Board Games in School? A Fun & Effective Break from Technology
Educational technology can be amazing when done right.
But we also need frequent breaks from it — both students and teachers.
Experiential group-based learning offers a fun and effective way to learn and a good alternative to ed tech.
You can do this with your students using board games, card games, and tabletop games.
More Than Monopoly
The term "board game" often reminds people of the original Monopoly.
But modern gaming has gone much farther than the old-school "opoly" format. (And so has Monopoly with its countless variations).
There are thousands of games to choose from, and games are typically very affordable — used or new.
Educational?
The vast majority of games are designed for entertainment — not education.
Regardless, all games are educational — even if that is not their intended purpose.
Why? Because our brains are always learning — the rules of the game, winning strategies, critical thinking, interacting with other players. It's all educational. Skills are being developed.
But the knowledge and skills gained while playing an entertainment game may not be as transferrable to the real world as a game designed specifically for education.
That's the primary difference between an educational game and an entertainment game — the transferability, or usefulness, of newfound knowledge and skills. There are other differences as well, which will vary based on how the game is designed.
If you are still skeptical of board games for learning, think of it less as a game and more as a guided experiential-learning activity.
Comparison
Here are a few ways I design educational games to be different than entertainment games:
- Core game targets a specific subject area that matches school curriculum.
- Exposes players to useful information related to the subject.
- Achieves learning outcomes aligned to educational standards.
- Gameplay makes players do and repeat activities that build skills.
- Rules are extremely clear and guided.
- Shorter gameplay to match the typical class time — 30 to 60 minutes.
- Themes and graphic styles that are suitable for a general audience.
- Variable number of players — typically 1 to 4 or 6.
- Includes an Instructor Guide and supplemental resources.
Examples
I primarily design games to teach business and personal finance to people of all ages. But you can find games for nearly any subject that you teach — try searching boardgamegeek.com
Here are some of my games used in many schools and home-based learning —
Food Truck Entrepreneur Board Game
Game Maker Kit — Design Your Own Games
I'm currently designing a Personal Finance Board Game and publicly sharing the entire design process — start with Part 1
Questions?
If you have any questions about games for learning, post them in the comments and I will share what I know.
Receive this newsletter by email —
I'm Mathew Georghiou and I write about how games are transforming education and learning. I also share my experience as an entrepreneur inventing products and designing educational resources used by millions around the world. More about me at Georghiou.com