What can we take from Teaching History with Custom-built Board Games. Simulation and Gaming. Simulation & Gaming by Benjamin Hoy
Reference: Hoy, B. (2018). Teaching History with Custom-built Board Games. Simulation and Gaming. Simulation & Gaming, 49 (2), 115-133
In this article, Hoy examines the use of a custom-made board game in undergraduate and postgraduate classes and argues that using this form of pedagogical approach has lead to a greater historical empathy, improvement in class participation and a deeper understanding for students.
The game and the context:
This article reports on the use of a game that was used in the undergraduate and postgraduate history courses in a Canadian University. The article focuses on the use of ‘custom-made’ board games. that is games that have been created or adapted to teach a specific educational concept or ideas rather than an ‘off the shelf game’ that may be purchased commercially. The game that was used in this article was called ‘Policing the Noise’ which was a custom-made board game which modelled smuggling on the West coast of America between the USA and Canadian borders. The game was an adaptation of the commercially available bluffing game, ‘Sheriff of Nottingham’ by Arcane Wonders.
Arguments and discoveries that are worth a look.
The article expands on the research that is currently in the field of games and makes some important points in the literature review by identifying differences in board and computer games, and the increasing amount of research on custom made board games. Below we have selected a few key aspects of the article and the research that we thought were useful when considering using games in the classroom.
1. Tick-tock – Time
In using the game, Policing the Noise, Hoy argues that adding time-constraints to decision-making helped to maintain engagement. Essentially what Hoy is describing here is the use of a time limit for students to make their decisions and, presumably, make their moves in the game. Hoy observed that this prevented students, particularly those that had made decision quickly, from disengaging with the session. I’m sure all teachers have experienced this disengagement from some pupils when they have misjudged the pace of lesson, and for boardgamers, the feeling of frustration when sitting next a player with extreme analysis paralysis . This is an issue, to some degree, of prolonging participation in educational activities rather than of enhancing the quality of learning; however, it is an important part of playing games with large classes or groups of students and goes some way to address the issue of pupils becoming disengaged. Hoy does acknowledge though, that time constrained decision-making can ‘reduce performance’ – it is perhaps, like much else in the classroom, about finding the balance.
Hoy offers a second strategy for saving time in the gameplay: groupwork. The article describes how games that were played in which students participated by themselves took longer as there would inevitably be individuals who needed additional support in understanding the rules of the game. This can be a significant barrier to playing games of any kind of complexity in the classroom with whole groups as learning rules can take time and to ensure class engagement in the activity it is important for most , if not all, the students to understand the game mechanics. Hoy observes that placing the pupils into groups allowed pupils to support each other in understanding the game and therefore reducing the time and confusion when playing .
2.Its not fair!
The game that is used in the article is asymmetrical which means that players are not starting from the same position. In many boardgames, all players will start in the same position with the same chance of winning, not the case in Policing the Noise (the game that Hoy uses in the article) which has different teams starting with the ability to ‘smuggle’ more than others. These kinds of games are not uncommon commercially, however in the classroom this kind of game is uncommon for myriad reasons, not least because there will probably be a ‘lively’ discussion with some of the students who feel hard done by. One would imagine that this kind of unfair, or asymmetrical, game would disengage students but Hoy argues that this is not necessarily the case. In fact it increased engagement in the debriefing session as there was more that the students, particularly those in the ‘weaker’ positions, wanted to contribute.
I would say that this kind of asymmetry may be important in some games where the purpose is to support pupil’s understanding of a particular historical event as it is modelling the different aspects of that time period which, let’s face it, are rarely equal and fair. One game that has been played in classrooms is the resource trading game1 which aims to model the technological development of different countries around the world and each team starts with different resources. For Hoy though, this asymmetry is also a factor in how games can be used to increase increase historical empathy in students ( the students empathised more with people from the past) as they begin to make decisions in the game that they claimed they wouldn’t make in the present day. Perhaps then I counter to the ‘presentism’ problem that history teaching sometimes faces.
3.Debrief
Hoy highlights the importance of the facilitator and the debriefing session at the end of the game. This debriefing session is a period of time at the end of the game were the players and facilitator discuss the game, share the roles that others played, and explore the game’s connection to the intended learning. For those that have taught ‘Microsociety’ in class will know the importance of the debriefing period and in the field of games for learning it has also been argued that this opportunity to reflect is of crucial importance in using games for learning. Hoy describes this stage of the process as ‘a foundational part of the learning experience’ as it allowed the students to gain a greater depth to their learning.
Validity
The methodology of the research aspect of this article has limited external and internal validity. The article focuses mainly on the observation of researchers in their own classes over a number of sessions playing the game without significant analysis presented. There is some data collected about student views and engagement with the game from limited questionnaires as well as views of colleagues that observed the sessions. This does not necessarily detract from the arguments that the author makes and the research in this article should be treated as an exploration of the elements and effects of using custom-made board games. These would present the opportunities for further research and inquiries.
Takeaway:
What can we take away from this article that we can use in our own classrooms ?
- In large scale class games, separate children into groups to support learning the rules quickly and avoiding confusion. This of course comes with the caveat that every classroom is different and teachers will know who works well together and who are going to end up arguing over the small detail. As an additional tip, teach the students the game step by step – think of the tutorials that often begin computer games where the individual mechanics or concepts of the game are introduced one-by-one.
- Custom-made games allow teachers to model the game experiences more closely to the learning that they want the children to access. This is more time consuming than picking up an off-the-shelf game but it will be more closely related to what the teacher wants and I would argue, makes the game a more valuable teaching tool.
- Debriefing session is a crucial experience of gameplay in the classroom particularly where teachers want to make certain connections. Make time for this discussion after the game finishes and use the time to air grievances and connect the game to the learning. In addition, address events and challenges that were faced by the students during the game , perhaps even noting them down later.
- Keep the game moving by limiting time for pupil’s to make decisions. This comes down to judgement of the teacher and a balance will need to be found as some students will need some time to think, and thinking is important in learning – so I’ve been told.
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Footnotes:
- This is a game I have played in classes over the years. I cannot remember where the original game came from, but Christain Aid have a version on their website .
Primary Rules 