Video Games and Scaffolding

I just ordered James Paul Gee's What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. This text seems to gain more momentum and have more influence each day that passes. Most notable to me is the recently opened "video game school" in New York City, Quest To Learn. Before I jump into the text, though, I'd like to get down in writing some of my own thoughts on the subject.

In the mid-1980's, Nintendo's video games, notably Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, established a certain progression for video game players. The player would progress through the game, struggling with different levels and enemies, only to reach a point where their avatar would get an "upgrade," a better sword or gun, a higher jump, etc. At this point in the game, the enemies and levels would become more difficult, requiring the player to use the new upgrade. Players would need to learn to use their new sword or new high jump to complete increasingly difficult levels or ward off enemies who could only be defeated by using the new tool. After a few levels, the new enemies don't just demand that the player uses the new tool, they assume that the player has become expert with it. From here, players must learn to wield the newest sword masterfully, or they can not move forward in the game. This cycle repeats with various upgrades throughout the games.

In this sense, the game is scaffolded much as teachers scaffold reading curricula. Students are taught a new skill, let's say, inferences. From this point on in the curriculum, students are given assignments that demand inference making. They must learn to make inferences in order to complete assignments designed to test the skill. After a time, activities no longer help students build on the skill or allow room for trying out the skill. It is assumed that students can make inferences, and inferences become expected and required. From here, teachers build upon inferences by introducing new skills, requiring more complex inferences, and evaluating these new skills simultaneously. Just as players of The Legend of Zelda must learn to use "hookshots" and "master swords," students must learn to make inferences, question texts, notice key words, or whatever literary skills are taught.

Going into Gee's work, I am curious to see if there is any overlap between my own, fairly basic, connections between curriculum design and video games and Gee's own parallels. I expect that if he includes elements of this idea, he will take them deeper and farther. I'm curious to see how this connection might be complicated, questioned, and explored.

Image via Webwombat