration on the present moment
• merging of action and awareness
• a loss of reflective self-consciousness
• a sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
• a distortion of temporal experience, one's subjective experience
of time is altered
• experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred
to as autotelic experience
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29

S O M E E X A M P L E S F O R
T H E E F L C L A S S R O O M

S P O R E C R E AT U R E C R E AT O R
D R E S S U P

E X P L O I T I N G S P O R E F O R L A N G U A G E
L E A R N I N G
• Create images of different creatures and get the students to create a story about them.
• Get the students to create descriptions of different creatures - This could include appearance, but also
likes and dislikes, habits etc.
• Get students to match pictures to descriptions.
• Get students to create a creature based around your description.
• Create a creature and use a picture of it as a picture dictation with one student describing the picture
while the other one recreates the creature using the software.
• Get students to create a short video of their creature and add a description and narrative below it as a
video project.
• Ask students to create a creature suitable for a particular environment, or types of tasks, then get
students to discuss which they think would be best adapted for the environment.
• Get the students to write instructions for how to create a creature.
• Use the creatures to demonstrate present continuous tenses ( sitting, running etc.)
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/3d-computer-games-with-young-learners.html

S A M O R O S T
N A R R A T I V E D R I V E N G A M E S

E X P L O I T I N G S A M O R O S T F O R
L A N G U A G E L E A R N I N G
• Tell the story - Split your class into A and B students. Get all the As to play one game and all the Bs to
play another. Once they have finished the game pair one A student up with one B student and ask
them to retell the story as if they were Samorost. Once the students have told their stories they can
change over games and see if they can work their way through the game by remembering the
narrative that their partner told them.
• Write the instructions - Split your students in to As and Bs as above and get your student to work their
way through the games and write instructions for how to complete each level. They should then give
their instructions to their partner and see if their partner can use the instructions to find their way
through the game.
• Write a review of the game - You could ask your students to write a review of one of the games. You
could collect these together with reviews of other games and publish them as a small booklet.
• Following instructions - As a reading exercise you could print up the 'walk through' instructions on
how to complete the games and see if students can read them and work through all the levels.
• Write the story - You could get your students to play one of the games and then write the story. They
could write it as a news report and even use a video camera or web cam to create a news broadcast.
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/adventure-narratives-for-efl-esl.html

G A M E ‘ WA L K T H R O U G H S ’
• http://www.online-game-walkthrough.com

E X P L O I T I N G T W O C O M P U T E R - B A S E D
R P G S
T H I R D W O R L D FA R M E R

R P G S
S T I C K M A N R P G

R P G S
• Get half of the class to play one game and the other half to play the other. Then
in class get them to describe, compare and contrast the games in pairs.
• Get the students to collect any new words they find while playing the games.
• Get each pair to describe their own ‘story’ in the game. What happened to them
and what was their outcome?
• Get the students to compare the different problems their character had in the
game. Which game do they think was harder?
• Ask them to compare strategies. What things did they do in the game that
helped them to be more or less successful? How did they change their strategy?
• Ask them to rate the game. How good do they think it was? Did they enjoy
playing it? Would they recommend the game?
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/exploiting-two-computer-based-rpgs_09.html

TA S K B A S E D G A M E S
W W W. P O W E R U P T H E G A M E . O R G

P O W E R U P
• Task based reading
• Collaboration
• Thinking skills and problem solving
• Narrative
• Reported speech
• Imperatives / conditionals

G E N E R A L A C T I V I T I E S

G E N E R A L A C T I V I T I E S
• Describe a game
• Review a game
• Design a game
• Try to sell a game
• Debate gaming
• Explain how to win
• Market a game
• Change the gender of a game
• Play a MORPG in English

M O R E G A M E S

M O R E G A M E S
G A M E S F O R C H A N G E

M O B I L E G A M E S
G R A P H I T E . O R G

G A M I F I C AT I O N

G A M I F Y Y O U R C L A S S R O O M
H A B I T R P G

G A M I F Y Y O U R C L A S S R O O M
• Habits
• Todos
• Dailies
• Rewards
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/gamification-to-encourage-learner.html

T H E F U T U R E O F
G A M I N G

A U G M E N T E D R E A L I T Y

E X P L O R I N G A U G M E N T E D R E A L I T Y
• LearnAR: http://www.learnar.org/
• Wikitude: http://www.wikitude.com/app/

W E A R A B L E T E C H N O L O G Y
G O O G L E G L A S S

W E A R A B L E T E C H N O L O G Y
• What Will Google Glass Do to Our Brains?: http://
mashable.com/2013/04/17/what-will-google-glass-do-
to-our-brains/
• Google Glass and Education: http://
thelearnersway.net/ideas/2013/6/28/google-glass-and-
education

V I R T U A L R E A L I T Y
O C U L U S R I F T

E X P L O R I N G V I R T U A L R E A L I T Y
• Oculus Rift: http://www.oculusvr.com/
• Oculus Rift in education: https://flipboard.com/
section/oculus-rift-in-education--b7a4Yb

I N T E R A C T I O N G A M I N G
P R O J E C T N A TA L

G A M I N G I N E D U C AT I O N
• Serious games: http://
www.seriousgamesinstitute.co.uk/
• Gamification in education: http://
www.gamifyingeducation.org/

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G
• Digital game-based learning Marc Prensky
• Digital play Graham Stanley Kyle Mawer
• How I turned my classroom into a ‘living video game’ Joli
Barker
• Why Games Work and the Science of Learning Curtiss Murphy
• The Positive Side of Video Games: Part I Dr. Pamela Rutledge
• Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience M
Csíkszentmihályi

Thanks for listening
nikpeachey@mac.com
My Blogs

Learning Technology: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/

Quick Tips: http://quickshout.blogspot.com/
Nik Peachey | Learning Technology Consultant,Writer,Trainer
My Book

Web 2.0 Tools for Teachers:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/19576895/Web-20-Tools-for-Teachers
My Recommended Reading

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D O W N L O A D T H E P R E S E N TAT I O N
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow
old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

Computer games and young learners

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