Game Play: What Does It Mean for Pedagogy to Think Like a Game Developer?

Abstract

What could a sport coach or sport teacher within physical education learn from digital game design and the way digital games capture, sustain, and maintain children's attention? Would the physical education learning experience be different if physical educators designed and enacted sport teaching by attempting to accommodate the learning needs and preferences of the wrap around technology generation by giving deliberate attention to the design principles employed in digital game design? This article emerged from those two questions to highlight how, as games governed by rules of play, sport and digital game play have much in common and, therefore, sport teachers in physical education may enhance student engagement by incorporating learning principles used in digital game design.