Term

Summer 2022

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAED: NSEE

Facilitator(s)

Kari Ross

Content Expert

Kelly Armstrong & Alex Stahlmann

Abstract

Decades of research point towards great, but unfortunately untapped, potential video games provide classrooms for meaningful learning and enrichment. Despite a lot of academic thought being poured into the subject of video games’ educational value, we do not see them being used commonly within classrooms or even cohesively studied as different games are focused on and successes are measured in non uniform ways. The content created for this project focuses on taking much of the academic foundation or merit of learning through video games and advocates them to a general audience alongside modern games that exemplify learning principles covered. The video game landscape evolves quickly so the important works of academics such as James Paul Gee or David Williamson Shaffer are still incredibly valid in providing an academic validity to video game play, but more recent games and ideas were included to update and support their work. In addition to addressing video games being used within classrooms in general, they are evaluated through the specific lenses of teaching social studies concepts, modeling potential student careers, and developing environmental identities. The research and prominent findings lead to the creation of the Low Five Education Project within the website Lowfivegaming.com. The Low Five Education Project is a series of multimedia creations including a video essay, written articles, and podcasts that teach a general audience about the many ways of which players learn when playing games while advocating for their greater use in schools alongside recommendations and advice to do so properly.

Project Type

Website Creation

Keywords

Environmental Studies, Learning Styles, Teachers/ Teaching, Technology

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Projects

Included in

Education Commons

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