Playing and Making Games for Learning: Instructionist and Constructionist Perspectives for Game Studies

This article presents an overview of what we know about two perspectives, coined instructionist and constructionist, to games for learning. The instructionists, accustomed to thinking in terms of making instructional educational materials, turn naturally to the concept of designing instructional games. Far fewer people have sought to turn the tables: by making games for learning instead of playing games for learning. Rather than embedding "lessons" directly in games, constructionists have focused their efforts on providing students with greater opportunities to construct their own games and to construct new relationships with knowledge in the process. Research has only begun to build a body of experience that will make us believe in the value of playing and making games for learning.