Self Directed Learning and Gaming Generation

This article frames game appropriation in a different manner; unlike existing appropriation models, game appropriation is conceptualized as a motivational process underpinned by three primary factors: game design characteristics, social interaction, and the psychological characteristics of the gamer. Game appropriation recognizes the online–offline continuity; it contributes to understating gameplay as a long-term, dynamic activity, directly interrelated with a gamers' everyday life rather than a set of defined moments of participation.

games can be instantiated for learning as they involve mental and physical stimulation and develop practical skills - they force the player to decide, to choose, to define priorities and to solve problems. They imply self-learning abilities (players are often required to seek out information to master the game itself), they allow transfer of learning from/to other realities and are inherently experiential with the engagement of multiple senses. Games can also be social environments, sometimes involving large distributed communities.

Constructivism implies that learners are encouraged to
construct their own knowledge instead of copying it from an authority, be it a book or a teacher, in realistic situations instead of decontextualised, formal situations such as propagated in traditional textbooks, and
together with others instead of on their own.
(Kanselaar, De Jong, Andriessen & Goodyear, 2001)