While not an exhaustive list, Rosenheck notes that good games will: Parents and educators need to be able to navigate a tremendous amount of content and options when selecting games that will engage children in authentic learning. With this in mind, Rosenheck and a team of other researchers at the Education Arcade Lab developed a series of design principles that inform the development of what they term “ resonant games” - games that are open ended, exploratory, allow learners to make connections to bigger systems and concepts, and promote deeper learning overall. “Humans like to learn, and we like to get better at things.” But, she observes, many games used in classrooms or that are deemed “educational” tend to focus on content and procedural skills, and don’t necessarily encourage learning that sparks intrinsic motivation and genuine engagement.
“What’s really motivating about a good learning game is the learning,” says Louisa Rosenheck, researcher at MIT’s Education Arcade Lab and a an adjunct lecturer at HGSE. Why are some games more “fun” than others? Parents and educators alike may wonder why a child can spend hours playing Minecraft but can’t engage with an app that runs through multiplication facts with the same focus.
