The Taxonomy of Play
Friday, April 10th, 2009If you:
Know in your gut that “learning really is our natural state” …
Design learning around the learners’ processes rather than around the instructor’s convenience …
Recognize that learning games are so effective partly because the assessment is inherent in the game-play and gives learners immediate feedback …
Then:
How do you envision a taxonomy—hierarchical classification—of play as a process of learning?
Brock Dubbels proposes the taxonomy below, referenced and described in “A Taxonomy of Play,” posted on theVideo Games as Learning Tools site. Your feedback is welcome on that posting as well as here on my blog.
Other articles may also help support your learning games design strategies:
- Play is How We Learn (on Video Games as Learning Tools), which begins with this challenging concept: “The process of pretense in play can be very powerful, and it may be the factory of our analogical mind.”
- Informative Assessment (on Apple Classroom of Tomorrow – Today – ACOT2), which proposes that “Assessments must facilitate individual and group learning, and empower students to gauge their own progress.”
What do think? Please share your comments.
Resources:
Dubbels, Brock R. (2008) Video games, reading, and transmedial comprehension. In R. E. Ferdig (Ed.),Reference. Information Science Handbook of research on effective electronic gaming in education.