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Learning from Social Impact Games to Support Integration into Middle School Classrooms

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Handbook of Mobile Teaching and Learning

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Abstract

Video games known interchangeably as social justice, social impact, or social change games hold great potential for integration into classroom learning. They are promising particularly because they tend to be easy to play, are free or inexpensive, and, given that they address social justice-related issues in various ways, can be more easily integrated with curricular goals for teachers who may not have much gaming experience. Drawing from two qualitative research projects, with female youth ages 11–14 (n = 74; n = 11), and centered around one particular game, Get Water!, guidelines are considered for game design intended for classroom use and informal learning, approaches toward assessment of learning, and suggestions for effective instructional practice. With girls at the middle school level in particular, building relationships with video games is important, as video games are considered by many scholars to be one way of developing or maintaining an interest and comfort with technology at a young age, in a world where technology and video game domains continue to be dominated by men. Informed by studies with girls, the purpose of this qualitative synthesis is to reflect on strategies for integrating casual games that can be played and understood reasonably quickly in learning contexts, yet are also in line with student-centered learning and goals related to the twenty-first-century learning trend, such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Renee E. Jackson

  2. Concordia University, Montréal, Canada

    Emily Sheepy

Authors
  1. Renee E. Jackson
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  2. Emily Sheepy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Renee E. Jackson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CEO, WEMOSOFT, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Yu (Aimee) Zhang

  2. Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University, Upper Arlington, OH, USA

    Dean Cristol

Section Editor information

  1. Athabasca University, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Rob Power

Appendix A:Youth Studies Instrumentation

Appendix A:Youth Studies Instrumentation

figure a

Post Gameplay: Open Response 1

This response is anonymous so please feel free to be as open and honest as you can so that we can learn from you! (please don’t include your name ☺)

When you are finished playing the game, please share any reaction/response to the game on this page, in any way you would like. Feel free to write in any style or to draw. There are no right or wrong answers. When you are finished with this, please let me know, and I will collect it and give you a small questionnaire to fill in.

Post Gameplay: Questionnaire 2

This questionnaire is anonymous so please feel free to be as open and honest as you can so that we can learn from you! (please don’t include your name ☺).

figure b

Section A: Interests

  1. 1.

    Tell me something about yourself – what are your top 3 interests in life, and what kinds of things do you most enjoy doing in your spare time?

Section B: Video Games

  1. 1.

    Do you play video games? (please circle) Yes No

  2. 2.

    If so what games do you play?

  3. 3.

    What do you think of video games? (please circle one of the following)

love them

they’re okay

neutral

don’t really like them

hate them

Feel free to add any thoughts about why you like or dislike video games

Section C: Get Water!

  1. 1.

    What are your general thoughts about the game Get Water!?

  2. 2.

    Would you have played the game longer? Yes No

  3. 3.

    Will you play the game again? Yes No

  4. 4.

    Would you play the game voluntarily if you came across it on your own? Yes No

    Why or why not?

  5. 5.

    How much would you pay for the game?

$0

$0.25–$1.00

$5–$10

$15–$25

  1. 6.

    Where and when do you imagine you might play the game? (you can say nowhere if you don’t imagine playing it again.)

  2. 7.

    What do you think the game is about?

  3. 8.

    Did you learn anything from the game that you didn’t know or think about before? Yes No

    If yes what did you learn?

  4. 9.

    Do you think you will discuss anything about the game with others, if so what do you imagine you might discuss and with whom?

  5. 10.

    Are you interested in learning more about anything related to the game, if so what and why?

Follow-Up Questionnaire 3

figure c

Outside of Class

  1. 1.

    Did you play the game Get Water! outside of class? If so, how much time do you think you spent doing so? Circle the most appropriate answer.

10 m–30 m

45 m–1 hr

1 hr–2 hrs

2 hrs–5 hrs

5+hrs

  1. 2.

    Did you tell anybody about the game? If so who did you tell? Why did you tell them?

  2. 3.

    Did you have any discussions that you think are a result of playing the game Get Water!? If so, please describe.

  3. 4.

    Did you do anything new as a result of playing the game Get Water!? If so, please describe.

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Jackson, R.E., Sheepy, E. (2019). Learning from Social Impact Games to Support Integration into Middle School Classrooms. In: Zhang, Y., Cristol, D. (eds) Handbook of Mobile Teaching and Learning. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41981-2_117-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41981-2_117-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-41981-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-41981-2

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