Pedagogical Integration of Digital Game-Based Learning - Processes Involved

Aligned with the digital development in society, the use of digital game-based learning (DGBL) as a pedagogical enhancement has increased marked-ly in schools recently. However, due to various reasons, teachers are not always as enthusiastic to adopt the new technology in their classroom. In this paper we apply Engeströms activity system as an analytical approach to understand teachers’ considerations of opportunities, resistance or barri-ers and pedagogical functions of digital game-based learning as a teaching method. As related research has shown, there is a lack of research answering the question of how DGBL could be designed to structure and facilitate learning as well as of considering the classroom settings and barriers of im-plementing DGBL. We attempt to contribute to these problems by applying the activity system framework in the context of digital game-based learning (DGBL), in particular the interplay between resistance as an obstruction or opportunity and design of teaching activities by means of digital games. The research questions posed in the study are: 1) How do teachers evaluate the designs of digital games in relation to how they support or hinder learning? and 2) What kind of constraints do teachers identify while translating edu-cational games? The study applies a qualitative approach and includes cases of two separate workshops with a total of twelve participating teachers and one toy- and game designer. The workshops were designed to provide a framework for preschool- and primary school teachers to evaluate challeng-es and potentials of DGBL. Findings show, among other things, that when a game does not offer exploration or encourage curiosity, a game’s design be-comes simplistic and children lose their interest, revealing a gap between game mechanics and a game’s pedagogical relevance and usefulness. Fur-thermore, by starting to question the relevance of games, the teachers were able to appropriate digital educational games while assessing the game’s value in relation to a subject-specific area