Interestingly enough, I have two takes here. First when I was younger, I saw the original
game, PONG…not sure what could be said except we spent hours in front of the
screen watching the square ball go back and forth. The paddle would get smaller and the ball
would get faster and the fun would get…well great!
But then new games came into being and the graphics became
better and scenarios came form no where…It was easy to get lost in them and we
had a lot of fun…I am not really sure what learning there was, but I guess
strategy was needed to help Pac man get those dots and eat the ghosts. Hours were spent at the local 7-11 or Highs,
or even at the mall and a lot of quarters were spent. I do remember going it was always with
friends…we would laugh together and celebrate together but in the end, it was
fun.
I grew up watching the games change, get better and even
more life like. The paddles have changed
and the consoles have definitely gotten better.
But the main purpose is the same, time spent playing. When I was first in college, a friend and I
spent many out of class hours playing hockey and laughing out loud. I still have memories of me and a bunch of friends gathered around Galaga at 7-11 with the quarters stacked high!!!
Once I had children, I still played games, but they began to
change…Now for me it was the strategy games that pulled me in. Have you ever played Sid Meyer’s Civilization…if
not, Civ II is the best.
But suddenly my boys started to play and we had so much
fun. We spent a lot of hours together
and I was never beaten. However, as the
games became more intricate the boys kept asking me to read what was being
said. At first, it did not bother me
much, but then it started to get laborious.
About this time, my first was starting to read and I kept telling him
how great he would love it if he could read everything that was being said. At first he struggled, but then he started
reading more and more, then even some more.
I actually would start to ask him to read to me what was being said. I was really surprised how quickly he picked
it up and soon I never needed to read anymore for him.
As my second and third start to read the same thing was
happening. They wanted to know what the
information said on the screen. I told
them once they learned to read it would be easy. As time moved the same success happened with
them as well. Now I am not saying they
only learned to read because of video games, but I do think it helped. They found a reason to read and it motivated
them to learn.
Truly epic. And interesting!!!
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ReplyDeleteYay Nintendo!....or PSP!...or XBox! I think we're ringing the same bell here. Gaming is great, but it can be a double-edged sword. I actually still play video games with my grown children and we have an absolute ball. The four player games are the best and Wii Sports Resort has occasioned more impromptu family get togethers than the smell of bar-b-que wafting on the breeze.
ReplyDeleteThe learning that goes on in the background of gaming is a bonus, but it is a shallow one. The hours spent inside, in front of the television when they are little; the late nights and missed homework when they are adolescents and teens; the never-ending, ever-rising cost of consoles, games, and accessories; these items beg the question:
Who's really paying for all this playing?
Is it our children's attention span? I mean sure, they pay attention when it's fun, who wouldn't? What happens when it gets difficult, and there is no tutorial there to teach you the necessary skill? Problems in the real world don't offer a walkthrough, guaranteed to work if you can master a certain series of hand movements. Does gaming really provide the tenacity we need to get through life?
Is it our human connection? Do we really want a psuedo-reality to be the place where we become our highest selves? I'm not sure how that will help us recover or support each other after a catastrophic event.
I'm not all gloom and doom here. Gaming has huge potential for education. I believe Jane McGonigal has some great ideas. I'm just not sure how much we should blur the line between work and play.
Sometimes there are problems that we have to plug away at even though we can't even imagine how to solve them. Sometimes we have to sit for hours, concentrating on a job whose only reward is the completion of a repetitive task. Sometimes we have to push our bodies even harder than we push our minds. Sometimes, "epic wins" require sweat, and maybe even a few tears.
As we plan to take every advantage that technology can offer, we have to remember that these advantages can not be allowed to breed out our other talents.
Till Next Time...
Simply Serious
Hmm..PLORK...sounds good to me!
DeletePlaying games to learn is a real and valuable tool. Pilots spend countless hours in simulators learning to fly and many medical procedures are taught using computer simulations. I even had an investing class that reduced the subject matter to a game. We all picked what we thought would be best stocks to buy. We studied and investigated and analyzed...then selected our choices. We went up against the instructor who threw darts at the newspaper and made his decisions that way...some of us beat him while some of us didn't, but in the end, no one lost money.
Video games can teach a lot to those who play them. Gamers learn to work together to problem solve and figure out plots and scenarios. The players need to read and in some cases are required to use math. They use higher order thinking in figuring out what they need to do, and yes, they improve various motor skills.
There is a hockey program that was created by USA Hockey that uses scenarios to get the players thinking about what they would do while skating on the ice. It makes the kids think and react. The military uses, and has for a long time, video games to train pilots, as does the private airline industry. If you do any work in the retail industry, including working in restaurants, you have computer interfaces that look like games that are responsible for orders and cashing out…not to mention if one player thinks “wow, I would love to do this”, and becomes a computer programmer, well, then what will they discover or invent…both of which are very imaginative endeavors.
The world is a hard and unforgiving place, and finding solace in a world of imagination may help to take the edge off all the repetition they will probably be required to part take in for the rest of their lives.
Games are fun and kids are always drawn to things that are fun…and if we really want to help kids learn shouldn’t we be making sure the learning is fun…
The question I have is how do we find that "epic win" element in education? There's a few select instances where you can say a video game is applicable in social studies, but for the most part, I have a hard time thinking the parents of my students are going to think it's okay if I tell them to play War of Warcraft for the entire hour.
ReplyDeleteI feel the element of strategy and challenge is a huge draw of video games. They're using parts of our brain and emotions we don't encounter everyday in our lives. And I agree that video games can be learning tool. They just have to be applied and used in the right way. And the hard part is figuring out what that right way is.
Finding a way to incorporate gaming into social studies would be somewhat of a challenge. But perhaps using some strategy games that enable students to think about how resources are used and how those uses will affect the growth of your empire. But I agree, trying to find a social studies application would be a bit tough. But Risk could be a really good game to teach resource allocation and country/empire growth. I think you could come up with something based on what you were trying to teach. I know you can actually get scenario packages and maybe something that could be worked out for a specific era, such as WWII or something like that.
DeleteWorking with parents would be a challenge, but if you have a clear message outlining what the purpose is and why it is important. Parents are willing to let teachers get creative as long as there is a plan and they can somehow see progress and purpose…I think being creative leads to be fun and should lead to learning