This video has James Paul Gee and David Shaffer chatting about Shaffer’s work on epistemic games.
David Shaffer champions the development and use of epistemic games, a version of video games that allow for students to view the world from the epistemological standpoint of particular professions, that is, the way certain professionals view the world, how they use this view to solve problems and how that affects the way they view and perform in the remainder of their world (Shaffer, 2007).
Such games in schools would allow for students to view the world in many different ways and allow for the development of an understanding of the values and beliefs that certain professions view and hence act in the world. It would be exciting if such games could allow students to adopt a particular epistemological view and solve problems according to that view. Imagine the ability of students to understand more deeply the knowledge that they would encounter if they understood that knowledge is value laden and they had some understanding of the value systems that informs practice.
It would also be exciting for students if they could ”try on” different epistemological lenses when confronted with problems and understand that the choice will change the way the problem is indentified and solved. After all isn’t this what academic endeavour is about - exploring a number of different ways in which to see the world and thinking and problem solving according to that particular view? I remember in my training as a teacher when it came to studying philosophy it was difficult to engage with ideas in this way as I was so use to viewing the world from the view of behavioural psychology the basis for a lot of my training up until that point. It made me realise that the epistemological viewpoint needs to be understood if deep understanding of solutions were to be understood. Such games could provide powerful experiences for our students especially if they were attached to real world problems that students encountered.
David Shaffer champions the development and use of epistemic games, a version of video games that allow for students to view the world from the epistemological standpoint of particular professions, that is, the way certain professionals view the world, how they use this view to solve problems and how that affects the way they view and perform in the remainder of their world (Shaffer, 2007).
Such games in schools would allow for students to view the world in many different ways and allow for the development of an understanding of the values and beliefs that certain professions view and hence act in the world. It would be exciting if such games could allow students to adopt a particular epistemological view and solve problems according to that view. Imagine the ability of students to understand more deeply the knowledge that they would encounter if they understood that knowledge is value laden and they had some understanding of the value systems that informs practice.
It would also be exciting for students if they could ”try on” different epistemological lenses when confronted with problems and understand that the choice will change the way the problem is indentified and solved. After all isn’t this what academic endeavour is about - exploring a number of different ways in which to see the world and thinking and problem solving according to that particular view? I remember in my training as a teacher when it came to studying philosophy it was difficult to engage with ideas in this way as I was so use to viewing the world from the view of behavioural psychology the basis for a lot of my training up until that point. It made me realise that the epistemological viewpoint needs to be understood if deep understanding of solutions were to be understood. Such games could provide powerful experiences for our students especially if they were attached to real world problems that students encountered.
The query I have around the notion of epistemic games is: how do we know these will provide the same level of engagement that normal video games have? While acknowledging that video games have undoubtedly much to offer to the classroom, surely the whole debate has emerged because of the level of interest shown by youth in these activities. Video games have become absorbed into our culture because of their popularity. The epistemic games sound educationally terrific, but so does studying Wuthering Heights, a novel not noted for its attractiveness by at least one teenage boy of my acquaintance. The problem is, what sounds great to an educator might not be so attractive to a teenager deeply immersed in the participatory culture identified by Jenkins (2006). I would be interested to read more research about epistemic games to see whether they are as much ‘fun’ as these two researchers assert in this YouTube clip. (Interesting to note that one of these researchers thinks that filling in a tax form is potentially interesting at 1:53)
ReplyDeleteTrying on different epistemological lenses is certainly an educational strategy worth considering, and is closely tied to critical literacy – knowing how the author of a particular text is trying to position the reader through using concepts and language selectively. And if it is presented as a game, then perhaps engagement will occur. This is a far cry, however, from the enthusiasm some students have for games such as Halo, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty.