Video games and diversity: building a community of practice in the classroom

In this paper we show how commercial video games, used as educational resources in the classroom, can create a community of practice (Lave & Wenger 1991, Wenger 1998, Wenger, White & Smith, 2010) changing the relationship between students and teacher and between pupils themselves. Based on an ethnographic and qualitative research (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Lacasa & Reina, 2004) we analyse a workshop carried out in a 3 degrees ESO of Diversification classroom where we work with Sim City Creator. Specifically, we present examples of the interactions generated between students and the teacher, which exemplified how the classroom context has changed with the introduction of the game, generating different interactions among participants. Our results show how the teacher assumes the role of guide, providing the necessary scaffolding (Bruner, 1975; Wood, Bruner & Ross, 1976) to advance in the game. For their part, students take active roles in this process, helping each other to gain more control over the task and also greater control over the game. This use of technology in the context of attention to diversity is new and responds to a socio-cultural approach (Mendez, Lacasa & Matusov, 2008).