Games as Subversive Teaching Tool

This is a blog post from my Masters work which was conducted in 2018-19. It is a re-post from the original site where the blog was held and was only slightly adjusted to the new website. If you are interested in the larger project you can read the thesis here.

This is the second of three blog posts that discuss the idea of educational games in relationship to this project’s game.

Previously, I wrote about the relationship between learning and play, building off of early game theory and its connection to education. Since I am designing a game that teaches an educational concept it's important that I situate myself around the concept of educational games.

The goal of educational games are to function as learning and teaching tools. If we are viewing the game as a transmissive, experiential, system for players to engage with, then we need to consider how this is framed. I thought back to teacher's college and our conversations on constructivism, which connects knowledge acquisition to experiences. This leads to ideas around inquiry-based learning, and subversive teaching practice.

Starting with an inquiry approach to learning, knowledge is constructed through experiential questioning. In other words, inquiry based learning, focuses on students asking the questions that directs how they gather knowledge. The teacher becomes a guide and facilitator in these spaces, allowing student curiosity to connect and establish knowledge.

Moving from this, I came across the idea of subversive teaching where,

“a teacher is that rare individual who coaxes the existing knowledge systems of his students out of hiding, drags every last tentacle of the monster from the depths into broad daylight, hoses off the slime, wrestles it to the ground when it puts up a fight, and finally gives it a heart transplant. That's subversion. That's teaching.” (Postman & Weingartner, 1971).

When thinking about Escape Rooms, this quote amplifies the educational strengths of the game genre. It is subversive to traditional teaching method, both as a game and a space that removes teachers as point of knowledge transmission. Games provide agency, and the act of play (collaborative or alone) invites players to consider their own knowledge with the game material as they work through the narrative.

This brings me back to Postman and Wingartner where they write that “The inquiry environment stresses that learning is happening in itself.” (Postman & Weingartner, 1971 p. 29). In this context a game allows the theatrical set of escape games to invite learners deeper into the material. Educational games have historically struggled to be engaging for players, which is typically blamed on a lack of originality (Jenkins and Hinrichs, 2003). Many educational games function as poor replications of existing entertainment games, making their experience always lackluster to players.

This is understood as edutainment. I need to move past that. Games need to focus on developing novel experiences and refreshing takes on existing games and genres. The nature of educational games restricts them around a specific concept/activity in design, making their connection to existing genres even more stringent in the freedom that designers have. It is important for educational games to imagine multiple ways they can talk about the issue, and use that to develop a unique experience. The idea of subversive teaching is still relatively niche and extremely hard for educators to do properly, but offers a very distinct form of learning that extends beyond the classroom.

Praxis Games

While the idea of persuasive and serious games are a powerful starting point, their argument that games are trying to inform players of something was too general for me. Social impact games, and games for change are interesting concepts and have been applied to education, but are better suited for games that address specific community or social issues. Around design, I found the term praxis games to be a helpful term. When writing on the matter Steve Wilcox states, “games, understood as designed experiences, can play a prominent role in this process by transforming the cognitive labor involved in knowledge acquisition into an act of situated praxis. “ (Wilcox 2019, p. 165). Subsequently, he defines praxis games as “games designed for players to enact, embody, or realize a theory, lesson, or skill.” (Wilcox, 2019, p. 158).

Praxis games focus on ways that educational ideas can be presented within the games framework, which meshes directly with notions of subversive teaching. The idea of having players encounter, and interact with issues through the games entire framework, expands the educational potential of games beyond simple concepts and processes. Embedding ideas into the gameplay and environment causes players to come across and wrestle with them in subversive ways. The space of the game can guide players into a conversation, where their interaction with educational material is not always immediately apparent, and subsequently engaging them in an experience that existing knowledge, abilities and inquiry are needed to solve. Presenting ideas in all aspects of the game, and designing specifically around a subversive experience allows players to challenge their own ideas and others as they play. Recognizing games as subversive and inquiry focused tools, and connecting that to the notion of praxis in design, reinforces the educational potential of the escape game genre.

References:

Jenkins, Henry, and Randy Hinrichs. 2003. “Games to Teach.” http://icampus.mit.edu/ projects/project/?pname=GamesToTeach.

Postman, P. N., & Weingartner, C. (1971). Teaching As a Subversive Activity. Dell Publishing Company.

Wilcox, S. (2019). Praxis Games: A Design Philosophy for Mobilizing Knowledge through Play. American Journal of Play; Rochester, 11 (2), 156–182.

Games as Subversive Teaching Tool

Praxis Games

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