ALT Annual Conference Speaker Abstracts

Workshops 1 - Session D

Game Theory and it’s Application to Student Engagement in Higher Education Mrs Lisa Newman-Davies, Cardiff University School of Law and Politics

Game theory is a theory that was developed over a number of years and evolved through the works of several mathematicians, economists and scientists over time. The concept of game theory has ancient roots, with early strategic thinking evidence in the works of philosophers like Sun Tzu who wrote “The Art of War” in ancient China. Since its inception, game theory has continued to evolve and find applications in various fields, including political science, biology and computer science amongst others. It is well known that gamification has been widely employed in education. In this session we will look at how game theory can be applied in education to model and analyse various situ- ations and interactions that arise in educational settings through the use of Lego as an innovative technique. We will look at how it provides a framework for understanding strategic decision-making and cooperation among students and how it can increase student engagement and knowledge retention.

The results of recent research using this innovative teaching method to apply game theory in the classroom will be presented and you will have the opportunity to discuss how to apply this method to your own teaching.

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