Video games can create learning environments by modelling real-world situations virtually. An example is modelling disease spread through human interaction in games. This allows manipulation of scenarios that can't be implemented safely in real life. Games also boost cognitive function and brain efficiency in players. Teachers can use this by creating educational games or modifying existing ones to impart lessons. They can also use games to create desired emotional responses in students and teach social skills.

1. How Video games can create learning
environments.
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2. Participation in video
games can create
learning environments
on an individual and a
global level.
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3. One such example is
through modelling
the spread of
harmful diseases
using real human
interaction
They can be further
manipulated to
create models or
situations which
cannot be safely,
ethically or
physically
implemented
outside of the
virtual sphere
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4. School Environment Global Environment
Which situation would you like to
learn about first?
Bibliography

5. Students using games Teachers using games
How will this change
education?
Gaming in school environments
have many impacts on education.
Where would you like to start?
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6. Students spend a significant amount of their leisure
time playing games. The content of the game is often
unimportant, as they can gain problem solving skills.
Click to see an
Example

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12. Congratulations
Simple puzzle games like this help to develop a
students’ lateral thinking, which will provide them
with greater opportunities to excel in school.
Even violent video games can engage students on an
intellectual level, providing those gamers with
cognitive bonuses in schools.
Back to School Environment What? Show me the science!

13. Many experiments have shown that playing video
games boost cognitive function.
In one experiment, volunteers were tasked with playing
a shooter game and then were tested on a number of
issues. They consistently performed better then the
control group who did not play games before the
tests.
Why does this work?

14. An fMRI scan (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
was performed to determine what is happening. It
was discovered that regular gamers’ brains were able
to perform tasks more efficiently and effectively.
Granic, I., Lobel, A., Engels R.C.(2013). The Benefits of
Playing Video Games. The Netherlands : American
Psychologist
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15. Teaching to the gaming generation will require
educators to understand their mindset and how to
use this new media in classrooms.
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Uses in creating desirable
Emotional Behaviours
Uses in creating
Educational resources
Uses in creating
Social skills

16. One of the biggest challenges facing teachers is the
ability to “control” a class, and then to impart
students with emotional maturity.
Video games have been proven to show significant
changes to moods, which teachers can use to create
desired responses. This can be done through multiple
ways, such as a way to settle disruptive students, or as
a reward for hard working students.
How does this work?

17. Puzzle games have been proven to create positive
emotions (Granic et al., 2013).
Emotional regulation strategies presented through
video games help to lower depression rates (Aldao,
Nolen-Hoeksema, & Schweizer, 2010).
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18. “Learning is foreground in the interactive playing of
videogames.” Teachers can create, modify or use
existing games to further students learning.
Click the boxes to find an example of each
Created games Modified games
Existing games
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19. Created GamesTeachers can create games
using simple programs
such as PowerPoint or
Excel. They can use the
creation itself as a
learning tool. For
example, making snakes
and ladders in Excel
teaches many computer
skills.
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20. Modified GamesTeachers can use
resources with CC
licenses to teach. One
such site which provides
these is at the
Smart Exchange. Smart
Notebook also has pre-
existing templates
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21. Existing Games
Teachers and students
around the world use a
website called
Mathletics, which
incorporates the social
aspect of video games
while using accepted
pedagogical theories.
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More about Social games

22. Changing Education
Education has been theorised to change due to video
games in the following ways:
Creation of Virtual Learning Environments
Huge increases to available information
Requirements of different skills
Change of pedagogical practices
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23. Online games create social environments. It has been
theorised that playing these social games consistently
correlate with moral social behaviours. Peaceful and
violent video games both seem to produce beneficial
social behaviours.
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24. In 2005, a bug was discovered in an online game that
caused a virtual “disease" that was extremely
contagious and lethal.
Why is this event so special?

25. This plague was accidental. Being completely
unplanned, neither the users nor the developers had
any plan and so the infections were able to act
without outside interference.
How was this virtual
disease like a real
pandemic?

26. Disease carriers
Bystander population
Unsupervised human
behaviour
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27. Disease Carriers
In game
Characters with the
disease could teleport or
fly to distant areas
quickly, spreading the
disease.
Real life comparison
Many viruses, such as
avian flu, are spread over
large distances quickly
by animals or people
who travel while
infected.
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28. Bystander Population
In game
Non-player guards could
catch the disease, but
were otherwise immune
to its effects. They could
then pass it on to
players.
Real life comparison
In pandemic situations,
citizens who are
immune to the effects of
the disease can still
transmit it to others.
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29. Unsupervised Human Behaviour
In game
Some players purposely
spread the disease
Real life comparison
This has far reaching
implications, such as
how to counter
biological terrorism
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30. Bibliography
 Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S., & Schweizer, S. (2010). Emotion-regulation
strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology
Review, 30, 217–237. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004
 Globe[Image]. (2013).
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Globcal_medium_resolution_globe.
png
 Granic, I., Lobel, A., Engels R.C.(2013). The Benefits of Playing Video Games.
The Netherlands : American Psychologist
 Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant, I. Kelly, K. (2009) New Media: A
Critical Introduction: Second Edition, pp 260-279
 Mathletics. (2014). Retrieved June 4, 2014, from
http://www.mathletics.com.au/
 Smart Exchange. (2014). Retrieved June 4, 2014, from
exchange.smarttech.com/
 New York University. (2013, November 6). Educational video games can boost
motivation to learn. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 4, 2014 from
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131106122025.htm
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