Through reading Laura Devaney's article "Gaming helps students hone 21st century skills" it has become apparent that online gaming helps students develop skills they will use in school, such as problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity.
These games are highly interactive and immerse students in collaborative environments, and allow for rapid decision-making. Studies even show that video games reinforce the brain to create mental maps, inductive discovery, such as formulating hypotheses, and the ability to focus on several things at once and respond faster to unexpected stimuli.
If this is the case than why not present such things in a classroom setting as video games relating to a specific topic or activity. I am not suggesting that the only thing we do within a classroom setting is play video games, but I do feel that today's teachers and future teachers should find new ideas to enhance a child's learning experience and if video games are the way to do it than why not?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Allowing students to use electronic games for learning purposes seems to be an attempt to reach students with something they like. We have talked often about graphic novels and I believe these games fall in the same category. With that said, I worry about teachers relying too much on electronic methods of instruction. I can’t believe I’m saying this but what happened to old fashioned ways of inducing critical thinking. It’s supposed to be hard to catch the attention of youngsters, that’s why teachers need to be good. Electronic gaming, used too much, seems like a teacher giving up. What, pretty soon are we going to see classrooms run by computers rather than teachers? I guess my stand on this issue lies in electronic games are ok if used sporadically and perhaps should be used by parents to influence their children at home (Rather than buying war video games).
I believe that children that play video games are utilizing and improving their skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. As many know, video games revolve around the interaction of the person playing and ways that they may need to fix a problem or complete a task. There are plenty of games that allow individuals to reinforce their skills, but there are many people that feel some video games are just too destructive, or bad. Though some video games are, essentially, it still requires the child to solve problems by fixing or undergo tasks. I feel that video games can be used in a constructive way and help further develope students skills.
I think our society is relying on video games way too much to help teach children the essential knowledge they need to know for school. The issue that arises is the dependence the child has for the game to tell him/her what to do next instead of asking a teacher. The games that teach these children have limitations of certain questions one can ask "it" and drawback that include social problems. These children spend more time in front of a computer with these games instead of interacting with their peers and teachers. Call me old fashion but I strongly believe in traditional teaching methods and ,as a child, used technology as a reference rather than a class session.These children who depend on video games are losing the connections they need to further develop as a person rather than a scholar.
Post a Comment