The educational value of digital games : possibilities and limitations of the use of digital games as educational tools (the spore case)

Abstract

Games have always been present in the development of the human society, facilitating ways of social interaction and contributing to the maturation of culture. Today, digital games present themselves as one of the most common forms of entertainment, especially for children and teenagers, combining the playful factor with pedagogical advantages, promoting changes in terms of cognitive, behavioral and psychomotor skills in its users. The use of digital games in educational contexts encourages active, critical, autonomous and participated learning processes, overcoming some of the limitations presented in more ‘conventional’ methods, engaging players in non-passive forms of acquiring knowledge and skills. Aiming to demonstrate how digital games make the learning process possible by allowing the development of critical thinking, outlined during the act of playing, we will proceed to a critical analysis of Spore, a game created by Electronic Arts in 2008, demonstrating how the player places himself in an active learning situation which is self controlled and self regulated, facilitating the comprehension of phenomena that are not a part of formal teaching.