Why Are Schools Reluctant to Bring Higher-order Thinking Games to Classrooms?

Abstract

In this conceptual paper, we analyze why schools are reluctant to bring higherorder thinking games to the classrooms. We use a role-playing mobile game designed for scientific argumentation—Mad City Mystery—to illuminate the complexity of the issue. We argue that the complexity arises at the design level, at the enactment level, and at an education system level as schools evaluate bringing a higher-order thinking game to a classroom. We maintain that these factors, as synthesized in Table 1, can be utilized as an essential check list for researchers, teachers, school leaders and policy makers when they consider designing and introducing higher-order thinking games to the classrooms.