This week we talked about examples on how to use games in education. Personally, I do not have a lot of experience in this topic because we did not use video games in school, but I was excited to learn about how I can incorporate this in my classroom in the future.
We played the game ‘Bad News’ in class this week. The goal of the game is to make students familiar in recognizing false or misleading information. It is based on the inoculation theory which explains how your beliefs can be protected from being persuaded by exposing yourself to weakened versions of a misleading argument before being exposed to the “real information.”
Throughout the game, you had to make choices to trick the public into believing your misleading stories to gain more followers. I think this game would be a great addition to use in classrooms because it can help students distinguish biases that they see in textbooks, articles, or even in their day to day lives. However, a downfall of this game might influence some students to put out false information because it leads them to gain more followers. When using games in the classroom, we also have to remember to be critical and cautious.
While researching more about this topic, I came across this article that talks about how teachers are turning to video games during the pandemic. One teacher in Montreal used the video game, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey because he was not able to take his class on a field trip to Greece anymore. He turned to this game instead because it is set in Greece and it will still be an interactive experience for his students. Using video games especially during this pandemic allows students to still have an interactive experience which contributes to their learning.
