Bridging the gap: Digital games, pedagogy, and equity in NSW history classrooms
Mon Jan 12 2026
Shea Rigney's Master of Research thesis examines the complex landscape of digital game-based learning in NSW secondary history education, revealing critical disconnects between pedagogical potential and classroom reality. Through mixed-methods research involving surveys, interviews, and policy analysis, her findings expose how well-intentioned teachers default to quiz-based platforms like Kahoot! and Blooket; tools that motivate students but rarely advance historical thinking beyond recall. This tendency fundamentally misses opportunities for digital games to develop critical inquiry and higher-order analysis - a requirement of the current and new 7 - 10 History Syllabus.
More concerning, Rigney's research reveals how commercial off-the-shelf games like Civilization and Age of Empires (games built on mechanics of invasion and exploitation) perpetuate colonial narratives while erasing Indigenous perspectives leading to digital dispossession in Australian classrooms. Moreover, the use of these games violates ACARA's Cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Culture. Despite a framework designed by Southgate et al (2017) within NSW for serious games, the research discovered zero teacher awareness of the resource, highlighting a significant theory-practice gap and dissemination failure in professional learning within the NSW education sector.
The research identifies technology infrastructure disparities as the most significant barrier to implementation, with analysis of 21 large NSW public schools revealing stark equity gaps between high and low socioeconomic communities. Rigney argues that without targeted professional development, Indigenous community collaboration in game design, and longitudinal studies examining games' impact on students' historical knowledge, digital game-based learning risks reinforcing the very inequities and colonial frameworks quality history education should challenge. As she prepares to commence PhD research at the University of Sydney next year, Rigney's work highlights the immediate need to deliver digital game pedagogical professional learning to both in- and pre-service teachers to ensure effective and culturally appropriate use of digital game-based learning.
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Shea Rigney's Master of Research thesis examines the complex landscape of digital game-based learning in NSW secondary history education, revealing critical disconnects between pedagogical potential and classroom reality. Through mixed-methods research involving surveys, interviews, and policy analysis, her findings expose how well-intentioned teachers default to quiz-based platforms like Kahoot! and Blooket; tools that motivate students but rarely advance historical thinking beyond recall. This tendency fundamentally misses opportunities for digital games to develop critical inquiry and higher-order analysis - a requirement of the current and new 7 - 10 History Syllabus. More concerning, Rigney's research reveals how commercial off-the-shelf games like Civilization and Age of Empires (games built on mechanics of invasion and exploitation) perpetuate colonial narratives while erasing Indigenous perspectives leading to digital dispossession in Australian classrooms. Moreover, the use of these games violates ACARA's Cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Culture. Despite a framework designed by Southgate et al (2017) within NSW for serious games, the research discovered zero teacher awareness of the resource, highlighting a significant theory-practice gap and dissemination failure in professional learning within the NSW education sector. The research identifies technology infrastructure disparities as the most significant barrier to implementation, with analysis of 21 large NSW public schools revealing stark equity gaps between high and low socioeconomic communities. Rigney argues that without targeted professional development, Indigenous community collaboration in game design, and longitudinal studies examining games' impact on students' historical knowledge, digital game-based learning risks reinforcing the very inequities and colonial frameworks quality history education should challenge. As she prepares to commence PhD research at the University of Sydney next year, Rigney's work highlights the immediate need to deliver digital game pedagogical professional learning to both in- and pre-service teachers to ensure effective and culturally appropriate use of digital game-based learning. Let us know your thoughts on this episode