COTS Games in Education

Here's an interesting email just posted to one of the lists I'm on:

From: John Kirriemuir

Hello,

My first posting, so a short bit about myself. I am an independent
researcher, who is also part of GERN (Games and Education Research Network) at the University of Bristol in the UK:

http://www.bris.ac.uk/education/gern/

I study the use of COTS (Commercial Off the Shelf) games in education, learning and teaching.

The use of COTS games in curriculum-based education is a subject that's increasingly arisen in the games and education research overlap in the last few years. By COTS games, we mean those that you get from a computer and video game shop, and are designed purely for fun/entertainment - not for learning.

The most popular types of these games, being used in education, seem to be:

• Business and economic simulations, such as Sim City, Zoo Tycoon, and RollerCoaster Tycoon. Some of these have a cross-curricular role; for example, Zoo Tycoon encourages economic skill development, while at the same time educating about animals and their habitat.
• Dance mat-based games, used in physical education.
• Historical re-enactment games, such as the Civilization and Age of Empires series.

There is a small blog that points to some examples here:

http://silversprite.blogspot.com/

More detailed examples, with descriptions from teachers of how the games were used, are available in this 4Mb Powerpoint presentation:

http://www.bris.ac.uk/education/research/networks/gern/gdc05.ppt

It's a fluid and fast-moving field, with a number of game developers and publishers looking to see if they can use their products "out of the tin", or whether modification and substantial teacher support materials are required. Various hook-ups between the games sector, academic research sector, and education sector, are popping up. For example, NESTA FutureLab (a UK research unit) and EA games are collaborating to find ways in which games can be used effectively in the classroom:

http://www.nestafuturelab.org/about_us/press_releases/pr8.htm

Do EDTECH mailing list subscribers use such games (or different "pure" computer games), and if so how do you use them to assist in delivering curriculum-based education? Or, would you consider using such games, but don't due to some impediment?

John Kirriemuir

survey05@silversprite.com

University of Bristol / Silversprite