Gaming, Teaching, and Learning

Last week, we learned about how virtual schools and online classes were a positive effect on the learning population today. Not only can people take any class they want, they could take it anytime or anywhere they want. A couple videos we watched this week further instill this point as they interviewed real people who took online classes. They said they were flexible for their busy schedules, and gave many opportunities to people who may not have had the chance to go to school. Besides online classes, people are becoming obsessed with games. A lot of the games are online, and others are on gaming consoles, like Xbox, Wii, or PlayStation. According to one article we read, the opinion of most is that video games only help hand-eye coordination, and that some games send off bad messages that teach children how to kill. On the other hand, the author of this article felt differently. Marc Prensky feels that no matter what game a child is playing, they are learning multiple skills. Many people focus on the “surface” messages, like the graphics, audio, or text, but if you look past that there is much more to learn from a game. Presnky explained the “five levels of learning” that apply to all gamers. They five levels are “How,” “What,” “Why,” “Where,” and “When/Whether.” In the “How” level, the gamer learns how to do something, like learning how to control a monster, build a city, or virtually fight and protect oneself. At the second level, the “What” level, they learn the rules of the game. These rules cause the gamer to reflect and compare that game to what they know in real-life. The third level is the “Why” level which teaches gamers strategy. Many life lessons are taught during this level, like cause and effect, and second-order consequences. Level four, the “Where” level, is where gamers learn about the culture and environment. In many games this is the level where gamers learn how to deal with different cultures, roles, and the many different people in society. The last level, “When/Whether,” is where gamers learn how to make value-based and moral decisions, usually about whether something is right or wrong. Many people can learn how to make better real-life decisions from learning the consequences of making fake decisions in a game. Other than video games, there are a lot of online games that are created for the purpose of education. I looked at a few games that seemed perfect for children to learn in school. One was a word hunt, which teaches kids how to match words with a situation. Another game took me on a mystery case where I learned about plants, which could be a fun way for students to learn about the parts of a plant and their life cycle. Many games are created for educational purposes, and others are made for entertainment, but no matter what game kids are playing, they are always learning important life skills.

This video shows how schools are incorporating games into education, and vise versa. The example they use is the Wii, which is getting kids to get up and move around while playing their games. Games are also helping kids to socialize when they play multiplayer games.

Teachers can use games in so many ways in their classroom. Our lesson this week only gave us a few online games, but the internet supplies thousands! I loved when my teachers let us play games in class because I thought it was better than reading a book. I thought we were just doing it for fun; little did I know that my teacher was getting me to learn at the same time. Games can make class time fun and make children want to come back the next day. All of the games I played in school are possible games I would like to play with my future students. In the 3^rd grade we played a game that involved us throwing a small ball to each student, and when someone caught it they had to answer a math problem. This was a fun way to teach us our times tables. There are so many other games that can be extremely educational for students, and as an education major it would be beneficial to learn about them so I have a lot of ideas for my future classroom.