In the reading, The Design and The Play, Paul Rand makes a variety of connections between how a student learns design and games. He connects learning design to several different games using a variety of shapes and methods. Several of these games I had recognized and had never realized how they could be connected to design until now. By using these types of games on students who are trying to learn, they feel as though they are solving some grand problem which has really just been set up by their teacher to make it seem difficult. By teaching them through games, it improves their confidence and teaches them in a way that doesn’t ruin their ambition.
“The student has the illusion of creating great art in an atmosphere of freedom, when infant he is handicapped by the absence of certain disciplines which would evoke ideas, make playing with those ideas possible, work absorbing, and results interesting.”
Previously I hadn’t realized that teaching through games is such a productive method. I had played with most of those games before and hadn’t realized that they were teaching me something while it felt like I was just solving puzzles. It’s the feeling of accomplishment when you complete the puzzle that makes you want to try a harder one or keep working on them until you learn even more.
