Games & Simulation
Games and simulations have significant advantages over other learning designs for certain applications. They are particularly useful for teaching many subject areas that are very difficult to teach using other teaching techniques. The following points summarize some of the key advantages.

Games are uniquely successful for getting and holding the students' attention.

In order for students to learn, they must be paying attention. When students play games, they want to win. When the game is designed so that players cannot do well in the game if they do not learn, then the players are strongly motivated to learn.

Games are good at teaching hard-to-teach facts.

Health teachers are very frustrated when it comes to teaching the facts about tobacco, because students do not pay attention. In a game, however, the true-false cards can contain all the important facts. Players have to give correct answers to the cards to increase their scores, and therefore they are motivated to think critically and do their best to give the right answer. Learning the facts becomes one of the ways that the players try to win the game.

Games can teach empathy.

Empathy is extremely hard to teach. A game can be a very effective way to teach empathy. For example, in Teacher of the Year, players are in the roles of teachers. They are competing for the valued "Teacher of the Year" award. Unfortunately, some of their fictitious students misbehave and disrupt class, preventing other students from learning and the players from winning the coveted award. As teachers, students experience the same frustrations that real teachers face - kids calling out, talking to neighbors, etc. As a result, the players develop a real empathy for the difficult job of the teacher, especially as it relates to maintaining a positive and organized classroom environment.

Games are a good way to bring up complex issues.

In Circle of Respect players have to determine whether or not specific behaviors show respect and which ones fail to show respect. They also have to answer questions about the concept of respect. Some of the situations are complex. For example, should someone show respect to a classmate who is a bully and has not earned respect?

Games are multimedia in nature and are great for special needs students.

Players are active on a continuous basis. During the course of the game, players are reading, listening, thinking, and deciding (sometimes individually and sometimes in groups). These are important and valuable learning experiences, over and above the learning of the specific game content.

Games are inherently different from other school activities and are welcomed by populations that have not succeeded in most school activities.

Games are excellent activities for groups who are not highly motivated or have had negative experiences in school. Attention is often a problem for these populations, and the games are fun and hold their attention. Games are great in programs for the incarcerated, alternative schools, welfare to work, job centers, etc.

Games build social skills.

Many of the games teach social skills as an important part of their educational objectives. However, board games involve social interaction and "friendly competition" among all the players and are excellent training in cooperation, conflict resolution, and group dynamics skills.

Advantages of simulation games.

In games that are simulations, players are participating in an abstract form of a realistic situation. In a good simulation, the issues that relate to the learning objectives are realistically experienced. For example, in the You're the Boss games (both high school and middle school versions) the players are in the role of managers of a large store. They can increase their chances of winning money in the game by hiring employees that are responsible, reliable, and honest. They find that certain employees that are irresponsible, unreliable and dishonest are causing them to lose money. This is completely true in real life. Players have the opportunity to fire the employees that are costing them money, which is also true in real life. Although the game differs in many ways for managing a real store, these crucial aspects of the simulation are true to real life. As a result, players see that they have fired the bad employees and sought to hire the good employees. As a result of this experience they see the kinds of behaviors that will lead to job success and the kinds of behavior that will lead to the unemployment line. Lecturing students about the importance of responsibility, reliability, etc. just doesn't work. Through simulation, the game can impart significant learning in an area that is very difficult to teach using other learning designs.

Games improve math and reading skills in addition to teaching their targeted content.

Counting points or play money, changing bills for larger denominations, etc. are all activities that build math skills. Reading the questions and answers are always good reading skills practice.

Special value of "disguised" games.

In games that are disguised, players are not fully aware of all of the learning objectives when they begin playing the game. Disguised games permit the players to draw their own conclusions about important issues. For example, in the smoking prevention game, Occaboton Clinic , players are doctors at a world-famous clinic. Their job is to help their patients recover. As they play the game they discover that their patients who smoked and developed lung cancer, emphysema, etc, usually do not recover. Players correctly conclude that tobacco use is extremely dangerous. The play of the game accurately simulates the prognoses of the various diseases, and the impact of tobacco use. The fact that the players discover the danger of tobacco as they play the game instead of being introduced to a "tobacco prevention" game, greatly increases the chances that the players will internalize the lessons learned in the game. Only in the post-game discussion do players realize that the name of the game, Occaboton clinic , spells "no tobacco" backwards.

Advantages of the post-game discussion.

A discussion after the game is played serves to reinforce concepts and skills learned during the game and help the students internalize what they have learned. It also gives students the opportunity to discuss questions and unresolved issues.