“Approaches to the use
of games in education might also be thought of in terms of how the gameplay
interacts with specific content learning goals. While some argue that playing
games enables learning in academic content areas (Hutchinson, 2007a), other
approaches suggest that learning to play a game is equally or even more important”
(Lee and Probert, 2010).
I chose this quote
because it discusses interactive games being centered around specific content
learning goals. As teachers we know the importance
of teaching specific content. We have guidelines,
CSO, that we must follow so a video game that incorporates those guidelines
while getting our students attention is a great idea. I know I would have enjoyed learning US history
by playing an interactive game.
The accompanying
article I chose is from the charlotteobserver.com. The article supports and encourages the use
of video games in the classroom. It
tells the story of specific encounters that lead to the person’s support of
video games. It also discusses a few
specific games including games with specific goals, Angry Algebra. As it says in the article, “We’ve come a long
way since ‘Pac-man.’”
References:
Lee, J. K., & Probert, J. (2010). Civilization III and Whole-Class
Play in High School Social Studies. Journal
of Social Studies Research, 33(1),
1-28.
Helms, A.D. (2013).
Education and Video Games are No Longer Enemies. Charlotte Observer.com <
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/07/3768358/education-and-video-games-are.html>
Jana -
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. Another Social Studies nay sayer..... ahhh well, to me, English is a four letter word.
I would also be hesitant to say that anyone would want to learn history by utilizing gaming. Even with gaming I doubt that I would enjoy or want to learn how to diagram sentences. It might be easier, but the interest in learning that skill is nonexistent.
I believe a major challenge facing educators in incorporating technology (gaming) into the curriculum is doing it in a way that makes is beneficial to the majority of the students. We will need to maintain the flexibility to engage students who are technologically challenged. While I believe that society has and will continue to evolve in the technological use I fear that there will always be students who will not be comfortable in a technology world.
So, even today, where educators are challenged to use technology to engage some students there will come a time when educators will be challenged to maintain traditional educational styles to engages some students.
Thanks for sharing. I actually teach Algebra so the idea of incorporating the game Angry Birds, a game that all of the kids enjoy, into learning was really an interesting idea for me and something that I might try:).
ReplyDeleteGood ideas in your post. History can be a very dry subject if it is just reading and lecturing, so games can easily get results if it meets the CSOs. I know that I have learned the geography of the world very well from games such as Risk, and there are computer versions of it.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to think about linking your resource. It makes it easier for us to view it. However, it's not a big deal to just copy the link and open a new tab.
ReplyDeleteI liked your article, especially the section that talked about math. It linked Algebra concepts with Angry Birds. However, I would have liked to know specifically how it was connected with examples of the math concepts behind the game.
I would like student to hyperlink their resources. This is a good discussion about how teachers need to make explicit connections between the game and content learning!
ReplyDeleteSorry I did not realize I had not linked the article. I usually do. It is fixed now.
ReplyDelete