Introduction

It is very likely that many policy makers and parents will be shocked if you were to introduce video games as part of your teaching strategy. In this Malaysians may not be much different from many others around the world. Yet there is a growing group of educators who are saying that using games in educational settings opens the doors for new possibilities in teaching and learning. This movement is gaining grounds, mostly in North America and Western Europe. The argument in favour of using games is founded in the belief that these games increase ‘muscle memory' or the behaviour necessary to solidify correct behaviour as well as gaming increases internal and external competitive spirit related to learning opportunities. In this section we shall consider what video gaming is in the context of visualisation, its relevance and opportunities.

You are familiar with videogames; as long ago as the early eighties games like Pac-Man were already making their appearance in our part of the world. Since that time game technology has grown much more sophisticated, competing in quality, story line, interactivity and technology. The extent to which this development has morphed can be seen in the movie Avatar that made it into our local cinemas some two years ago.

This section will be presented in five parts as illustrated in the table below:

Learning Outcome

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

1. Describe what a game is.
2. Describe how games work.
3. List the different types of games useful in education.
4. Develop strategies to apply in using games in your classroom.