How we can learn from ACNH and other digital games?

 

Creature Intersection (u/sodapressing, 2010, Apr 13)

As noted in my previous blog posting, I was about three years late to the Animal Crossing: New Horizons fad. However, the excuse opportunity to play this semester for my own educational purposes has meant I have caught up and surpassed my children in the amount of time spent crafting, fishing, farming, harvesting, selling, swimming and more on our shared ACNH island of Akz. But continuing playing, particularly with my children, has exposed how differently we approach the game and how differently we learn from this "commercial off-the-shelf" game.

Can we learn from a "non-educational" video game?

The brilliant Nathan Pyle created the above "Strange Planet" comic shortly after the release of ACNH (and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown). Looking at the top two panels alone, one might assume the blue being to the left is reading Wikipedia to learn about "independent horticulture strategies", in the way many of us can dive deeper into any topic we wish on the web. As noted in Sorenson, "digital media absorb(ed) older media, which... then refashioned (to) take on new forms of manifestation" (2011, p. 105). What we once learned from printed books (textbooks, encyclopedias, etc.) we more recently gained from internet sources; while a shift, such learning falls within typical school activities these days. While certain web-based learning artifacts like forums, digital magazines, and wikis may not have been designed for formal educational use, nonetheless they are embedded within learning tasks in numerous courses.

However, digital game-based learning is newer to the school environment. Educational websites with games that target common learning outcomes are welcomed into the classroom, and some mainstream COTS games like Minecraft have introduced educational versions (PC-based) with custom licensing that make games affordable for schools (Becker, 2017, p. 107). But it is extremely rare to find console-based games involved in formal educational endeavors because, in addition to factors like familiarity with gaming and linking games to curriculum, teachers and schools must also deal with additional costs associated with purchasing single-purpose technology.

In 2018, Nintendo partnered with the Institute of Play to bring its Switch console and Labo construction sets into various US elementary classrooms (Perez, 2018). The main material for Labo construction is cardboard, a by-product of most school procurement. Not only did they provide the console hardware and gaming software, but they also provided educational resources for parents and teachers to learn how to include Labo in their lessons and share experiences with other teachers online. The below video is one of several news stories highlighting this initiative.

Introducing "Nintendo Labo" (KNTV Channel 13 Las Vegas, 2018, Oct 30)

    
Unfortunately, ACNH is only commercially available for play on Nintendo Switch (Nintendo, n.d.) and as such, will likely never be played in the classroom outside of "bring in your electronics" day, where  educational benefits are less important and free play, with different play styles, reigns. 

Can we learn by playing the same game differently?

When observing me play, my daughter marvelled at how far along I was in building my home and paying off my mortgage. We chatted a bit about how we approached the game differently - she with the goal of acquiring belongings and finding new artefacts, me with the goal of harvesting materials, crafting new things, and selling them to Timmy and Tommy.While this would not qualify as "game modding" as discussed by Kynigos and Yiannoutsou (2019, p.17) it does pose an interesting problem not common to more traditional learning artefacts. While it is hard to read a book or watch a video in more than one way, it is common to approach problem solving (which many games used in learning promote) and game play in different manners. Digital games challenge the field of didactics - theories and reflections upon the activities surrounding teaching - in that they "break with a whole string of ways of teaching and learning within the context of schools" (Sorenson, 2011, p. 105).

In further reading Sorenson's chapter, I could visualize the learning hierarchy she described with children in rows. Indeed, as I was first learning the machics of ACNH, my children grabbed the hand-held console from me to apply their "expertise" to a situation, while I hovered above, watching and learning from their actions.  Our in-house community of learning was directed at helping me navigate the game. In contrast, my daughter and I formed a community of practice as definted by Wagner (Sorenson, 2011, p. 109) as we worked to improve OUR island and uncover secrets to gameplay. We learned together and from each other, which is an indirect outcome desired in many learning environments.

My avatar enjoying a late autumn afternoon on Akz.

(screenshot from gameplay)

In contrast, my daughter's avatar 

on an Easter egg hunt on Akz, long before I started playing

(screenshot from gameplay)

References

1. Becker, K. (2017). Commercial Off-the-Shelf Games (COTS). In Choosing and Using Digital Games in the Classroom (pp. 101–118). Springer International Publishing.
2. Kynigos, C., & Yiannoutsou, N. (2018). Children challenging the design of half-baked games: Expressing values through the process of game modding. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 17, 16–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2018.04.001
3. Nintendo (n.d.). Animal Crossing: New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch System. Retrieved from https://animalcrossing.nintendo.com/new-horizons

sodapressing. (202, July 19). Creature Intersection [Comment on cartoon by Nathan Pyle]. Reddit.  https://www.reddit.com/r/AnimalCrossing/comments/hu6tr7/creature_intersection/

Sørensen, B. (2011). Educational Design for Serious Games. In Egenfeldt-Nielsen,    S., Meyer, B., Sørensen, B., Serious games in education a global perspective (pp. 99–121). Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.