Ancient games: The future of education

Play is incredibly important for children's development. The interactions and activities that games require - especially in an indigenous context - support children in building the skills they need to grow both cognitively and physically. With this in mind, Professor Dick Ng'ambi of the University of Cape Town's (UCT) School of Education and his research group have developed a ground-breaking app to keep these games alive.

"Play is a child's daily practice. It's one of the things that a child does to learn about the world that they interact with. The psychomotor skills that children need to learn to write, for example, are actually acquired through games because they need to coordinate between their minds and bodies," explained Professor Ng'ambi.

This, along with the necessity to ensure that African children see themselves and expressions of their culture in the games that they play, was the impetus behind the Open Educational Resource of Indigenous Games in Africa (OERiGA) project.

Driven by Ng'ambi and 25 collaborators across 11 African countries, the project aims to document indigenous games across the continent in the hopes that these games can not only be saved from extinction but also integrated into learning curricula of the participating countries.

The origins of OERiGA

Ng'ambi conceived the OERiGA project after having collaborated on a separate project with the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom (UK), which looked at children's play and technology.

"One of the things that we did there was to compare the digital learning experiences of children in the UK and those in South Africa, particularly Cape Town. What we saw was that a number of children in the UK were using play a lot, but the same was not always the case for children in South Africa. This was down to parents not playing with their children as much," he said.

At the end of that project, Ng'ambi thought through the gaps that the team had seen in the UK-South Africa project and began to think about the possibilities that this research could create for indigenous games.

"We know that when African children play African games and those games are integrated in the classroom, they're able to see themselves in it."

"We know that when African children play African games and those games are integrated in the classroom, they're able to see themselves in it. It allows learning to become more authentic because it relates more to the children's daily lives," he explained.

With the goal of classroom integration - along with the understanding of generational gaps in indigenous knowledge - top of mind, Ng'ambi and his team set out to document these games and create a digital platform that would help them to be taken up as easily as possible.

Bridging gaps with an app

Considering that many young educators are a part of Generation Z (those born between 1996 and 2012), one of the main focuses of the OERiGA project in recent months has been the development of a digital open education resource.

"Our aim has been to effectively document these games in the app so that we can get it in the hands of teachers and learners who might not have any previous exposure to these games.

"We needed a digital platform because there isn't another way to reach this audience other than by using the products that they use every day: their smartphones. So, an app was a logical choice for the documentation and sharing of these games," Ng'ambi noted.

A screenshot of the app that was developed. Image Supplied.

The app has a simple, intuitive interface that allows users to explore indigenous games based on a variety of criteria, including where they're played and the skills that they help to develop.

"When you click on a particular game, you can see all of the details of the game. You see what things you need to play it - for example, sticks or stones or ropes - along with written instructions for how it's played. We've also analysed the types of skills involved, so you can see if it requires a lot of critical thinking or problem-solving, or if it's more about strength and endurance," Ng'ambi added.

Empowering Africa's future generations

The app not only has the potential to bridge gaps in indigenous game knowledge both locally and across borders, but also prepare future generations of Africans for coming industrial revolutions. This is particularly relevant considering the Department of Basic Education's recent introduction of coding and robotics to the curriculum.

"It's not easy to just start learning coding. You need to have context; you need to be able to understand computational reasoning and computational thinking before you can actually do the coding.

"We know indigenous games are one of the core parts of that richness and can make learning much more meaningful and much more fun for learners."

"What we are trying to do with these indigenous games is to use them to teach the logical reasoning and thinking skills that children need in a digital context. Because when you have to explain and understand what is involved in playing a game, it requires those skills and so indigenous games give us that - along with many other benefits," said Ng'ambi.

In addition to helping impart essential skills for the digital age, the project aligns exquisitely with the essence of UCT's Vision 2030: unleashing human potential.

"We cannot unleash human potential without recognising the richness of prior knowledge held on our continent. We know indigenous games are one of the core parts of that richness and can make learning much more meaningful and much more fun for learners.

"The kind of knowledge that's acquired through these games is useful not only for learners, but for generations to come, and that is where we can truly unleash human potential," Ng'ambi explained.

Do you have an indigenous game that you would like to share? Access the OERiGA game capturing form to submit the details and help keep indigenous games alive.