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ERIC Number: EJ1162579
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1085-3545
EISSN: N/A
A Problem of Play for Democratic Education? Abstraction, Realism, and Exploration in Learning Games. A Response to "The Challenges of Gaming for Democratic Education: The Case of iCivics"
DeVane, Benjamin
Democracy & Education, v25 n2 Article 11 2017
In this review article, I argue that games are complementary, not self-supporting, learning tools for democratic education because they can: (a) offer "simplified, but often not simple, outlines" (later called "models") of complex social systems that generate further inquiry; (b) provide "practice spaces" for exploring systems that do not have the often serious consequences of taking direct and immediate social, civic, and legal action; and (c) use rules to allow players to explore this aforementioned outline or model by "making decisions and seeing an outcome." To make these arguments, I perform a close reading of three examples of participatory and playful media that could be germane to, but are not designed for, educational settings: the early-20th-century board game "The Landlord's Game," YouTube videos advising about law enforcement encounters, and the dystopian indie game "Papers, Please." [For "The Challenges of Gaming for Democratic Education: The Case of iCivics," see EJ1120056.]
Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. 0615 SW Palatine Hill Road MSC 93, Portland, OR 97219. Tel: 503-768-6054; Fax: 503-768-6053; e-mail: journal@lclark.edu; Web site: http://democracyeducationjournal.org/home
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A