Is computer gaming the new ICT to be integrated into school curriculum?

Abstract

Just as the integration of ICT into the curriculum took time and faced initial obstacles, so too does the integration of computer games into the curriculum. Emerging from a mixed methods research project focusing on learning and teaching with digital games in Australian classrooms, four distinct approaches to educational games are developed: Game Play as a process, Game Building as a process, Game Play as a context, and Game Building as a context. The SAMR model was applied to consider these as progressive adoptions of computer gaming that achieve increasingly transformative learning processes. Then within the use of games as contexts for learning, a Secondary Worlds model was used to then consider these contexts at Philosophic, Epic and Naﶥ levels. Finally, the TPACK model was extended to include computer games as a GPACKS evaluation model of the appropriate use of computer games for various curriculum content, pedagogical approaches, and student gaming preferences.