Using Games to Engage Students in Inquiry

Byrne, Martha

doi:10.1080/10511970.2016.1192074

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…in creative, critical and collective ways (e.g., . Extending earlier scholarship about board games in STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education (e.g., Byrne, 2017;McFeetors & Palfy, 2017, 2018, we situate this work within a growing body of relational pedagogies that come to consider the ways in which learning selves and the A learning itself are differential experiences that are always in the making rather than prescribed destinations that can be fully anticipated and articulated (e.g., Dewey, 1934;Ellsworth, 2005;Lenz Taguchi, 2010). This is in line with critiques of STEM education as far too often overcoded through the privileging of singular cognitive destinations rather than relational learning journeys that enfold (at least) the whole learning self, the content, the social context in which coming-to-know occurs, as well as the materiality of learning (e.g., Bazzul & Kayumova, 2016;Chesky & Wolfmeyer, 2015;deFreitas, 2016;deFreitas & Sinclair, 2013).…”

Section: Jcacs 91mentioning

confidence: 78%

“…This mirrors a larger societal shift whereby board games are becoming a more popular medium through which to engage in processes and practices of play (e.g., Fournier, 2019). Board games can and are used to meaningfully develop spatial reasoning and logic, explore and mathematically model scientific concepts, and engage in questions of user interface and design (e.g., Byrne, 2017;McFeetors & Palfy, 2017, 2018Odendaal & Zavala, 2018). By design, board games are pedagogically non-prescriptive educational texts: they do not guarantee that players will reach a desired, singular curricular destination.…”

Section: Jcacs 91mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Board Games as Play-full Pedagogical Pivots for STEM Teaching and Learning

Higgins,

McFeetors

2019

JCACS

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Drawing inspiration from Ellsworth’s (2005) work on thinking with pedagogically nonprescriptive objects and the pedagogies they permit and prohibit, we turn our attention to similar educational “texts” increasingly used in STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education—board games. We tinker with board games as they refuse and resist the ways that STEM education often privileges cognitive destinations rather than relational learning journeys that enfold the whole learning self, the content, as well as the materiality of learning. We ask, how might games simultaneous act as locations of, and as, pedagogy that inflect experiences of student learning? To answer this question, we explore the pedagogical intents expressed by game designers themselves by their design diaries, blogs and interviews while thinking with Ellsworth’s concept of pedagogical pivot . In exploring game designers’ statements, we map out some of the potentialities that this pedagogical medium might offer STEM teaching and learning.

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Section: Jcacs 91mentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Jcacs 91mentioning

confidence: 99%

Board Games as Play-full Pedagogical Pivots for STEM Teaching and Learning

Higgins,

McFeetors

2019

JCACS

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“…While games of chance are well-suited to probability investigations, games in general offer a diversity of mathematical concepts to examine across all ages. Byrne's [43] study of four under-graduate students engaged in an inquiry-based course of exploring the mathematics within commercial games, demonstrated an increase in participants' mathematical understandings, as well as them exhibiting the inquiry behaviours of: conjecturing, experimenting, creating, and communicating. Transforming games into investigations offers the potential for fostering students' mathematical proficiencies and achievement across all ages.…”

Section: Games Into Investigationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying the Characteristics of Non-Digital Mathematical Games Most Valued by Educators

et al. 2022

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Non-digital games are frequently used to support primary mathematics instruction. Moreover, we know from the literature that to increase the likelihood that a chosen mathematical game is educationally rich it should reflect specific principles, such as offering a balance between skill and luck and ensuring that a key mathematical focus is central to gameplay. However, there is limited research informing us, from a teacher’s perspective, of the specific characteristics of mathematical games that are most indicative of a game’s value for supporting learning, and the likelihood that teachers will use the game with students in the future. To help address this gap, the current study invited 122 educators to complete an on-line questionnaire, including 20 Likert-scale items designed to assess the characteristics of educationally-rich mathematical games (CERMaGs) that aligned with six ‘good practice’ principles previously identified in the literature, in relation to a specific mathematical game of their choosing. In total, educators chose a broad range of mathematical games to be evaluated (n = 53). On average, they reported that their chosen game was highly valuable for supporting mathematics learning and that they were very likely to use this game with students if given the opportunity. Our results revealed that the extent to which educators perceived a game to be suitably challenging, engaging, enjoyable, modifiable to support different learners, and transformable into an investigation or broader mathematical inquiry, were particularly important characteristics associated with perceptions of a game’s educational value. Similarly, perceived levels of student enjoyment, engagement and a game’s potential to lead to a rich mathematical investigation were important characteristics for evaluating the likelihood that an educator would use a particular game in the future with students if given the opportunity, as was the capacity of a game to support mathematical discussion. The implications of these findings for supporting classroom practice and teacher professional learning are discussed.

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“…The use of games and simulators represents effective strategies to engage student attention and attain the educational goals of the classes. According to the literature, interactive activities stimulate creativity, communication, problem solving, and analytic abilities (3,14).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%