Learning as a game

Imagine for a moment a computer game based on traditional classroom methods, the lecture, the closed question, worked examples, tests, and learning alone with little or no interaction with your peers. How many kids would play such a game?

Computer gaming has become extremely popular with “children” of all ages. It has proven so engaging that the design principles are now being adapted for learning technologies to attract students who are bored by conventional classes.

So what are the game design principles we can apply to learning?


Malone & Lepper suggest seven intrinsic motivators. Think of them as design rules. The "learning game" should immerse the player in some kind of fantasy world. It should appeal to their curiosity about what comes next. The task should be challenging, but not so hard that the learners switch off. You should feel in control of your destiny. There should be some kind of competition/engagement with another player, but at the same time some kind of co-operation with others, and finally you need to receive rewards or recognition as you progress.

The rules for "learning games" have their origins in Flow theory which shows that enjoyment is the main reason people play games.

Flow theory is the brainchild of psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi. He found that when people engage in activities they enjoy like chess, rock climbing, rock dancing, skiing, brain surgery, computer games or making love they so lose themselves in the experience that time seems to pass in a moment.

Learning games work best if they quickly attract and keep a player’s attention for hours, and then progressively increase the player’s perceptual, cognitive and memory workload.

They become enjoyable when they are challenging so players want to keep playing and achieving. However, the tasks should not be so challenging the game far exceeds a player’s ability that they become anxious or be too easy so the game is boring and not worth doing. Because Flow is a moment-to-moment experience, an overly difficult or irrelevant task can change the mood and level of engagement.

The learning game should progress. As a player masters one level, more complex and difficult tasks remain. Players should learn as they play, receive rewards for making progress and, if they get into serious difficulties, receive hints or be able to read a simple on-line manual. Ideally, the cues should be present in the game.

Our research shows that sequences of open-ended discussible rich questions, with self-contained prompts and check lists, perform much the same function as a game.

The questions help the learner recall what they already know or could know in an interesting way, then build progressively on this foundation. The prompts/check lists remind the brain where to look for associated concepts. Along the way, there should be interesting/surprising twists. Some questions should include/anticipate the responses from earlier questions, to give small intrinsic rewards.

Here's an example from Knowing Knowledge, a workshop-based Theory of Knowledge course for the International Baccalaureate:

1. Brainstorm a list of all the different kinds of arts. e.g., theatre, novels....
2. Choose two of these art forms with which you are familiar, and describe what you like about each one. Ballet, rock music, jazz, opera, poem, movie, paintings, novels, sculpture, photographs, comics, cartoons.
3. Explain what might be artistic about Cage’s musical composition 4’33”, which is four and a half minutes of silence.
4. Explain what might be artistic about Andy Warhol’s painting of a can of Campbell’s tomato soup.
5. How might science fiction contribute value to people’s lives?
6. How might public buildings, architecture, parks and gardens e.g. monuments, obelisks etc. be considered artistic and contribute to our lives?
7. Explain how the photograph of a shantytown, ballroom dancing, a bird song, a newspaper advertisement, the design of a chair, a watch or a household appliance might be artistic,
8. Can anything be artistic? Where does artistic begin and end? Explain.
9. Do all artistic things have to have meaning? Give your reasons.
10. When people say, "art is in the eye of the beholder” what do they mean?
11. Oscar Wilde once said, “All art is useless.” What could he have meant?
12. If something is meaningless, can it be art/artistic? For example, are paintings by monkeys and elephants artistic? Give your reasons.
13. When people explain/interpret a work of art, what happens to the work of art if people say good things or bad things about it?
14. Who decides whether a work (music, theatre, film, novel, website) has value/meaning and what kind of process do they go through to make these decisions?
15. In what ways might different cultures decide whether a work of art is valuable? Explain Umberto Eco’s idea that advertising a Mercedes Benz in New York might lead a handful of people to buy one, and more people to go out and trash one.
16. Can crafts be considered artistic, or is there a dividing line between the arts and applied arts?
17. How do the arts play a role in people’s lives? In what ways might the arts be a form of knowledge?
18. Give an example, (name of the work if possible), of each of the following art forms that you have seen/experienced and how each made you feel. Ballet, rock music, jazz, opera, poem, movie, paintings, novels, sculpture, photographs, comics, cartoons. Respond like this: Father of the Bride, amused; ........
19. Give examples of how experiencing artistic works expands the way we think.
20. What are the characteristics/features that different kinds of arts have in common?
21. Brainstorm a list of things that your consider to be beautiful?
22. What do beautiful things have in common? e.g. colours that...
23. Here is a list of different aspects of beautiful things. Choose one or two and explain why they are beautiful? Repeating patterns. Harmonies in music. Rhythm in dance. The intensity of jungle drums. The symmetry of a circle or square. Curves that have an interesting shape. Shapes or colours that mimic nature. Art that exaggerates or makes more real.
24. Explain the difference between the ordinaryness of everyday life and the form (shapes, patterns, colours, sounds etc.) found in artistic works?

Malone, T.W., & Lepper, M.R. (1987). Making learning fun: A taxonomy of intrinsic motivations for learning. In R. Snow & M. Farr (Eds.), Aptitude, Learning, and Instruction: Cognitive and Affective Process Analyses. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.