Abstract
Authentic educational games can be used to support learners with special educational or emotional needs in any classroom, or in the psychologist’s therapy room. Educators and educational psychologists can create games from recyclable material. Playing authentic games in cooperative groups allows the learners to relate socially, motivate each other competitively, practice skills and reinforce concept knowledge. Current literature delves more into computer games rather than material, authentically created educational games. Therefore, the motivation for the study was the dearth of available literature on authentic educational games. The purpose of the study was to explore student educational psychologists’ experiences in developing and implementing authentic educational games, to facilitate learning support for learners who have special educational needs. This study was conducted using a generic qualitative, interpretive research design. Game-based learning was the underlying theoretical framework. During the master’s in educational psychology course, the (n=29) student educational psychologists designed and created their own authentic educational games. These games were played with learners in schools who have diverse barriers to learning and require additional levels of learning support. Participant sites included mainstream, remedial, fullservice and special needs schools. The students wrote deep reflections on their experiences, after designing their game. They also reflected on their interactions with their fellow students, feedback from their lecturers and playing the game with the learners they had selected. Data were collected using the students’ assignment reflections and the researcher’s journal. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data and identify the emergent themes. The findings indicated that the student educational psychologists had created authentic educational games according to gaming theory principles. The student educational psychologists learnt how valuable authentic games are in the classroom and in the therapy room and how easily games can be created with recycled materials. They also reflected on their roles to support educators and caregivers of learners with special needs in the community.
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)