POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS Computer games embody good principles of learning (Gee, 2003) and motivate players by providing them with appropriate levels of challenge, curiosity, control, and fantasy (Malone & Lepper, 1987). More specifically. what might make games and simulations so powerful for enhancing students learning?
1.Is it gamers’ familiarity with the powerful visual media and gaming environments? Kafai ( 1996) noted that playing video games was often students’ first interaction with technology in their homes, 2.Is it gamers’ active engagement in structured learning environments? Rendel et al. (1992) observed that students’ active participation during play could account for their better integrated cognitive structures. retention, and subsequent transfer. 3.Is it gamers’ engaging experience as they interact with the different levels of game? Swartout and van Lent (2003) highlight the interplay ofthe three levels: short-term, medium-term, and long-temt goals in facilitating compelling experiences for gamers during play. 4.ls it gamers’ increased self-efficacy as their proficiency develops’? Although temporary, Roe and Muijs (1998, cited by Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004) observed an increased sense of mastery, control and achievement in players as their individual gaming proficiencies improved. 5.ls it gamers’ improved knowledge and conceptual understanding due to meaningful computer-based dialogue? Ravenscroft and Matheson (2002, cited by Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004) found that 30 minutes of collaborative leaming through dialogue games (including exploratory talk, constructive conflict, and collaborative argumentation) produced significant improvements in students’ knowledge and conceptual understanding about the physics of motion. 6.Is it gamers’ ongoing learning from the immediate feedback, both successes and failures, embedded in games? According to Prensky (2001), individuals’ learning through games is primarily due to the instant feedback gamers receive during play.