When considering technology in the classroom, the statement that pops up is that we must “equip our students with 21st century skills”. Stewart (2012) highlights that Sir Michael Barber (former advisor for Tony Blair) summarises ‘well educated = E(K+T+L)’. Ethics, knowledge, thinking and leadership skills are at the basis. They claim computer games are a platform that could encourage this. Stewart (2012) explain that it can be related back to pilots learning to fly. They must learn in a flight simulator before flying an expensive aeroplane.
An extensive list of 16 learning principles, that good games incorporate, is mentioned by Gee (2005). A few that stand out were:
- Systems thinking – activities that encourage students to question how their actions affect future actions.
- Well-ordered problems – encourages students to progressively build knowledge and creatively solve more complex problems.
- Situated meaning – providing opportunity for context driven and meaning by the surrounding purpose.
- Agency – students need to feel a sense of ownership to what they are doing.
- Pleasantly frustrating – doable but challenging.
Tetris was one game that I recall as a child playing on the Nintendo Game Boy. This is a game that starts of basic, and easy, which progressively becomes faster, to the point where you cannot keep up with the barrage of blocks falling. I find when a game engrosses me to concentrate I stop blinking which highlights how engrossed one becomes.
How can Tetris relate to a classroom context? Looking at the above it is a game that does use some of the learning principles. It encourages system thinking, i.e. mistakenly putting a Tetris block in the wrong position impacts on the games outcome. It is pleasantly frustrating, and you want to get a higher score and last longer. But in an educational context how can it be used to provide situational meaning? I think of tessellation and 2D knowledge into a game, which can be related to an everyday context. The term said is often “it feels like we’re playing a game of Tetris” when people must neatly organise and pack as much into a space as possible. Funnily enough a friend of mine hasn’t even played this game, yet often quotes this line. The situated meaning of Tetris is known even if you haven’t played the game.
Reference
Gee, P. J. (2005). Good video games and good learning. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, Summer 2005, 85(2), 33-37.
Stewart, W. (2012). Pause to consider the role games have to play.( use of computer games and educational technology in educating high school students). Times Educational Supplement,(5017), 14-15.
Fostering Digital Creativity in the Classroom 
Hi Aiden. It is a funny situation when people refer to their organisation as Tetris, and commonly used and heard it at the supermarket through self-checkout. In relation to education, as stated, the use of Tetris to encourage learning principles such as systematic thinking helps play a role in developing certain skills of the 21st century. Game platforms have been widely used to foster skills in a fun way where it is pleasantly frustrating to keep them engaged.
The key learning area that Tetris appropriately fits into would be Mathematic where students can learn and use their knowledge on tessellations during the situated learning task. It would be great to see a creative task that uses Tetris as a common platform to scaffold these skills and learning principles. Nice post! – Lachlan
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Hi Aidan!
Tetris and learning tessellation? Why didn’t i think of that! At first i skeptical on intergrating Tetris into the classroom when reading your blog but now i understand how it can be. It’s often hard to think of a childhood game that was played for fun to be actually useful in an educational context. Thank you for this!
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