17.3 ACADEMIC GAMES

As already indicated, games are competitive contests characterized by discrete plays or moves by the players. The objective is to win by any strategy permitted by the rules. Of importance in selecting games for classroom use are particular characteristics of the deep structure of the exercise. First, academic games should not sanction strategies that involve questionable ethics. The deep structure of Monopoly, for example, is such that a player is reinforced by attempting to bankrupt other players. Although an acceptable practice in a parlor game, reinforcing student strategies designed to bankrupt others is not appropriate in the public school classroom.

The deep structure of academic games should meet two requirements. First, chance or random factors should not contribute to winning. For example, some poor examples of computer games purport to develop students' spatial skills. However, they are merely two-dimensional puzzles that may be solved by guessing (Edens & Gredler, 1990).

Second, winning in academic games should depend solely on the application of subject-matter knowledge and/or problem-solving skills. Given this characteristic, games may be used for any of four general purposes in the classroom. They are (1) to practice and/or to refine knowledge/skills already acquired, (2)to identify gaps or weaknesses in knowledge or skills, (3) to serve as a summation or review, and (4) to develop new relationships among concepts and principles.

The academic skills that contribute to challenging classroom games are the intellectual skills (see 18.3.3) identified by Gagn6 (1977, 1985). They are discriminating, such as matching chemical formulas to names; concept learning, such as classifying paintings into styles or periods; and rule using, such as predicting consequences from events.

One key characteristic of games is that, during the exercise, they alter two aspects of the classroom reward structure. They are the frequency of reinforcement and the immediacy of feedback (DeVries & Edwards, 1973). The player or team that successfully responds to the game stimulus, typically an academic question or problem, is reinforced immediately by advancing in the game. The student or team decision that is incorrect receives immediate feedback by not advancing in the exercise.

Manual games are limited in the amount and extent of feedback they can provide for learner actions. The data-processing capability of the computer, however, makes possible the development of sophisticated games in which students apply a broad base of knowledge to solve complex problems. A rare example of this type of game requires the student to apply his or her knowledge of social and economic institutions in l7th-century France to improve the social standing of a Frenchman of that century (Lougee, 1988). At each turn, the student has several options, such as attempting to establish a marriage contract, buying and selling grain, leasing land, and so on. The computer evaluates each choice made by the player and maintains a running score in the form of a social index.

Success in such a game requires players to direct and manage their thinking in an efficient and effective manner. Variables must be noted, likely, consequences of actions must be considered in advance, and then a course of action must be developed. These capabilities are of the type referred to by Gagn6 (1977, 1985) as cognitive strategies. Thus, one advantage of computer games is that they have the potential to challenge students' thinking in a variety of ways.