The Effective Use of Game-Based Learning in Education | Andre Thomas | TEDxTAMU

how did it so how do you make the world a better place no but we start with education how does education start how do we teach our children and kindergarten playing games right to play through games that's how we formally introduce education to students to the future generation but then something happens when they turn six seven or eight when we put them in benches and rose and the sage on the stage just like me right now here in front of you are and we call that effective education about 2025 students in a classroom now I'm not a doctor not psychologists when students turn 18 something happens because now effective education is 150 students in rows with SH on the stage like myself and we call that effective education universities all across the world and that's how we teach now let me ask you a question how do we learn how to ride a bike super bicycle do we learn by reading about it by watching somebody do it or by listening somebody talked about it we were in riding a bike by actually doing it he had the classroom experience watching reading and listening and it has been like this for hundreds of years it hasn't really changed yet our world has changed dramatically over the last hundred years just in the last ten years things really changed so why is educational really move forward and was Ryan anybody know what was his periodic table of elements says how many elements in there how do the 10 have at 14 at 18 so somewhere between a hundred and hundred 30 maybe but we're all supposed to learn this what does it actually say but what are those B's boxes actually mean yeah it's a chart all right then we're supposed to know what it is well let me show you another chart in comparison and it keeps on going and going and going I'm still going it's so big it doesn't even fit on the screen what have I told you you have to learn this chart and know by heart great right teacher wonderful well but what have I told you 10 year-olds novus chart by heart what have I told you 10 years later they still always chart by heart because I didn't have to learn a chart that's a dual type abilities from Pokemon again hugely popular and there's the data behind it even today over 27 million active users Pokemon really that child periodic table of elements 118 elements we can't remember here 10 years later Zeiss turnovers by heart that's the power of games now I hear you may say games down really belong in the classroom well that's like saying books don't belong in the classroom and I don't prescribe to that those games are a medium just like books you have all types of books you have recipe books you have textbooks you have reference books you have comic books all different types of books and we have the same of games we have all different types of games with puzzle games where the adventure games were first-person shooter games and we have games for learning let me show you some examples of games here's a game called remission you may have heard it's a game to help patients young children fight cancer very effectively it's another game for the University of Washington this is a game where players help scientists discover new proteins my game for science 1979 we take on the role of the journalist and heroine and sees the Iranian Revolution from a very different perspective call it the historical or documentary game and some of you may know this game Kerbal space program it's a physics and outer space really you know widely popular amongst children and in helps let me show you an example so what's created right here at Texas A&M okay maybe not okay the video didn't work sure but we created the first ever art history game right here at Texas A&M in the life lab with our students for faculty and with the help of tri see'em that game has shown research that we conducted 24.7% of student improvement after just two hours of gameplay why did we create the game well here we have our history survey classes is a large lecture classes where students get introduced to art these engineering students business students architecture students the only terms over here about artist two semesters 5,000 years of art human art history there's only so much they can get out of it it's like trying to see Europe in a speed train in a week how much are you gonna remember how much you really kinda understand about Europe does it teach as a professor teach art history for like well maybe there is a better way to engage with our students to bring deeper context to students through games knowing that 97% of students play games every week for hours or more that's boys and girls now they don't necessarily consider themselves gamers playing candy crush oh no I'm not a gamer but I play candy crush so they take it sure but I'm not a gamer then there's all kinds of games board games card games video games and we can utilize that power very effectively let me ask you different well here some responses because this game has been used in classes and universities all around the country and now all around the world and Poland actually teaches using this game to teach English to her students right here coming from Texas A&M what about other subjects can we do the 100-meter race if you run 90 meters what do you get nothing right disqualified you don't even get last place he didn't finish 90 meters in 100 meter is whether it's 90% what do you get in a classroom if you get 90% 90% would get you me if you actually only got 90 percent whatever I told you that airplane about to get on to it's an a pilot his master's airplane 90 percent oh and by the way don't worry is a plane is a really great condition it's 90 percent working now you have a feel about set I thought that it feels are good about it thankfully pilots are not educated that way the educated piece really on mastery of the subject but ninety percent we don't do anything in the rearward ninety percent everything is 100 percent but in education ninety percent and let's see a students imagine a be stewin see students and compounding works in education the same way as a dozen finance over the years the knowledge we leave on the table stacks up year over year over year about to show another example of a game was created right here and used Cephas works [Music] from engineering to medicine to 3d graphics calculus is foundational for all STEM careers however calculus courses today have among the highest failure rates of any course on any campus and there is a growing body of evidence that explicitly ties calculus to attrition and stem degrees at tri-c on our team collaborates with educators to address these complex educational issues and transform how students learn welcome to variant limits the first in a new series of immersive educational experiences for calculus students variant limits brings calculus to life by transforming abstract ideas into creative and visually engaging challenges a planet governed by calculus principles students will discover a vibrant 3d world throughout the world students will overcome obstacles by applying skills and concepts learned in class students working a new perspective on difficult topics such as limit laws continuity and the intermediate value theorem and whose their experiences within the game to construct and retain calculus knowledge variant limits promotes conceptual understanding through direct interaction and immediate feedback in the game environment by providing students an opportunity to take a more active role in the learning process nerds engages and motivate students like no other learning tool as students advance learning is reported by the instructor portal which provides detailed information and tracking tools a revolutionary new way to teach calculus innovative tool to empower and engage students the first in a series that will transform the calculus experience play to learn now I can tell you this looks like home what I want to do but the data speaks for itself students his homework plane average of 10 times between two and four hours I don't know any other homework students are willingly doing that often to get better to master a subject and what our own studies are still ongoing he teach and Italy recently used this game in her class last year 80 percent of her class succeeded it was pretty good this year the first time she used the game in her class and the rate went to 100 percent everybody mastered the subject not only that so mass is a subject but the average grade went up by about 10 percent across the entire class now that's pretty powerful and the feedback we're getting from students and from teachers the engagement is overwhelming si why did we create it because you heard many students are failing calculus in calculus is a foundation for any science technology engineering architecture business everybody has to do calculus we have students enrolling in West Texas College for example to get to calculus credit but they don't really learn calculus what are we doing we're not helping them is it another way in our tools that we can give teachers and students to really help some recently a young lady came up to me at a conference ask you sir do it math oh my god I hate it whoa very strong yeah I'm in the classroom the teacher keeps on going and I can't keep up so I'm paying $300 a month on tutoring just to keep up because I know I'm gonna need it in college you know to succeed what do you like games yeah sit down she sat down and within an hour's like oh my god I actually understand what vistas support in math is so much fun I didn't realize could be so much fun why shouldn't learning be fun that's how we start off I think about failing in classroom what do you get when you fear in an F okay well let me try the test again and another how motivating is said not very much right nobody likes to fail that's how we write in a game you can't succeed you can't finish a game unless you mastered a hundred percent you can't get to the next level with 98 percent you have to get a hundred percent and not only do you have to get a hundred percent failing is fun that's why students play over and over again and you see that many games highly motivational imagine the situation you're bout to get to the airport thankfully the pilot is fully trained airplane is fully working you run you're kind of running late as you reach the gate the airplane is just pulling off there is the window seat that would have been yours it's empty you're standing on the other side what's gonna go through your head right now first you're gonna be upset obviously I'm not gonna repeat the words that I've heard so people say in that situation and this when I've asked what's the next thing that goes through your head most people tell where we're gonna start planning how do I get to my destination well that's actually the third thing number two you're gonna think back on all the things that if they would have just done bit better that would have made you sit in that airplane it's a security line if it would have just been a little bit shorter the bus if you would have just been on time I could have made that plane well what if I can tell you I can rewind time and give you another try you wanna have another go at it do you wanna try to get that airplane to go home for Christmas to see your family who's gonna say no you can't see it it's right there and you know what it's gonna take to succeed yes of course I'm gonna try but unfortunately in real life that doesn't happen but in a game I can rewind and you can try again and I can show you what success looks like and how do you get sell and that's a power of game based learning we've taken this to a whole new level right here Texas A&M where the games becomes a center of the course of the educational experience no longer there supplement but there actually is a focus and for which students are learning we have our materials around it and we still have teachers because games are not supposed to replace a teacher and we would say need teachers to teach it's been so successful and we've put on free courses with year two for art history one for calculus and the engagement is a cruiser over me we don't have anything to compare it against because it's the first time it's ever done and we've allowing now college students to earn credit in four weeks it's the only single credit right now and the plan is to have free courses for free credits or on that's 12 weeks isn't it semester 16 weeks yes you're right so you're saying 12 weeks so we could reduce the time to earn college credit we could increase mastery and maybe maybe even reduce the cost of education because I can get so fast and less time and having fun doing so just imagine that future for all of us and for our students thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 51,968

Rating: 4.9612489 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Education, Arts education, Design, Innovation, Math, Technology, Video Games

Id: -X1m7tf9cRQ

Length: 17min 8sec (1028 seconds)

Published: Thu May 10 2018