Summary of an article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Summary of an article - Essay Example It is remarkable that all 3 games reviewed by the authors are strictly place-specific (namely, they are about the city of Madison and its surroundings) and with the domination of reality over fantasy. The ludological analysis and the positive feedback from the pupils, the users and even the designers of the games, testify that such augmented reality simulations actively engage learners in their present-day environment and develop awareness of surrounding space by locating the cognition in social and spatial contexts (Squire et. al., 2007, p. 269). Several key challenges and principles of interactive games of this kind are defined: firstly, the notion of space as contested (when the interaction with space is undermined by certain conflict that has to be resolved, be this the conflict of past and present, as in The Greenbush Game, or the one that is based on â€Å"the political control over space†) (Squire et. al., 2007, p. 287); secondly, role-playing narration, or interactive storytelling (p. 288); thirdly, the usage of memorable moments and experiences (when knowledge is gained through the active absorption of the strategies that have worked in certain contexts, which, by the way, makes game-based learning radically different from more traditional ways of transmitting knowledge) (p. 289); and last, the â€Å"potential of linking games-for-learning into other inquiry activities† (p. 270), like in the case when the students have collected the information and brain-stormed for the design of The Greenbush Game. Overall, the article is full of pedagogical insights, as it offers an optimistic outlook on the game-based learning with the emphasis on interactivity and the role of place. However, game theory covers much more aspects that need to be addressed in the context of learning. One of them is the limits of the ideological construction of games (Squire et. al., 2007, p. 267), as all games have conventions