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Gamefication for Education: The Next Inevitable Step

Gamefication
Johnathan Masters-Gripshover
August 21, 2014

Game Theory is a wonderful device on how to look at the world, and it's problems, and it's solutions. For every problem, there's only so many solutions, or outcomes, that can result. I saw this one youtube video about Game Theory on the likelihood of Iran obtaining a nuclear device in order to use for nuclear warfare (Bueno, 2009). Essentially, if we can predict people's behavior, then we can predict the future, which makes us useful for many fields, but political science in general. Game Theory uses mathemathics and probability to figure out what will most likely happen. Bruce Bueno is the man's name, and he said that Iran only had so many options: 1) Obtaining nuclear weapons for mass murder; 2) Obaining nuclear power for peaceful energy uses, and; 3) Obtaining no nuclear weapons, or something like that. So since there's only 3 outcomes to this problem, then we can use probability to determine how likely each one of those outcomes were. 

Bruce Bueno said that Iran will most likely get the middle option, obtaining nuclear power for energy uses (and perhaps for defensive posturing, since non-lethal use), but they won't use it to destroy the world. He was more systematic and had a richer methodology to his science, but after watching the video (listed below), I felt safer about the world believe that Iran would most likely not blow us all up. I understood what he was saying, and believed his science to be sound. So if we put enough time into a single decision, then we should be able to figure out what the options, or solutions, or results could happen, which ones would most likely happen, and how much power each of those involved have. Many of these variables are subjective, since they are judgmental, but I believe there's an objective reality that exists, and that's where the realm of truth remains.

I recently just watch an inspiring short film about an Elementary classroom somewhere in Amerika, and the point of the “World Peace” game, a political game for 25-30 students, was to figure out complicated world issues, to develop good healthy conversations, about how to figure to get what each of the 5 nations want, and to promote World Peace in the process (Rosalia Films, 2010). Gamefication covers many broad areas. Just a few from a website that listed many “gamefication ideas for education” mentioned Duolingo, Ribbon Hero, and John Hunter's “World Peace Game” (Chou, 2013). Duolingo is a game that teaches you how to learn languages while you translate texts. Ribbon Hero is an add-on game for Microsoft Word, and it's a game that teaches you how to use it's program. And then there's the World Peace game. I remember playing two Political games during my 20 year tenure of American education, one in High School, and one in College, and I remember both of those days very well. The game was fun, I was engaged, and I won one, and lost the other. I also remember learning how to type using a gaming program, and all the teacher had to do was administer, which was probably boring for her, but eventually, I learned how to type, so it was effective.

The idea of Gamefication can't be denied, and in a way, making everything into a game is a way we can convince students to learn the material we're trying to teach. The Reggio Emilia Approach to education utilizes “games” as a central core tenet to their educational design and approach. The justification for using games in the classroom is that the students are more engaged, it's fun, and if the game is educational, then learning is happening, which is the point.

Bibliography

Bueno, Bruce. April 7, 2009 (uploaded). “Bruce Bueno de Mesquita Predicts Iran's Future”. TED. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts5MKtXNpMQ and http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/magazine/16Bruce-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 and http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/?q=node/9593

Chou, Yu-kai. 2013, April 25. “Gamification in Education: Top 10 Gamification Studies That Will Change Our Future.” Yo-Kai Chou and Gamification (website). Retrieved from: http://www.yukaichou.com/gamification-examples/top-10-education-gamification-examples/#.U_YHwPldXVo

Rosalia Films. 2010. September 7 (uploaded date). “World Peace and other 4th-Grade Achievements Extended Trailer”. Rosalia Films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCq8V2EhYs0

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