Something I’ve been wanting to do for a while is to expand my media literacy practice and programming to include video games as a core medium for comprehension, critique, and creation, as well as for challenging the influence and practices of the media industry. However, I’ve never had the time to really dive into the literature to understand the current research around video games and the theories and frameworks that video game scholars and educators are drawing upon.
So, I decided to spend the past weeks doing a survey of the research into video games, specifically in the fields of communication, psychology, education, and media literacy. See the bibliography below for the journal articles I read (there were also numerous magazine and newspaper articles I looked at, too, that are not cited here).
As an outcome for this inquiry, I chose to design media literacy lessons for middle school teachers and learners, grounded in the research I explored and in project- and inquiry-based learning practices, as well as critical media literacy approaches to content and activities. I’ve also utilized the SAMR model framework in the integration and use of digital learning tools, providing suggestions, where appropriate, for teachers to enhance and/or transform student learning through technology.
The lesson plans include quite a few teaching and learning resources, complete with links and descriptions on how to integrate them into this kind of learning. Appendix 1 of the document includes a summary of the primary research article used to guide these lesson plans. Other activities draw from sources, which are listed and linked where appropriate.
Inquiry Essential Questions
For this project, I used the following course questions to guide my inquiry:
- How might we use cognitive principles and conceptual models of technology integration to design effective instruction and assessment?
- How might we use technology to enhance real world, collaborative, learner centered education?
These questions allowed me to connect my desire to bridge theory and practice with my interest in exploring video games as source for teaching and learning critical media literacy competencies. The questions also guided my choice to produce lessons for teachers working in formal, middle school learning spaces—as a product that can be practically understood and implemented by teachers and students who are not familiar with either video game research or critical media literacy.
Inquiry Outcomes
This project demonstrates proficiency in the following course outcomes:
- Demonstrate fluency with new educational tools, and articulate the affordances and constraints of such tools to support educational practice.
- Plan for educational experience (of K-12 students or adult learners) that demonstrates the ability to use educational technology, sound educational philosophy, and plan for local context.
- Read and synthesize literature and research on educational technology to support personal experiences and deepen conceptual knowledge.
For this project I have produced a critical video game literacy learning experience, designed to be integrated into a middle school classroom within different learning contexts: for in-person instruction and with limited technological resources or unlimited access to technology, and for remote learning. The lessons utilize several different learning frameworks, including project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, active and participatory learning, and also an overall critical media literacy framework. The lessons also use the SAMR model framework to provide teachers with guidance on how to integrate and make use of digital tools, in order enhance and/or transform student learning. The final product is also grounded in current cognitive and educational research around video games.
Reflection
This inquiry project pushed me to explore an area of mass media—video games—that I felt was a blindspot for me. It also allowed me the opportunity to synthesize research around video games and integrate course learning into a product that demonstrates proficiency in specific course outcomes and that expands my own research knowledge and media literacy practice. Designing lesson plans which focused on a new medium, integrated new research, and utilized new frameworks, while also maintaining my own interests and voice as a media literacy educator, proved to be very challenging. The experience has expanded my own ideas about video games as a source for research and teaching and the value of video games within my approach to media literacy teaching and learning.
The research that I’ve conducted will definitely inform my scholarly work moving forward. The rich vein of psychological research into video games, especially, has inspired me to think about how to bring psychology theories and methodologies into my dissertation research. My survey of research has also exposed is a gap in the field of media literacy research around video games. In fact, I’m considering how I can shape the work I’ve done for this project into a journal article around media literacy and video games. I would also love to find the time and space to facilitate these lessons or to support a K-12 teacher in facilitating these lessons—this could also provide material for a future journal article.
The one thing that is missing from the final product is a concrete tool for assessment. I’ve tried to build in formative assessment or ideas for assessment throughout the document. However, I feel a rubric for the cumulative activities would be necessary and something worth producing.
Bibliography
Aliyari, H., Sahraei, H., Daliri, M. R., Minaei-Bidgoli, B., Kazemi, M., Agaei, H., … & Dehghanimohammadabadi, Z. (2018). The beneficial or harmful effects of computer game stress on cognitive functions of players. Basic and clinical neuroscience, 9(3), 177.
Barko, T., & Sadler, T. D. (2013). Practicality in virtuality: finding student meaning in video game education. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 22(2), 124-132.
Bonnaire, C., Serehen, Z., & Phan, O. (2019). Effects of a prevention intervention concerning screens, and video games in middle-school students: Influences on beliefs and use. Journal of behavioral addictions, 8(3), 537-553.
Brilliant T, D., Nouchi, R., & Kawashima, R. (2019). Does Video Gaming Have Impacts on the Brain: Evidence from a Systematic Review. Brain sciences, 9(10), 251.
Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 1(1), 20-20.
Granic, I., Lobel, A., & Engels, R.C. (2014). The benefits of playing video games. American Psychologist, 69(1), 66-78. Doi:10.1037/a0034857
Griffiths, M. D. (2002). The educational benefits of videogames. Education and health, 20(3), 47-51.
Kühn, S., Gallinat, J., & Mascherek, A. (2019). Effects of computer gaming on cognition, brain structure, and function: a critical reflection on existing literature. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 21(3), 319.
Lobel, A., Engels, R. C., Stone, L. L., Burk, W. J., & Granic, I. (2017). Video gaming and children’s psychosocial wellbeing: A longitudinal study. Journal of youth and adolescence, 46(4), 884-897.
Lorenz, R. C., Gleich, T., Gallinat, J., & Kühn, S. (2015). Video game training and the reward system. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 9, 40.
Paulus, M. P., Squeglia, L. M., Bagot, K., Jacobus, J., Kuplicki, R., Breslin, F. J., … & Tapert, S. F. (2019). Screen media activity and brain structure in youth: Evidence for diverse structural correlation networks from the ABCD study. Neuroimage, 185, 140-153.
Richlan, F., Schubert, J., Mayer, R., Hutzler, F., & Kronbichler, M. (2018). Action video gaming and the brain: fMRI effects without behavioral effects in visual and verbal cognitive tasks. Brain and behavior, 8(1), e00877.
Shaffer, A. (2017). Teaching about (and with) Digital Games: Editor’s Introduction. Teaching Media Quarterly, 5(2).
Squire, K. (2008). Video-game literacy: A literacy of expertise. Handbook of research on new literacies, 635-670.
Thevenin, B. (2017). Twine as Alternative Media: Video Games, the Culture Industry and Social Change. Teaching Media Quarterly, 5(2).