Game at School? Italian Teachers' Perceptions of the Introduction of Games in the Classroom

The growing awareness that games can be a very valuable training support, both as a resource to engage and motivate and to promote acquisition of disciplinary knowledge and skills, has not been accompanied by an effective diffusion of games in Italian schools. From primary school to university, an ambivalent behaviour is manifested: a widespread appreciation of games as a learning environment is contrasted with a limited application, often reduced to the use of games or online software of a behavioural matrix. An analysis of research on the use and diffusion of games in Italian schools and universities highlights the lack of recent studies on the basic didactic-pedagogical knowledge, level of acceptance and confidence of teachers regarding the introduction of games in the classroom. The goal of this contribution is to provide an updated understanding of Italian teachers' competencies related to the formative use of games. To this aim, we developed a survey adapting to the Italian context one of the most established competence frameworks for game-based learning (GBL): the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Games (TPACK-G), a variant of TPACK specifically modified for the analysis of games. This new tool extends to non-digital games and integrates the sections on aspects related to game-based instructional design, game scenarios, and the role of the teacher in the instructional activity. This research will not only provide an updated look at how the prevalence of play in the classroom is changing, beyond simple manifestations of interest and trends, but also reveal how the approach to games is changing in the design of educational activities and what is the degree of awareness of the game pedagogical-educational skills necessary for the introduction of games in education. This, in turn, is instrumental for the development of new and more focused teacher training programs to promote the use of games in classrooms.