Learning Geometry in the Land of Venn

Educational games, or “edutainment"

Educational games, or “edutainment,” can sometimes be presented as “chocolate-covered broccoli”—that is, learning sugarcoated with fun.  An example is a game that tasks players with reducing fractions to destroy aliens.  Here, the mechanics of play (actions taken in a game) are misaligned with the learning goal.

In the past few years, innovative designers smartly began marrying game mechanics to learning goals.  One example is The Land of Venn, in which the mechanic of drawing points, lines, and shapes clearly correlates to the game’s goal.  Players draw lines to learn about lines.

As a teacher, it sounded obvious to me that mechanics should be married to learning goals—but that doesn’t always happen in classrooms.  Think about lessons that don’t.  It’s like teaching the voting process with a lecture, rather holding a mock class election!