Teaching with Digital Games in the Classroom to Increase Learning

Half of K-8 teachers say digital games have become a regular and beneficial part of today’s classroom, according to a survey by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit research organization that studies children’s learning through digital media. Katie Ash writes for Education Week, May 2, 2012.

The survey, which consisted of responses from a random sample of 505 teachers of those grades across the country in March of this year, found that 50 percent of the teachers reported using digital games in classroom instruction for at least two days a week.

Eighteen percent reported using games daily. Elementary school teachers tended to use digital games more often than middle school teachers did, with 57 percent of K-5 teachers reporting using games compared with 38 percent of middle school teachers.

“We were really surprised by the number of teachers who were using digital games on a very frequent basis,” said Jessica Millstone, a research consultant for the New York City-based Joan Ganz Cooney Center and an adjunct professor at Bank Street College, also in New York.

In the survey, a game was defined as any interactive digital activity, including simulations, in which students participated using any of a variety of devices, such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, game consoles, and mobile devices.

This video case study shows how Ginger Stevens, a 6th grade special-education teacher at Quest2Learn in New York City, utilizes the intentionally game-like environment of her school to maximize learning for students with special needs. The video shows how Quest2Learn uses their SMALLab installation to increase learning.