I’ve been an environmental, health and safety professional for 19 years and have been providing training for nearly that long. As any health and safety trainer will tell you, communicating information about state or federal regulatory standards are not particularly fun. The challenge for trainers in our profession is to find ways to engage our trainees and to maintain their interest. If trainees are interested they participate and remember the material. If the memory and experience is strong enough, behavioral change takes place. That is ultimately what we are after-a worker who uses his/her knowledge to engage their mind and body; keeping themselves and others safe on the job.
Games have the power to engage trainees in this way, leading to those results. The fact that a properly constructed and implemented game can be an effective learning tool is not a secret. The concept of game-based learning has been around for about 10 years now and is gaining more and more attention. Many white papers describe increased retention rates with the use of a well thought-out game. In fact, the recently-formed organization called the Games for Learning Institute (G4LI) is a collaboration of collegiate institutions that looks at how video games can be integrated into formal learning for grade school children. The G4LI work should yield research results that are also applicable to adults. After all, what are adults but kids in big bodies? Video games aside-there is a wider implication for the effectiveness of games in general. For instance, I still remember several of the questions I missed in the Trivial Pursuit games that I played some 25 years ago. That is the power of a game-the information sticks with you as a result of a fun, and sometimes intense, activity.
Game Construction
There are several key elements to consider when selecting, constructing and using a game for training purposes. They include: