---
title: "Increasing student engagement using games as the lesson framework"
url: "https://educationnews.io/insight/increasing-student-engagement-using-games-as-the-lesson-framework/"
canonical: "https://news.featured.com/increasing-student-engagement-using-games-as-the-lesson"
author: "Robert Watson"
published: "2026-10-09"
updated: "2026-10-09"
---

# Increasing student engagement using games as the lesson framework

Games have evolved to become a huge part of our lives. They are an increasingly important part of educational software, are available on consoles, PCs and phones, and even games like fantasy football or Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) are increasingly part of youth culture. Our students are getting deeply involved and invested in them.

And there is a significant depth of experience to be found here – seeking mastery in what appears to be a simple one-on-one fighting game actually involves calculating where specific on-screen pixels will appear, and comparing that to “hit boxes” on other characters, or counting frames to determine, down to the millisecond, how quick a character moves or attacks.

Students and teachers need no longer be tied to short and simple game structures to find success. Exploring and utilizing more complex, engaging and deep games in classrooms is not only an option, it is preferred. Students respond because they can invest themselves deeply and control their own outcomes.

Framing a lesson in the form of a deep dive into a complex game offers teachers a number of significant advantages in engagement of students.

- **Games promote participation** – Simply put, you can’t engage students who aren’t present for the lesson either physically because of absenteeism, or mentally because of distraction. Games create motivation and participation where a lecture may not.
- **Games provide agency** – Students can think creatively, explore possibilities and develop strategies that involve thinking beyond the usual. They will see cause and effect in real time, and get immediate feedback.
- **Games can connect all disciplines** – There’s a lot of math in games like D&D, but also the opportunity to engage in storytelling and complex problem-solving. You can structure games differently based on the day’s learning objectives.

At the school level, the shared framework of games can support each discipline approaching problems through different lenses, and offer students opportunities to make connections that may otherwise have been missed.

Take, for example, a classroom in which the teacher chooses to frame lessons as a Dungeons and Dragons game. Students show up for the class, and are given a scenario and characters to use to help a town solve a problem. In math, that problem might involve a horde of goblins, and be framed as a fighting scenario, involving the use of coordinate planes, probability, and algebra to determine if attacks succeed or fail. In a science classroom, the town’s well could have been poisoned, and characters need to create solutions that may involve crafting hypothetical experiments or developing feasible environmental solutions to the problem. In an English classroom, the solution may be framed as a mission to collect evidence of the mayor’s corruption, evaluating sources or writing compelling argument for or against. In social studies, there may be competing cultural or community interest that players need to help mediate.

These are typical high school learning objectives, but the game framework asks students to apply skills through creative problem-solving rather than simply learn facts. When an evolving scenario continues across an entire unit—or even across disciplines—it can reinforce concepts, connect learning objectives, and give students a reason to remain invested in what happens next.

This article was first published on [Featured News](https://news.featured.com/increasing-student-engagement-using-games-as-the-lesson).

---

**Robert Watson, CEO at [BoardGamingTees](https://boardgamingtees.com)**. Robert Watson is an educator who works in a mental health hospital, a longtime board gamer, and the founder of [BoardGamingTees](https://boardgamingtees.com/), an independent apparel company built around board gaming culture. He writes about how games can bring people together, strengthen family connections, and create opportunities for learning and belonging.