Learning as Multidimensional Construct
As research indicates, learning outcomes vary with electronic games used in instruction. They may vary in a range of skill sets from skill-based, cognitive, to non-cognitive skills.
Skill-based Learning Outcomes
Skill-based learning outcomes are the growth of technical or motor skills. These include games and instructional programs that focus on drill and practice of technical skills. One example is the military flight school’s use of aviation computer games that significantly increased students' performance compared to those not using the game.
Cognitive Learning Outcomes
Cognitive learning outcomes are classified as the following:
1) Declarative knowledge -- the knowledge of facts and data required for task performance
2) Procedural knowledge -- knowledge about how to perform a task
3) Strategic knowledge -- the ability to apply rules and strategies
4) Affective knowledge -- the beliefs or attitudes regarding an object or activity.
Research indicates that educational/instructional games show an increase in learning outcomes in all four areas. Students were answering questions accurately, achieving higher scores on tasks, showing improvement in critical thinking, and developing higher confidence compared to students who did not participate in games.
Non-cognitive skills
Several different cases of teachers indicating non-cognitive skill improvement in students were reported through the use of games. Social, intellectual, independence, responsibility, initiative, and enterprise skills were developed though educational games that traditional pedagogic tools such as textbooks cannot foster. Some panelists at Stanford believe that the most crucial aspect of learning revolves around non-cognitive skills such as persistence, risk-taking, collaboration, and problem solving. These skills can be developed through gaming.
Skills such as patience and discipline (skills one should acquire as a child but often do not) correlate with success better than IQ scores. And those non-cognitive skills -- that is, not what you know but how you behave -- are far better suited to a game context than to a traditional classroom and textbook context. Games allow us to measure learning in ways we couldn't do before as "knowledge is not the outcome we want; we want students to learn how to make choices" (MacKay, 2013).
Whitehall and McDonald argued that incorporating a variable payoff schedule into a simulation game led to increased risk taking among students, which resulted in greater persistence on the task and improved performance (Garris, Ahlers, & Driskell, 2002).
As research indicates, learning outcomes vary with electronic games used in instruction. They may vary in a range of skill sets from skill-based, cognitive, to non-cognitive skills.
Skill-based Learning Outcomes
Skill-based learning outcomes are the growth of technical or motor skills. These include games and instructional programs that focus on drill and practice of technical skills. One example is the military flight school’s use of aviation computer games that significantly increased students' performance compared to those not using the game.
Cognitive Learning Outcomes
Cognitive learning outcomes are classified as the following:
1) Declarative knowledge -- the knowledge of facts and data required for task performance
2) Procedural knowledge -- knowledge about how to perform a task
3) Strategic knowledge -- the ability to apply rules and strategies
4) Affective knowledge -- the beliefs or attitudes regarding an object or activity.
Research indicates that educational/instructional games show an increase in learning outcomes in all four areas. Students were answering questions accurately, achieving higher scores on tasks, showing improvement in critical thinking, and developing higher confidence compared to students who did not participate in games.
Non-cognitive skills
Several different cases of teachers indicating non-cognitive skill improvement in students were reported through the use of games. Social, intellectual, independence, responsibility, initiative, and enterprise skills were developed though educational games that traditional pedagogic tools such as textbooks cannot foster. Some panelists at Stanford believe that the most crucial aspect of learning revolves around non-cognitive skills such as persistence, risk-taking, collaboration, and problem solving. These skills can be developed through gaming.
Skills such as patience and discipline (skills one should acquire as a child but often do not) correlate with success better than IQ scores. And those non-cognitive skills -- that is, not what you know but how you behave -- are far better suited to a game context than to a traditional classroom and textbook context. Games allow us to measure learning in ways we couldn't do before as "knowledge is not the outcome we want; we want students to learn how to make choices" (MacKay, 2013).
Whitehall and McDonald argued that incorporating a variable payoff schedule into a simulation game led to increased risk taking among students, which resulted in greater persistence on the task and improved performance (Garris, Ahlers, & Driskell, 2002).