Do you remember Oregon Trail? Oh, how we loved Oregon Trail. In my childhood, the Oregon Trail software was no less than revolutionary. Teachers and students alike hailed it as one of the bright spots of educational technology. When my younger brother was in elementary school, fifth graders across the district competed in an Oregon Trail tournament. As late as 2001, when I would take my students for some “down time” in the computer lab (code for not keyboarding software or typing a paper on word processing), they would clamor for Oregon Trail. But here was the dirty little secret of Oregon Trail: no one was learning anything about the history of the Oregon Trail from the game. I conducted some VERY informal studies on Oregon Trail during my time teaching fourth grade in the late nineties and early 2000’s to determine how much historical content students gleaned from playing the game. I administered a pre- and post-test on the material that might have been learned from game play, and my results were quite definitive: students scored no better as a whole after playing the game for six weeks than they had prior to doing so. Now, this could have been attributed to design flaws in the game format, a lack of support for the content in my classroom, a mindset of students that the game had no educational value, or a combination of the three. However, the fact remains that simply offering a gaming environment for curriculum content is inadequate. Halverson frames the challenge in this way:
Simply manipulating the game model to simultaneously develop resources, trade, and defense involves impressive dexterity and cognitive complexity. However, from a schooling perspective, learning to play the game successfully is a different question than what can be learned from the game. Here the question arises about the "real-world" conclusions players can draw from gameplay. Can recognizing the modeled relationships among game variables transfer to insights about theories of socio-cultural interaction?
Gaming has come a very long way since the time of Oregon Trail, both in and out of the classroom. The variety of options is enormous, and the sophistication of the games has increased exponentially. And yet, the challenges remain the same: are we picking games that include both engaging format and sound pedagogical standards? Are we utilizing the game as a part of overall best practices in the classroom? Are we showing students the curriculum connections? Can we offer the gaming in a way that is accessible and practical to all students and classrooms? Without real answers to these real questions gaming, like animation, will continue to be relegated to style over substance in the eyes of many.
Halverson, R. (2005). What can K-12 school leaders learn from video games and gaming? Retrieved from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=81
The Oregon Trail (1971-1985). Produced by MECC and distributed by Broderbund
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