Mercer Times

Building a sense of community in the classroom has become increasingly challenging for educators, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic. Education professor Brian Girard is looking to address this issue by incorporating gaming principles into teaching methods.

While using games in education is not a new concept, Girard's approach differs from traditional game-playing. Instead, he suggests integrating game-like elements such as simulations and competitions into teaching strategies to boost student motivation.

Brian Girard, who serves as a professor of secondary education and chair of educational administration and secondary education, recently received the Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize. His sabbatical will focus on exploring game-like learning in secondary history classrooms to enhance student engagement with curriculum content.

Girard emphasizes that the goal is not for students to play games for rewards but to find value in learning activities themselves. "There are lessons to be learned from game design principles," he states. "Game designers, like teachers, try to craft experiences that sustain human attention — a notoriously fickle thing."

He believes intrinsic motivation arises when students have agency over their learning outcomes through activities like simulations or role-play. In exercises such as Model UN, students research roles and interact with peers leading to outcomes like drafting resolutions. The choices made by students can directly influence these results.

Girard plans to conduct interviews and observe classrooms to understand how social studies teachers use these elements for fostering interaction and developing knowledge and skills among students. His research aims at crafting educational strategies that emphasize student motivation and social dynamics while informing his future work with student teachers at TCNJ and educators across New Jersey.

"You’re trying to recreate a real-world phenomenon, but one that you don’t know the ending to," Girard explains. He hopes students will emerge from social studies classes as engaged citizens capable of impacting the world around them.

The Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize is funded by former TCNJ president R. Barbara Gitenstein and her husband Don Hart.