Educational Gaming

Presented by Kathleen Murphy

What is Gaming?

A competitive activity with preset rules Goal is to win game by applying

knowledge and rehearsing learned skills

Primarily for Cognitive functioning Connects theory to experience Can be played anytime in the learning

sequence

What is Gaming? (con’t) The educator’s role is facilitator of

game Keeps flow going and interprets rules

Games can be individual Crossword puzzles or Word searches

Games can be played in a group Team quizzes or Board games

Prizes are utilized to publicly acknowledge learner’s achievement

Bastable, p. 443-444

Cognitive Learning Theory “Cognitive learning, a highly active process,

largely directed by the individual, involves perceiving the information, interpreting it based on what is already known, and then reorganizing the information into new insights or understanding (Bandura, 2001; Hunt, Ellis, & Ellis, 2004, in Bastable, 2008, p. 60).

Learner takes lecture information and reorganizes and applies it to play the game

Settings for Games

Hospital settings Classrooms Clinics Doctor’s offices Support groups

Gaming in a Hospital Setting Game was used to assess nurses

knowledge of MRSA Staff members were asked to identify

violations of infection-control practices in a mock isolation room

Participants completed an answer sheet and went to an answer station

Staff had an opportunity to correct their wrong information regarding infection control

Bastable, p. 444

Gaming in a Classroom Setting

Educator can present a Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune game to be played by students to help retain and apply newly learned lecture knowledge

Gaming for a Patient

A word search puzzle can be presented for dialysis patients to identify foods known to elevate serum potassium levels

A crossword puzzle can be given to a patient to identify what should and should not be done with Congestive Heart Failure

Bastable, p. 444

Adapting the Game MRSA game could be a team quiz

game played in groups Dialysis crossword could be a group

game where patients pick out pictures of high potassium foods

Jeopardy questions could be made into crossword puzzles or word searches

Games are Flexible!

Pros of Gaming Fun with a purpose Reduction of stress and anxiety Stimulates interaction and promotes

retention of information Promotes teamwork/Enhances motivation Adds variation to learning experience Easy to devise or modify for group of

individual learning Excellent for dull content that is essential

to curriculum

Cons of Gaming Creates stress and embarrassment

when incorrect answers are given Competition can be seen as threatening Difficult to assess individual

competencies when teams are involved Requires special preparation (time/cost) Group sizes must be kept small Can be noisy and require large spaces Might be physically demanding and

difficult for students with disabilities

Evaluation of Gaming Pretest and Posttest is the most often

used method of evaluation Pretest determines the student’s baseline

knowledge Posttest indicates whether students have

achieved the objectives Gaming is only for formative, not

summative evaluation Debriefing after game brings the

teaching/learning process full circle

References Bastable, S.B. (2008). Nurse as educator: Principles of

teaching and learning for nursing practice (3rd edition). Sunbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Blakely, G., Skirton, H., Cooper, S., Allum, P., & Nelmes, P. (2008). Educational gaming in the health sciences: systematic review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 259-269.

Skiba, D.J. (2008). Games for health. Nursing Education Perspectives, 29(4), 230-232.

Sternberger, C. (2003). Adult teaching strategies. Adult Learning, 6(4), 12-14.

Royse, M. A., & Newton, S.E. (2007). How gaming is used as an innovative strategy for nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 28(5), 263-267.