Knudsen  1  

To:  Julie  Schell-­‐Principal  Lincoln  Elementary      From:    Kelly  Knudsen-­‐Library  Media  Specialist  Lincoln  Elementary      December  12,  2013    Re:    Ways  video  games  can  aide  in  information  literacy  learning  and  teaching      Dear  Principal  Schell,              Greetings  from  your  elementary  Library  Media  Specialist!  As  you  know,  many  of  

our  students  play  computer  or  video  games  in  their  free  time  and  are  a  part  of  

various  online  communities  associated  with  gaming.    For  the  most  part,  public  

opinion  of  gaming  is  somewhat  negative  and  many  educators  feel  that  video  games  

do  not  offer  a  valuable  learning  experience.    But  in  our  “modern,  high-­‐tech,  science-­‐

driven,  global  economy,”  games  are  considered  powerful  learning  tools  and  guides  

for  educators,  serving  to  engage  students,  offering  them  experiences  in  problem  

solving,  creating  community,  while  giving  them  the  opportunity  to  learn  by  doing.    

         Of  course  not  all  video  games  are  considered  powerful  learning  tools,  but  the  

good  ones  “challenge  and  support  players  to  approach,  explore  and  overcome  

increasingly  complex  problems  and  thereby  learn  better  how  to  tackle  those  

problems  in  similar  contexts  in  the  future”  (Sandford  and  Williamson  3).      It  is  

through  video  games  that  we  can  offer  our  students  an  opportunity  to  evaluate  

situations,  set  goals,  make  mistakes,  and  learn  from  them  all  in  a  non-­‐threatening,  

virtual  landscape.    At  the  same  time  we  are  giving  them  a  plethora  of  opportunities  

to  cultivate  their  information  literacy  skills,  preparing  them  for  school  and  work  in  

the  21st  Century.      

  Knudsen  2  

         During  the  gaming  experience,  problem  solving  is  essential  to  finding  success  in  

all  of  the  genres  of  gaming  including  shooter  (example:  Call  of  Duty),  action-­‐

adventure  (example:  Tomb-­‐Raider)  and  role-­‐playing  games  (example:  The  Elder  

Scrolls),  the  three  most  common  types  of  games  that  most  young  people  play.    

According  to  a  “Games  and  Learning”  handbook  published  by  Futurelab  in  2005,  

“games  offer  the  capacity  for  players  to  try  out  alternative  courses  of  action  in  

specific  contexts  and  then  experience  consequence—in  other  words  to  understand  

how  manipulating  systems  causes  particular  effects”(Sandford  and  Williamson  3).    

         Through  gaming  experiences,  students  can  become  “agents  in  their  own  

learning.”    This  empowers  them  as  thinkers  and  learners,  teaching  them  what  is  

valuable  for  each  situation  while  motivating  them  to  want  to  make  the  best  decision  

in  order  to  be  successful  within  the  game.    These  games  are  referred  to  as  epistemic  

games,  which  are  “about  knowledge,  applying  knowledge,  and  sharing  knowledge”    

(Shaffer  and  Gee  15).      

         Within  information  literacy,  these  types  of  skills  are  vital  in  our  rapidly  advancing  

society  and  relate  to  one  of  the  American  Association  of  School  Libraries  (AASL)  

standards  for  the  21st  Century  Learner  that  “learners  use  skills,  resources  and  tools  

to:    draw  conclusions,  make  informed  decisions,  apply  knowledge  to  new  situations,  

and  create  new  knowledge.”  This  is  the  same  relentless  dedication  and  engagement  

our  students  could  have  within  their  learning,  if  we  just  offered  them  more  

opportunity  to  explore  gaming  in  the  school  setting.      

         According  to  Shaffer  and  Gee,  epistemic  games  are  considered  “games  that  let  

players  learn  to  work,  and  thus,  to  think  as  innovative  professionals”  (15).    Shaffer  

  Knudsen  3  

and  his  team  developed  a  computer-­‐based  game,  Madison  2220,  in  which  “students  

work  as  urban  planners  to  redesign  a  downtown  pedestrian  mall  popular  with  

young  people  in  their  city”  (16).    This  game  offers  the  students  real-­‐life  scenarios  

associated  with  urban  planning  and  gives  them  the  opportunity  to  think  and  learn  

like  “urban  planners.”    What  better  way  to  help  a  student  learn  than  submerging  

them  in  a  virtual  atmosphere,  putting  the  learning  and  doing  in  their  hands?  

         This  kind  of  game-­‐based  learning  can  be  extended  to  our  classrooms  through  

other  epistemic  games  such  as  Digital  Zoo,  “where  players  work  as  mechanical  and  

biomechanical  engineers  to  design  virtual  structures  and  creatures—the  kinds  of  

things  you  might  see  in  a  computer-­‐animated  movie  from  a  major  studio”  (Shaffer  

and  Gee  19).      The  players  kept  notes  and  journals,  gave  presentations,  and  worked  

as  engineers  do.    In  an  afterschool  program  where  Shaffer  and  Gee  tested  Digital  

Zoo,  “players’  use  of  scientific  justification  to  answer  textbook  science  problems  

went  up  600%  on  average  after  playing  the  game”  (19).    Wow!    Talk  about  gaining  

valuable  knowledge  and  leverage  in  our  modern,  scientifically  advanced  world.    

These  students  are  engaged  and  working,  thinking  and  learning  as  professional  

scientists  through  games.      

         Another  important  aspect  to  consider  related  to  gaming  and  information  literacy  

is  the  importance  of  being  able  to  share  knowledge  and  work  together  with  others  

to  accomplish  a  task  and  meeting  a  goal.    According  to  Shaffer  et  al.,  “we  learn  by  

doing—not  just  by  doing  any  old  thing,  but  doing  something  as  part  of  a  larger  

community  of  people  who  share  common  goals  and  achieving  those  goals.    We  learn  

by  becoming  a  community  of  practice  (Lave  &  Wenger,  1991)  and  thus  developing  

  Knudsen  4  

that  community’s  ways  of  knowing”(7).      This  shares  another  one  of  the  common  

beliefs  held  by  the  AASL—that  learning  is  enriched  with  the  chance  to  share  with  

others.  According  to  their  belief,  “Students  need  to  develop  skills  in  sharing  

knowledge  and  learning  with  others,  both  in  face-­‐to-­‐face  situations  and  through  

technology.”  

         There  are  many  multiplayer  games  like  World  of  WarCraft,  Lineage,  EverQuest,  

City  of  Heroes,  and  Guild  Wars  “  where  young  people  are  creating  new  ways  to  build  

and  share  knowledge”  and  players  join  a  community  while  learning  to  follow  the  

system  within  that  community  (Gee  and  Morgridge  14).    In  “Why  Are  Video  Games  

Good  For  Learning?”  the  authors  discuss  World  of  Warcraft  specifically,  and  what  

they  call  “cross-­‐functional  affiliation”  where  players  get  to  know  each  other  first  as  

players  within  the  game.    The  author’s  explain  that  players  “can  in  turn,  use  their  

real-­‐world,  class,  culture,  and  gender  as  strategic  resources  if  and  when  they  please,  

and  the  group  can  draw  on  the  differential  real-­‐world  resources  of  each  player,  but  

in  ways  that  do  not  force  anyone  into  pre-­‐set  racial,  gender,  cultural,  or  class  

categories”  (14).    These  are  powerful  social  skills  the  players  are  picking  up.    

Imagine  the  power  if  they  were  doing  this  within  their  schooling.      

         In  this  way,  some  games  are  creating  new  ways  of  learning  and  developing  

community  in  a  shared  space.    They  can  teach  us  a  plethora  of  ways  to  “socially  

organize  learning  in  tomorrow’s  classrooms,  libraries,  workplaces,  and  

communities”  (qtd.  in  Gee  and  Morgridge  15).    Video  games  have  the  power  to  help  

our  students  learn  and  grow.    According  to  Buchanan,  “the  stories  in  video  games  

can  preserve,  unpack,  transmit,  and  challenge  perspectives  and  values”  (11).    We  

  Knudsen  5  

could  utilize  video  games  in  multiple  aspects  of  the  school  library,  including  

teaching  them  information  literacy  skills,  helping  them  utilize  their  video  gaming  

skills  in  the  library  and  in  real-­‐life  situations,  while  offering  them  the  mentorship  

they  need  for  them  to  recgonize  how  their  games  offer  them  valuable  knowledge  for  

both  now  and  in  the  future.    

         Gaming  offers  young  people  a  variety  of  ways  to  learn  and  socialize  while  

continuously  challenging  them.      It’s  no  wonder  they  can  spend  hours  playing  games  

and  never  tire  of  talking,  blogging,  or  sharing  information  related  to  their  games.    

But,  American  students  especially  young  women,  minorities  and  young  people  from  

lower  socioeconomic  backgrounds  are  lacking  engagement  in  science,  technology,  

engineering  and  math  (STEM).    With  over  half  of  our  student  body  on  free  or  

reduced  lunch,  our  population  could  directly  benefit  from  gaming  in  our  school  

library.    According  to  the  article  “Reimagining  the  Role  of  School  Libraries  in  STEM  

Education:  Creating  Hybrid  Spaces  for  Exploration.”  “American  students  ranked  

seventeenth  out  of  thirty  three  in  science  literacy  and  ranked  twenty-­‐five  out  of  

thirty-­‐three  in  math  literacy  among  students  in  developed  countries  (Subramaniam,  

et  al.  162).    We  have  the  opportunity  to  make  a  major  difference  for  these  young  

people  and  we  can  begin  to  do  it  by  embracing  the  technology  and  so  many  of  them  

are  already  engaged  with.      

         According  to  Subramaniam  et  al.,  “if  one  takes  seriously  the  need  to  link  young  

people’s  out-­‐of-­‐school  interests  to  their  STEM  learning,  school  libraries  emerge  as  

an  ideal  hybrid  space  to  bridge  the  formal  classroom  with  the  broader  world”  (163).    

It  is  important  for  us  to  consider  the  many  ways  that  we  can  help  engage  our  

  Knudsen  6  

students  in  this  manner  through  gaming.      “Researchers  have  found  that  young  

people  develop  their  personal  identities,  share  knowledge  or  information  with  

peers,  and  collaboratively  solve  problems  with  their  networks”  (167).      And  this  is  

all  done  through  gaming  and  technology.      

         There  are  many  differences  between  the  library  setting  and  the  formal  classroom  

including  the  “pressures  to  adhere  to  curricular  standards  and  high  states  testing  

requirements  that  may  hinder  their[  teachers]  inclination  to  experiment  with  new  

methods  and  techniques”  (Subramaniam  et  al.  169).    This  makes  our  school  library  

an  excellent  place  to  fortify  our  student’s  interest  in  epistemic  gaming  while  guiding  

them  through  this  vast  land  of  new  technologies  and  ways  of  knowing.      

         Overall,  gaming  has  so  many  benefits  and  ways  of  engaging  students  it’s  

surprising  that  more  districts  haven’t  attempted  to  implement  gaming  within  their  

schools  as  of  yet.    With  their  intricate  ways  of  teaching  players  to  problem  solve  and  

allowing  them  the  chance  to  learn  by  doing,  video  games  offer  our  students  an  

excellent  source  of  knowledge  as  well  as  social  learning  and  goal  setting.    Won’t  you  

consider  implementing  gaming  within  our  school  library  in  order  to  extend  our  

students  informational  literacy  into  the  21st  century?    We  have  a  powerful  tool  

awaiting  our  use.    If  we  don’t  try  it,  how  will  we  know  it  doesn’t  work?    If  we  don’t  

use  the  games  themselves,  the  principles  that  they  offer  are  valuable,  “whether  or  

not  a  video  game  is  present”  (Gee  and  Morgridge  21).      

 

 

 

  Knudsen  7  

Works  Cited  

Gee,  James  P.,  and  Tashia  Morgridge.  Why  Are  Video  Games  Good  For  Learning.  Tech.      

University  of  Wisconsin  Madison,  n.d.  Web.  

 

Sandford,  Richard,  and  Ben  Williamson.  Games  and  Learning.    Futurelab,  2005.  Print.  

 

Shaffer,  David  W.,  and  James  P.  Gee.  "Before  Every  Child  Is  Left  Behind:  How    

Epistemic  Games  Can  Solve  the  Coming  Crisis  in  Education."  University  of  

Wisconsin  Madison,  n.d.  Web.  

 

Shaffer,  David  W.,  Kurt  R.  Squire,  Richard  Halverson,  and  James  P.  Gee.  "Video  Games    

and  the  Future  of  Learning."  University  of  Wisconsin  Madison,  Dec.  2004.  

Web.  

 

"Standards  for  the  21st-­‐Century  Learner."  American  Library  Association.  ALA.,  2007.    

Web.  01  Dec.  2013.  

 

Subramaniam,  Mega  M.,  June  Ahn,  Kenneth  R.  Fleishmann,  and  Allison  Druin.    

"Reimagining  the  Role  of  School  Libraries  in  STEM  Education:  Creating  

Hybrid  Spaces  for  Exploration."  The  Library  Quarterly  82.2  (2012):  161-­‐

82.  The  University  of  Chicago  Press.  Web.