Overview of research on the educational use of video games

This paper overviews research on the educational use of video games by examining the viability of the different learning theories in the field, namely behaviorism, cognitivism, constructionism and the socio-cultural approach. In addition, five key tensions that emerge from the current research are examined: 1) Learning vs. playing, 2) freedom vs. control, 3) drill-and-practice games vs. microworlds, 4) transmission vs. construction, 5) teacher intervention vs. no teacher intervention.