Uploaded April 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
What sorcery is this? Playing a video game before a lecture makes us learn more from the lecture, EVEN when we learned nothing from the video game?
It’s called preparation for future learning. This video explains the preparation for future concept, plus gives you two analogies and three examples to help you understand it.
Join my online learning community: benjaminkeep.com/community
00:00 - Intro
01:02 - Video game example
02:42 - Book analogy
03:48 - Farming analogy
04:56 - Preparation for future learning idea 1: Games
05:36 - Preparation for future learning idea 2: Science labs
07:16 - Preparation for future learning idea 3: making the “I do” more effective
The video game example was drawn from Dylan Arena’s dissertation: drive.google.com/file/d/1pvCRy1hnDba88XevWCYpvZl2rC_ENnbo/view?usp=sharing
Uh… it’s long. So check out the table of contents if you want to dive in. He used Call of Duty and Civ4 as examples of commercial video games as preparation for future learning experiences. Some learning occurs during the game, but it’s not detectable on a traditional assessment; the other learning happens as I describe in the video - during the lecture itself.
For other research examples, check out this piece:
http://howard-pc.stanford.edu/assets/papers/2013/Experience-and-Explanation-OnLine-First.pdf (a space-invaders like game helps people learn from statistics instruction)
And this one:
cadrek12.org/sites/default/files/Schwartz.Chase_.Oppezzo.Chin_2011_PracticingVsInventing.pdf (an invention activity helps students learn the concept of ratio)
A Time for Telling is a great piece discussing the general concept of preparation for future learning. http://aaalab.stanford.edu/papers/time_for_telling.pdf
Check out the playlist link for more discussion of fundamental concepts in learning and teaching: youtube.com/watch?v=Q7xnl2tyKwY&list=PL-coy4se2Uc7D_n3F2YDnCqQCyiwC3v7e
What sorcery is this? Playing a video game before a lecture makes us learn more from the lecture, EVEN when we learned nothing from the video game?
It’s called preparation for future learning. This video explains the preparation for future concept, plus gives you two analogies and three examples to help you understand it.
Join my online learning community: benjaminkeep.com/community
00:00 - Intro
01:02 - Video game example
02:42 - Book analogy
03:48 - Farming analogy
04:56 - Preparation for future learning idea 1: Games
05:36 - Preparation for future learning idea 2: Science labs
07:16 - Preparation for future learning idea 3: making the “I do” more effective
The video game example was drawn from Dylan Arena’s dissertation: drive.google.com/file/d/1pvCRy1hnDba88XevWCYpvZl2rC_ENnbo/view?usp=sharing
Uh… it’s long. So check out the table of contents if you want to dive in. He used Call of Duty and Civ4 as examples of commercial video games as preparation for future learning experiences. Some learning occurs during the game, but it’s not detectable on a traditional assessment; the other learning happens as I describe in the video - during the lecture itself.
For other research examples, check out this piece:
http://howard-pc.stanford.edu/assets/papers/2013/Experience-and-Explanation-OnLine-First.pdf (a space-invaders like game helps people learn from statistics instruction)
And this one:
cadrek12.org/sites/default/files/Schwartz.Chase_.Oppezzo.Chin_2011_PracticingVsInventing.pdf (an invention activity helps students learn the concept of ratio)
A Time for Telling is a great piece discussing the general concept of preparation for future learning. http://aaalab.stanford.edu/papers/time_for_telling.pdf
Check out the playlist link for more discussion of fundamental concepts in learning and teaching: youtube.com/watch?v=Q7xnl2tyKwY&list=PL-coy4se2Uc7D_n3F2YDnCqQCyiwC3v7e
