The use of a video game as an educational tool to learn the history of Peru

• Published in: Revista iberoamericana de educación a distancia 2016-07, Vol.19 (2), p.35-52
• Main Authors: Ines Susana Evaristo Chiyong, María Vanessa Vega Velarde, Ricardo Navarro Fernandez, Teresa Nakano Osores
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; spa
• Subjects: Educación, tecnologías de la información y de la comunicación, método educativo, información pedagógica, innovación pedagógica, nuevas tecnologías
• ISSN: 1138-2783; 1390-3306
• DOI: 10.5944/ried.19.2.15569

Teaching history is a complex task due to the pedagogical challenges that teachers face, especially because the goal is to promote critical thinking and create a feeling of patriotism among students. However, this objective is hard to achieve because History learning is based on memorization. This situation calls for a look into new technologies such as video games, that serve as educational tools which may potentially help solve this problem. Thus, the present study aims to demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of a real time strategy (RTS) game based on historical events about Peruvian independence. In order to achieve this goal, an intervention with three groups was conducted, consisting of 561 students from eight schools in Lima. One group used only the video game, another group was taught only by a teacher, and a third group was exposed to both stimuli. Academic performance of students on the subject with a test input and output was measured. The results showed that the use of the video game, in addition to history classes, had a better impact on student grades and performance. This would suggest that this type of game could be used as a pedagogical tool in History teaching.