The different types of games to promote experiential learning.
"Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand".
From this English saying, we can say that a way to make a students learn and remember what they have learn is through making them involved in the lesson. In other words, the students should be engaged in experiential learning. Experiential learning is a process where individuals construct knowledge, acquire skills, and enhance values from direct experiences. According to Wolf (1980) in his article Experiential learning in professional education: concepts and tools, there are three rationales for using experiential learning namely the skill building, role socialization and learning to learn from continuing professional experiences.
There are various types of language games to promote Experiential Learning such as Adventure games, Puzzle games, Sport games, First person shooter games, Group-dynamic games, Dancing (some types), Dramaturgy (sociology), Group problem solving activities (or initiative tasks), Ice-breaker games, Large group games, Leadership-games, Psycho-drama, Role-playing games, Team building games, Trust-building games, Win-win games ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group-dynamic_game ) but we will only describe a few of them in details. Adventure games are used in experiential learning. Examples of this kind of games are Scavenger Hunt or Treasure Hunt (Falconer et al. 2006), where it is a game in "which individuals or groups are given a list of items to find, often as a race."
Ice breaker games are one of the games that we can use to promote experiential learning. As stated by Falconer et al. (2006), "Icebreakers are short, fun, activities used to facilitate introductions and warm-ups, to introduce the topic of a meeting or training or to facilitate team building. They can also be used within established groups to facilitate discussion on a chosen topic." Therefore we can say that ice breaker is the game that we use at the beginning of the session to introduce the members of the group and can also be a warm-up for the group. Puzzle games is another games that we can use in experiential learning. Falconer et al. (2006) defined puzzle games as "a problem with a correct solution that the student must work out." The students will need to solve the puzzle and they must put all their best in it.
Role-playing games can be described as "...strongly experiential which challenges learners both logically and emotionally. The situation is purposely messy or ill-defined; the problems and their answers buried within a range of personalities and their private agendas which have to be attended to before logical, well-informed solutions can be found. This mirrors more exactly the problematic situations that our learners will find themselves in when they join the work world. ... The challenge, however, is located in a relatively safe space where learners can rehearse their negotiation and decision making skills with the support of a moderator and peers ... Role-play simulation is transformative because it engages both cognitive and affective domains equally within a whole reality. ... Role-play simulation is in essence a social experience: it cannot happen without a group of people interacting within a social context to solve a problem. ... The power of a role-play simulation compared to face-to-face role-play is that it does not have the time/sessional boundaries of f2f role-play but is run over several weeks. The extended timeframe of virtual communities more closely recreates the complexities of real-life negotiations and changing agendas over time and between meetings where not all players are cognisant of all the discussions or new agendas. ..." (Fannon, 2006). As stated in wikipedia.org, "Role-play simulation aims to revive the ease and joy of experiential learning." It allows human interaction in a constructed environment, where players are involved in creating an artificial social structure, enforcing the social structure and "providing plausible scenario for players to respond, react and enroll." These experiences will encourage learners to experiment with their creativity and interaction with their peers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roleplay_simulation).
A way that a person can learn best is when they are involve in the learning process and a way to do this is to conduct games and the game should give them the experience that they need. There are lots of games that we can use in experiential learning and therefore we should try to integrate these games into our learning process.
References:
Byrne, E. T., Wolfe, D. E. & Guest Editors (1980). Developing Experiential learning programs for professional education. Experiential learning in professional education: concepts and tools. (p 17) United States of America
Falconer, I, et al., (2006) Learning Activity Reference Model – Pedagogy. University of Southampton
PREPARED BY:
NOOR AZMA ABU BAKAR 3SPL
NORLIANA MOHD ROSNI 3SPL
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