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The aim of this paper is to explore how at-risk students can become included in Danish as L1 by writing game-related texts such as game guides, character analysis or fictional stories, where they describe how to play and overcome key game challenges. The empirical data is based on The School at Play project (2015-2017), which involved a series of d...
Citations
... In addition to these fan spaces, game guides also have been explored in the context of structured school assignments for literacy development (Apperley & Beavis, 2011;Wash & Beavis, 2012), including writing guides and journalistic pieces in the L1 classroom (Dezuanni & O'Mara, 2017;Hanghøj, 2017;Hanghøj et al., 2020;Strømman, 2021). Strømman (2021) in particular outlined the many promises of translating these fan practices into the classroom including students' engagement and the ability to position students as experts in a particular domain. ...
The ability to understand language-in-use is essential to language and literacy learning. This article focuses on players' acquisition of specialist language and Discourses (Gee, 2014) among players of the mobile augmented reality game Pokémon GO. Specifically, I explore player-written guides by self-identified researchers of the game. These researchers enact scientific Discourses to explain gameplay elements. Using parent interviews and excerpts from the player-written guides, I analyze these game guides' highly specialized and complex language as forms of situated language in-use. I conclude with a discussion of implications based on these findings for L1 in educational settings.
... This discussion is mainly based on a strong pedagogic assumption, because it is considered that playing digital games holds the most promising pedagogical and learning potential. It is stressed that the interactivity of games facilitates learning by doing, that learning is situated and based on learners' literate identities, and that the new knowledge is the result of immersed experimentation and collaboration (Beavis et al., 2017;Gee, 2003;Hanghøj, 2017;Jensen, 2017;Williamson 2009). Moreover, it is underscored that these practices are supported by online affinity groups wherein rich, collaborative, and supportive literacy practices take place (Gee, 2003;Steinkuehler, 2007;Zaidan, 2019). ...
There is a productive discussion concerning the use of videogames in (literacy) education, focusing on their unique pedagogic potentials and on their interconnection with contemporary developments in textual and semiotic issues. Our main aim is to extend this discussion towards a more critical post-videogaming perspective, in the sense that videogames have to be considered as part and parcel of the contemporary, complex socio-cultural and historical context. Therefore, we focus on highlighting indicative aspects of this complexity, and we adopt concepts from the field of critical sociolinguistics, such as scales, strategies, and orders of literacy. We analyze a combination of quantitative (1.185 questionnaires) and qualitative data (6 ethnographic case studies) originating from children 11-15 years old. Our analysis reveals that, although videogaming tends to be a common youth practice, the other important differences/inequalities permeating parenting strategies, school practices, and children’s literate identities remain unchanged, posing serious questions in terms of the promising educational use of videogames. We propose a historically sensitive perspective in order to connect videogames with schooling and especially L1 teaching.
... Our work with these generative principles has led to the development of a conceptual model, which can be used to understand the complex dynamics between various design principles. The model (see below) is inspired by prior work by Hanghøj (2017) on creating educational links between games and curricular aims. The model highlights how each teaching unit is based on a core design challenge, shown in the centre of the model. ...
This chapter reports on the work of Working Group 4 and focuses on the integration of digital resources into mathematics teaching and learning practices. There are five central sections, focusing on, instrumental genesis, instrumental orchestration, the documentational approach to didactics, digital resources and teacher education, and the design of learning environments with the use of digital resources. A range of constructs and theoretical approaches are covered in these five sections, and the opening section comments on construct validity and issues in “networking” theoretical frameworks. The chapter can be viewed as a literature review which surveys past and present (at the time of writing) scholarship with an eye to possible future research. The chapter is extensive in several dimensions: a large range of digital resources and applications are considered; the subjects using digital
resources are not just teachers but also students, student teachers and student teacher sections, and the opening section comments on construct validity and issues in “networking”theoretical frameworks.
... As an example, one girl, who was diagnosed with dyslexia, become very engaged not only in playing Torchlight II, but also in writing a lengthy guide for the game in Danish, which was addressed at other potential players. This aspect of engaging the at-risk students in curricular activities through game-related assignments is further elaborated elsewhere (Hanghøj, 2017). In the end, the teachers at the Inner City School became so fond of working with games that they went on to design their own game modules involving Pokémon GO, Hearthstone and board game design. ...
... As it were, the bar for improvement at this school was low, but after initial pushback, the teachers were among the most dedicated. There were clear signs of learning in all schools (Hanghøj, 2017, Hanghøj et al., 2018, yet changes in terms of conduct and engagement were also most prevalent in the Inner City School. Changes which appear to, in turn, have been necessary for learning opportunities with games to arise, as a positive space for the teachers to ply their craft. ...
https://connectedlearningsummit.org/cls2018/proceedings/
... Thus, some students experienced that the game-related assignments were irrelevant, whereas other students experienced them as more meaningful learning activities than everyday school assignments. This finding is further elaborated in a qualitative study of the students' experience of the Danish assignments for the Torchlight II intervention, which shows that the aim of supporting meaningful curricular reframing of game experiences to a large degree depend on the actual design of specific game-related assignments such as writing guides, character analysis or fictional stories (Hanghøj, 2017). In summary, qualitative analysis may help us understand that even though interventions with multiplayer COTS games may increase students' abilities to collaborate and sense of well-being, such positive effects do not automatically extend to students' experience of subject-specific learning activities. ...
Can the challenges encountered in cooperative video games encourage classroom inclusion? And can this experience be translated into curriculum engagement? This study describes a 3 week intervention with game-based learning activities in eight lower secondary classrooms (N=190). The intervention combined the use of the coop action role-playing game Torchlight II and analogue gamification aimed at including 32 students challenged by social difficulties and lack of motivation. The video game was used to create more inclusive classrooms by increasing students' opportunities for participation through collaboration in teams. The students also participated in game-related Danish (L1) and Mathematics activities. Effects on social well-being, learning and motivational patterns were measured through teacher assessment combined with the Children's Perceived Locus of Causality-scales (c-PLOC). The results show multidimensional effects including positive impact on at-risk students' well-being and reduced experiences of external regulation to participate in Mathematics and Danish. The qualitative analysis confirms the positive findings, but also shows how the intervention created ambiguities surrounding the relationship between game activities and curriculum-related assignments. The findings indicate that the impact of game-based classrooms is not due to their fun element, but rather how they enable reframing of social participation and students' engagement with the curriculum.
