Pre-service teacher development : a model to develop critical media literacy through computer game play

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the use of game-mediate learning with pre-service teachers, with the view to evaluating the use of a socially mediated knowledge construction to develop appropriate classroom pedagogical practices. Two instrumental case studies are presented in order to explore how pre-service teachers understand the use of computer games in teaching and learning. These cases are part of a collective case study to advance the theory of the use of video games in learning and teaching. Different groups of pre-service teachers participated in the study. The first group included third-year undergraduate education students who played a computer game on the biology of diseases. The second group of participants, postgraduate students reading for their teaching qualification, played computer games designed to address misconceptions related to genetics. The introduction of game puzzles into a learning activity acted as an explicit mediator of learning, and discussions between players implicitly mediated their understanding. Therefore, in a learning context it is argued that computer games as part of a lesson should never be the object of the activity, but should function as a tool that mediates learning outcomes. This approach can be used with any contemporary media that form part of a classroom lesson, to develop critical media literacy