Educational Gaming
Learning through play
Educational games sought to make learning engaging, from The Oregon Trail to Reader Rabbit to modern attempts at gamified education.
Educational gaming promised to make learning fun. Some succeeded brilliantly—The Oregon Trail taught history through simulation and mortality. Others produced thinly veiled drills with game-like wrappers. The best educational games understood that engagement came first: students who enjoyed playing would absorb learning almost accidentally.
Fast facts
- Premise: combine education with entertainment.
- Peak era: 1980s-1990s school computer labs — American ones bought commercially, British ones provisioned by the MEP.
- Success stories: Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Number Munchers.
- Criticism: some “edutainment” was neither educational nor entertaining.
- Modern approaches: gamification, educational game design courses.
What worked
Effective educational game design:
- Intrinsic learning: knowledge needed to succeed.
- Engaging mechanics: gameplay worth playing.
- Failure as teacher: mistakes had consequences.
- Context: information in meaningful settings.
The school market
Educational gaming’s environment:
- Computer labs: limited machines, scheduled time.
- Site licences: bulk school purchasing.
- Curriculum alignment: matching educational standards.
- Teacher acceptance: games had to seem educational.