Author: ТУЛАГАНОВ ДМИТРИЙ ДЕНИСОВИЧ, АНДРУКЕВИЧ ЕКАТЕРИНА АНДРЕЕВНА / TULAGANOV DMITRY DENISOVICH, ANDRUKEVICH EKATERINA ANDREEVNA
Introduction:
Assessment of the current state of the problem: The problem of gamification of education today is very acute and competition for the primacy of game-based learning between Western countries and Russia today has reached enormous proportions. Western countries today are more focused on studying the theoretical foundations of game learning, while Russia, in particular its leading universities in this area, such as Moscow State Pedagogical University, Higher School of Economics and Moscow State University, are aimed at the practical application of games in learning.
Relevance: The relevance of this topic is dictated by fundamental changes in society as a result of the introduction of this technology. A person spends more than half of his life in one way or another studying, both at a desk at a school or university, and in the process of internships, self-study or through additional education. Naturally, one cannot deny the contribution of education to a person's life - it forms not only his professional competencies, but also his view of the world, which, of course, will affect the future of our planet and at least the nearest outer space within the next hundred years.
Purpose: To tell about the trends in the development of education in the context of game learning.
Tasks:
1. Tell about the impact of the traditional classroom system on society and its alternatives;
2. Tell about modern trends in gaming education;
3. Talk about the possibilities of continuous gaming learning;
4. Tell about the prospects of the educational revolution.
Scientific novelty: In the article, in addition to analyzing the trends of gaming learning, for the first time a theoretical example of continuous gaming learning within the course of classes using a board game of our own production is given, which is currently considered almost impossible.
Traditional education today is based on a class-lesson system that includes dozens of types of lessons, however, always based on the principle of keeping attention with the help of special manipulative techniques, and also, most often, using external motivation - grades, scores, ratings, threat punishments, etc. At the same time, such a system of education was formed back in the 16th century and since then has undergone only minor changes in its structure, content and principles of work [1, p. 55-57].
Of course, the absence of significant transformations over the course of 5 centuries of the development of general science speaks either of the perfection of the system, or of imminent revolutionary changes, as was the case during the so-called "Industrial Revolutions". And if we can only assume the second, based on the prerequisites for the emergence of new technologies, then the first in this case seems obviously a false option. Here it is enough to recall our own experience of studying at school, when it was tiring for the majority to sit within the 4 walls of the classroom, but almost everyone came with great pleasure to excursions or extracurricular activities. Nevertheless, we can be convinced of the objectivity of this statement and on very specific examples of changes in the motivation of students when using extracurricular activities in teaching [2, p. 203-204]
Of course, the lack of motivation in the classroom is partly the fault of the teacher, and the problems of the methodologist who made the wrong schedule or time for classes, but meanwhile, first of all, this is a natural phenomenon in the nature of the child's psyche.
To understand this thesis, let's consider several ages of children and make sure that the classroom and its closed space with a huge number of restrictions and strict rules are not the best environment for the development of the child's psyche. So, for example, at primary school age, the leading activity of the child is the game [3, p. 135]. Meanwhile, the game most often involves the presence of a large space for play and activity. The class, on the other hand, is limited in space, and games, even those that are in the teacher's arsenal, most often involve activities within the workplace. This not only harms the psyche of the child by blocking his basic need, but also greatly affects the health of many students. So, referring to the words of M. Montessori, we can say that “A school is a factory for the production of hunchbacks and blind men” [4, p. 18]
Similarly, with the puberty period, when the leading activity of the child is social, and in the classroom, it is often impossible to communicate in the classroom. This not only prevents the child from honing their communication skills and empathy, but also interferes with the assimilation of knowledge, because, as we know very well, students simply break this rule, which often disrupts the lesson.
I think it is also worth mentioning here separately that in adolescence and youth, the dominant activity is labor activity and self-knowledge, as well as the search for belonging. In the search for belonging, the school does not contribute to the progress of the child's psyche in any way, however, it is worth noting that in the implementation of self-knowledge and labor activity there is a certain progress from the class-lesson system, for example, the formation of profile classes in high school and career guidance classes.
Meanwhile, all of the above age-related needs are easily implemented by the game, and as a form of learning, it seems to be the most effective and meets the least resistance from the child. For example, different games fulfill different needs. Active outdoor games contribute to the realization of the need for physical activity, contribute to the development of cognitive interest, teach children primary communication. Games for puberty children should include an element of communication, for example, they can be team and competitive games that can only be won thanks to the cohesion and strength of the mind of the students. Thus, it is possible not only to realize the need of children for communication, but also to develop the desire to choose cognitively costly decisions in later life, as well as to form the image of a reasonable and creative person, as the dominant aspiration of society. At an older age, role-playing games, especially with experts in their field, and various professional productions will be most attractive for fulfilling the needs of children.
And so, we found out that the game, as a form of education, is more attractive for the development of the child at all stages of the educational process. But what kind of picture in education are we seeing today and what are the prerequisites for the gaming revolution?
In Western countries, the use of games as one of the learning technologies has become a real mainstream. Thus, we know that in the United States, educational simulators are already being actively introduced for migrants who do not know English or have a poor command of it, for example, for migrants from South America, Spain, Portugal, etc. Meanwhile, it is worth noting here that such games, even there, so far, are used only as a tool, and not as a replacement for traditional learning, although the use of digital game simulators in the educational practice of official government institutions is already a huge breakthrough for an area where working traditions are not change over the centuries.
Meanwhile, another popular trend in Western countries is the use of "serious games" already as a teaching method. So, for example, teachers at a number of European Universities during quarantine restrictions used game projects (Combined method of game and project activity) as a way to overcome the lack of practice among students. The example of Sean Young or the example of Crystal Island is especially indicative, where the game project method was used to teach environmental students, and the recorded results showed even greater efficiency than the traditional practice of students [5].
Meanwhile, as we can see, these are only prerequisites for the transition completely into the playing space of the entire lesson. So far, these preconditions, meanwhile, look very weak, but they confidently demonstrate the positive dynamics of progress in this direction.
An example that is closer and more familiar to us may be, for example, the experience of conducting game classes using board games by teachers at the Higher School of Economics. Thanks to the use of the board game as an educational tool, they managed to create a full-fledged game lesson, all elements of which, from updating knowledge to checking the assimilation of current knowledge, took place during the game, while including both the role component and the communicative and cognitive activity of students in the process. games.
Definitely, designing one activity using a game is not an innovation. So, such game lessons, albeit more often in the process of extracurricular activities (due to the time limit), are still carried out for a long time. Meanwhile, in pedagogy there is absolutely no experience in designing a whole course of classes using a large number of game mechanics.
At the moment, I am developing such an idea as my own educational project. While there is a common misconception that the entire workflow cannot be designed using a game, it is theoretically possible with a combination of board game mechanics and interleaving them.
For example, according to our idea, regular biology classes will be conducted in such a way that students' knowledge will be tested using a card game. At this stage, students will be given cards from the board game, which will indicate what event happened to the character and what he will gain or lose if he succeeds or fails in solving this situation. In turn, the situation can both itself ask the student a question, and success or failure can be decided not by a roll of a die (as in traditional board games), but by success or failure in solving the problem given by the teacher.
The student gives a short written answer or solves a test task related to the game card and turns in his work to the teacher. The teacher records the result and notes whether the student has earned skill points, artifacts or other game resources. So, for example, in our game, weapons, food, or modifiers will be used instead of ratings.
Instead of a test, a long game lesson will be held, in which students will be able to use the accumulated resources with the game mechanics of the “Kin-dvin” type. They will move around the map, interact with each other (Support, trade or feud), earn resources by completing the tasks of the teacher or ignore them and lose some of the resources.
Here, it would certainly be unfair to give marks according to the degree of dominance of the student in the game. So, for example, victory can be won not only with your knowledge, but also with cunning, tactical or strategic decision, with the help of the ability to make decisions in stressful situations or the ability to communicate with others.
So how can evaluation take place? Evaluation will take place by counting the answers to the teacher's questions, which will also contribute to the progress in the game. At the same time, the assessment will have a dynamic character, that is, it will depend on the degree of activity of other students in the class, which will make it possible to determine a kind of educational frame of the class and evaluate students more objectively, and not in a standardized way. So, if the majority of students in the class have few answers to direct questions, then either the game is organized in such a way that the development of the character does not depend on the answers and the students neglect this mechanics, or the teacher made major shortcomings in his pedagogical activity. In both cases, the fault lies entirely with the teacher and his professional competencies, and students should not receive reverse motivation for mistakes they did not make. In turn, if the majority in the class has a high response rate to unanswered questions and only a few students have low scores, this indicates the inattention of the student himself or a group of students, which is a reason for him to think about his own behavior.
Meanwhile, at this stage, it is internal motivation and its reinforcement that are important. Thus, the main underlying meaning is that success in life can be achieved not only by using knowledge, but also by cunning, emotional stability and social activity, and each of the behavioral strategies implies the presence of its positive and negative sides.
At this stage, there is certainly a stratification of students into strong and weak, winners and losers, and at the same time there is a feeling of social injustice. However, this disadvantage of such games is translated into dignity thanks to the following actions.
Then, after the victory of a certain group of children or even one student and grading the class, the accumulation stage again goes exactly until the next test. At the control stage, the game is repeated, but a new character is introduced into the game - the “hunter”, who is stronger than the largest players on the field and forces them to unite in the face of danger with weaker but friendly classmates. So there is a sense in establishing friendly ties and maintaining an active dialogue with other factions and movements. The strength of one is no longer enough, and teams of like-minded people are fighting for victory. Just like in real life, you can't survive alone.
This stage is repeated repeatedly until the students learn the lesson of this game and work out the skills of cohesion in stressful situations to automatism.
But the game story does not end there. After the next stage of accumulation, a new mechanic appears. The game map has been destroyed by endless wars and needs to be rebuilt using new resources and new game principles. The actions of students change radically from a game of survival to a game of resource sharing, sharing, and planning their own actions.
This mechanism not only allows students to take their minds off the same type of game they are used to, but also introduces a new lesson to consider. War is not eternal and one of the important parts of our life is creation, which, meanwhile, in its own way is also a struggle of interests, and the results of your collective activity can later be used to achieve greater and better results.
A special advantage of the game is that it is aimed at different types of players. There is a certain typology of them according to the leading motivation in the game. So, some people like to save and feel their superiority. Others love the collective interaction in the game, the third - the result, the result, the meaning is important, and the fourth are interested in the world around and its rules - they need the plot, the lore of the game and its atmosphere. For the latter, the game has added the ability to explore the history of this world through interaction with laboratories and knowledge of the secrets of what happened to the world of the past. In addition, for fans of strategic planning, certain artifacts have been invented that are very difficult to get, but under certain conditions, they can turn the tide of even a hopeless battle.
Similarly, you can build various other didactic games, stretching them for the entire course of study, forming the motivation of students to participate in the lessons, and also increase the share of the presence of the game in a standard lesson to the maximum, giving knowledge even during the game through educational situations and the history of the game world, however, the lesson time for this needs to be increased, which is not yet built into the traditional class-lesson paradigm. In this way, for example, plots from the life of environmental activists, historical characters, current world leaders or certain major factions and organizations can be realized (For example, the interaction of the Horizon 2100 team in popularizing the ideas of scientific and creative thinking among young people and their struggle against certain unfriendly or competitive organizations), etc.
Conclusion:
What are the prospects for such games?
Of course, no one will deny that the future lies in the digitalization of all processes of our life. In a short period of time, computer technology has entered our lives so tightly that without it it is almost impossible to imagine our existence, and even more so our future. Digitalization also touched, of course, the education system, and today it is developing mainly in the field of additional education, where it has shown significant results and teachers using digital teaching tools have become leaders in their market [6].
In the future, the merging of the gaming industry and the educational space seems to me an inevitable event that should turn the history of education in a fundamental way, as digital media themselves turned our history in their time.
Thus, teaching will make a huge leap towards a natural form of learning for a person from modern serious games implemented through the tools of board games and simple game simulators to full-fledged learning game universes in which the teacher will be given the role of a mentor and guide in this digital environment, as well as educational content coordinator. Meanwhile, it is very difficult to talk about the specific timing of this jump. Perhaps we will be able to observe this phenomenon much earlier than 2100, or perhaps we will not see it in our lifetime. Be that as it may, this is an inevitable and extremely positive phenomenon for all mankind.
List of sources used:
Polyakova M. A. Emergence of the classroom system as innovations of the 16th century // Innovative projects and programs in education. 2019. No. 1 (61). URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/vozniknovenie-klassno-urochnoy-sistemy-kak-innovatsii-xvi-veka (Date of access: 11/05/2022).
Kalizhanova A. N., Shelestova T. Yu., Aupenova A. U., Talzhanov S. A., Bedelbaeva M. V. Educational potential of extra-curricular activities in English with elements of paleontology in secondary school // PNiO. 2022. No. 3 (57). URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/obrazovatelnyy-potentsial-vneklassnyh-meropriyatiy-po-angliyskomu-yazyku-s-elementami-paleontologii-v-sredney-shkole (date of access: 11/05/2022).
Gonina O.O., Psychology of primary school age: textbook for bachelors - M: Flinta, 2020. 272 p. – URL: https://psyera.ru/igrovaya-deyatelnost-mladshih-shkolnikov_9977.htm (Date of access: 02.11.2022)
Montessori M. My method: primary education [Electronic resource]. // AST, 2010. 252 p. URL: https://bookscafe.net/book/montessori_mariyamoy_metod_nachalnoe_obuchenie-3770.html (Date of access: 02.11.2022)
Ekaterina Zinkovskaya, Directorate for Online Learning, National Research University Higher School of Economics. Playing ahead of the curve: how gamification expands the possibilities of online education [Electronic resource] - URL: https://www.hse.ru/news/edu/476737491.html (Date of access: 10/20/2022)
Tulaganov D.D. The future of informatization and gamification of the educational process [Electronic resource] // Publications: Horizon 2100. 2021. URL: http://www.futurible.space