Features and Application of Educational Games in Teaching

 We are all familiar with games. We will be exposed to various games when we were young or even when we grow up. But what is the definition of a game? None of us have thought about this problem carefully. Some people say that games are play and entertainment, and some people say that games are an activity. There are different opinions about games, and the following definitions will give us a new understanding of games.

Dictionary Definition: Activities that aim to directly obtain pleasure and must involve a subject in the interaction. This definition clarifies

The two features of the game are also the most basic:

(1) The main purpose is to directly obtain physical or psychological pleasure;

(2) The subject participates in the interaction.

Plato's definition of game: game is a conscious simulation of the life and ability of all young children (animal and human).

Aristotle believes that when people perform casual pastimes or simple rest behaviors after work and labor, they can become games, and this process does not contain any purpose.

What are educational games

The term educational game originated in the United States in the 1980s, although the relevant research was relatively early, the definition of educational games has not been specifically expressed so far.

Educational games are basically a new thing. From the beginning to now, most of the research is carried out from the theoretical aspect. Scholars have put forward many kinds of statements about educational games, but the more authoritative one recognized by everyone is " The definition in the Educational Game Industry Research Report: Educational games are computer game software that can cultivate the knowledge, skills, intelligence, emotions, attitudes and values of game users, and have certain educational significance.

Features and classification of educational games

Educational games are not only different from general educational software, but also different from those entertainment games. They exist in an independent form. The educational purpose of an educational game may be the same as that of the game, or may exist independently of the game. It is to achieve some educational purpose through the process of the game, such as improving some operational skills or mastering some technical knowledge through games. The main features of educational games are reflected in its educational and game features, both of which coexist to achieve the educational purpose to be achieved.

The educational features of educational games are mainly reflected in the following three points:

(1) Regularity

Educational games have their own clearly defined rules. These rules are man-made and have a certain ability to restrict. Learners must abide by these rules when playing games. Only when everyone follows the requirements of the rules can the normal operation of educational games be ensured. So these restrictive rules are universal and cannot be eliminated.

(2) Security

The environment of educational games is virtual, which is almost close to the real environment we live in. This environment is created for learners, which allows learners to experience experiences that cannot be tried in the real environment in virtual situations. Educational games show some dangerous situations to learners in a safe way. Learners can experience dangerous feelings in virtual situations and avoid physical damage caused by some dangerous factors in the real environment. At the same time, after experiencing danger and failure, you can start again until you find the correct way or method. During this process, learners will unknowingly improve their operating skills and accumulate valuable experience. Therefore, educational games are a safe way to experience real-world situations.

(3) Healthy

Educational games are game software carefully designed by experts or carefully selected by teachers with certain educational purposes. Therefore, during the use process, learners will not see blood, violence, pornography, and killing. On the contrary, some educational games will implicitly include some health education knowledge, and at the same time, they can experience the benefits brought by educational games. This allows learners to gain more health while learning happily.

The gameplay features of educational games also have the following three points:

(1) Competitiveness

Educational games are competitive, and the existence of this kind of competition is beneficial. It can not only generate learning motivation for learners, but also enable learners to fully develop their potential during the game and win in the competition with their opponents. Therefore, learners can also enhance their sense of competition in the process of using educational games to learn.

(2) Challenging

Challenging is one of the attractions of educational games. The challenge is different from the competition of the game. The challenge can be aimed at the opponent or yourself. When you succeed in each challenge, you will learn a lot of knowledge. Some educational games require learners to pass checkpoints or complete tasks within a limited time, and learners must use certain strategies and master certain skills and techniques if they want to pass checkpoints or complete tasks. The use of these strategies or techniques may It will lead to uncertainty of the results and form new challenges. Therefore, the challenge of educational games is very important, and the design and selection must be carefully considered so that learners can learn knowledge while constantly challenging.

(3) Interactivity

The interactivity of educational games is also one of the outstanding features, which can reflect the advantages of learners' active participation. The interactive performance of educational games is that it can give timely feedback information to learners' operations, so that learners can operate correctly. This timely interaction can attract learners and mobilize their enthusiasm, improve learning interest.

The educational and playful features of educational games are the key to using educational games for teaching. Only when the two coexist can we truly realize "learning while entertaining and entertaining while learning".

The Application of Educational Games in Teaching

There are many different types of theoretical models for the process of instructional design. Kemp's point of view is: "Instructional system design is a systematic planning process that uses systematic methods to analyze and study the problems and needs of the interrelated parts of the teaching process, establish methods and steps to solve them, and then evaluate teaching results." The feature of the Kemp model is that in the process of teaching design, 4 basic elements should be emphasized, 3 main problems should be solved, and 10 teaching links should be properly arranged.

The four basic elements emphasized are: teaching objectives, learner characteristics, teaching resources and teaching evaluation. Kemp believes that any instructional design process is inseparable from these four basic elements, and they can form the basic framework of the entire instructional design model. The three issues that need to be addressed are: what students must learn; how to teach in order to achieve the expected goal; checking and evaluating the expected teaching effect. The Smith-Regan model believes that the instructional design process can be divided into three steps: instructional analysis, strategy design, and instructional evaluation.

Front-end analysis includes learner analysis, teaching content analysis and educational game analysis. Firstly, analyze the learner's starting level, learning style and learning attitude. After initially determining the characteristics of the learner, it can play a guiding role in the arrangement of teaching content and the selection of educational games. The analysis of the teaching content is to better accomplish the teaching goal. After the big educational goal is determined, the analysis of the teaching content can complete the small goal step by step, and finally complete the whole task.

Analyzing educational games is to analyze whether the skills or knowledge contained in an educational game can provide services for the completion of teaching tasks and whether it can be accepted by learners.

When determining the teaching goal, it is necessary to consider the cultivation of students' multiple intelligences, and not just to complete the task. Here, the teaching objectives of a class are established mainly from the three-dimensional goals of knowledge and skills, process and methods, emotional attitudes and values. When determining the goal, not only the goal required to be completed in the textbook should be considered, but also the goal to be achieved in the educational game should be considered. For example, when students are in the game, what game tasks do they need to complete, what knowledge in the game do they need to know, etc. Fully consider the development of students who can cultivate students in multiple directions.

The design of the teaching plan is an important part, which is the theoretical guidance for better completing the teaching process. In this part, to design the factors that appear in the whole teaching process, the most important thing is the behavior of teachers and students. First of all, it is necessary to determine the order in which the content is presented, to increase students' interest in learning, and to learn under the impetus of interest. The teacher's task is to let students know what knowledge and tasks to learn in this class, and then present educational games to students, and guide them to operate correctly when they are playing games. If it is required to cooperate in the group, it is necessary to clarify in advance the problems to be avoided in the cooperation and the tasks to be completed in the group cooperation. When the individual is required to complete it independently, it is necessary to pay attention to those students who love games and guide them to use the game correctly. the game itself. At this stage, design should be carried out with the idea of "teacher-led, student-centered" to mobilize students' active participation and enable them to master knowledge while having fun.

After the content of a class is over, it is necessary to summarize and reflect. Solve the problems that arise in the classroom in a timely manner, find out the imperfections of the plan and make timely revisions to ensure that the next teaching will be more perfect.