Mimi Ito is a cultural anthropologist and learning scientist at UC Irvine. She’s been sharing her observations with EdSurge readers for nearly a decade now, reflecting on young people’s interest-driven and playful engagements as they relate to education.
Recently, we were fortunate to speak with her at length on the topic of game-based learning. Here, she comments on the history of gaming in education, its limitations and its potential—when done well—as a conduit for deep connections with learners.
EdSurge: How have you seen the field of game-based learning evolve?
Ito: A lot of times people think that, with game-based learning, we all care about the same thing, which is to make learning fun and engaging. And, at a high level, that’s true. But within…
