Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Week 4 Why Games are Good and Ch. 6

Gee - Why Games are Good  and Ch. 6 Tools for online learning. Create a blog post reflection on the class blog covering your thoughts on the integration of games and online tools for learning in the classroom.

23 comments:

  1. I think that the integration of games and online tools for learning in the classroom can be really effective. This generation is all about technology so by incorporating something that interest them while teaching them something educational at the same time can give them hands on experience at the topic of choice. By giving allowing students to play games that are digital simulations of the world it gives them a reason to want to learn because it is something that can relate to them. I never thought of “video games” as being educational, but after reading the article it gave me a whole new view point. With the games being simulations of the real world it can help students incorporate critical thinking skills depending on the game, get rewarded for their accomplishments and enhances their reaction-based skills with the unknown. If video games are integrated correctly into the classroom then I think they are a good idea, but teachers need to use the appropriate game for the lesson and not just let kids “play games” for no educational purpose.

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  2. While reading the Gee article it really showed me how effective technology and video games can be in the classroom. Before reading this article I would've said that I think video games are too much of a distraction to be effective- but now I have a new viewpoint. Like the reading said, video games can provide digital simulations, use smart tools and updated technology, they can be open ended and many other benefits. Although I am going to be an early childhood educator, I think that video games would be perfect for kids in this age group. Although looking at the other side, video games could also be a distraction but as a teacher it is my responsibility to make sure that the video games are more effective and provide more of a learning tool than a distraction. For young kids it can make learning much more interesting and l look forward to incorporating video games into my future classroom to help with learning!

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  3. As kids keep growing up with technology all around them it's going to be vital to find ways to keep them interested and wanting to learn. After reading about video games being connected to learning in a school setting I definitely believe this could be a tool to teach kids with. I know this isn't really considered a video game, but this reading made me think of the app Trivia Crack and how addicted everyone was to it. So what if it was possible for teachers to turn that game into a study guide? I think this would be perfect for kids of all ages. Overall though I think video games can easily challenge kids and ultimately make them want to learn.

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  4. Reading through Chapter 6 and “Gee – Why Games are Good”, broadened my view and changed my perspective a bit about the benefits that can come from integration of games and online tools for teaching. Chapter 6 provided a lot of information about online teaching and the benefits of online classrooms, incorporating online tools into a lesson, which I found to be helpful and informative. What stuck out to me was the section on page 321, which provided online activities that we’ve been working on as a class, such as Glogster, Google Docs, and on an earlier page, Camtasia, and how those can be used to benefit students’ learning. The article brought to light the digital simulations of video games and how it allows people to simulate an experience in which they can interact with another world and be prepared for actions to accomplish goals in their own life. With technology becoming increasingly prevalent in society, I think it’s important to think of how to incorporate technology in a way that intrigues and encourages learning. Technology is not going away any time soon, and as teachers we should embrace it and lead our students to incorporating technology into their learning.

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  5. After reading chapter 6 and the article Gee- Why Games are Good, I was able to see why games really are good. I had always thought that video games were a waste of time, and while some are, there are many that can be a great asset to the classroom. The generations of students we will be teaching will most likely be greatly interested in technology. Incorporating video games into the classroom could potentially keep the students more on track and more interested on the lessons and curriculum. Although some video games would not be appropriate for the classroom, there are many educational games that can tie in with lessons and get students to participate and retain information. As teachers it is our job to insure that our students are interested and understand what they are learning, and perhaps video games in the classroom are the way to do that.

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  6. Ch 6 and the Video game for learning article both offered a lot of great information. First, the video game article offered some great points based on how video games can help students learn. Of the games they talked about, I had my doubts at first but they did explain well how they can help students learn something. The best point that I think games can help teach is distributed intelligence via the creation of smart tools. I think that this point that they made offers the most real world experience by applying trial and error. In Ch 6, they also offered many points about how learning online can be beneficial in the classroom. I would love to implement both of these strategies into my classroom one day.

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    Replies
    1. I would like you to expand a bit on the points that you mention.

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  7. After reading Ch 6 and Gee's article on video games it made me realize how teachers can actually use video games to their advantages. It teaches aspects to kids that cannot be taught in the classroom. Depending on what game it can teach them strategy, how to work with one another to accomplish a common goal, and how to engage in different thinking techniques. Students can build off of and share in each other’s knowledge when playing games together. It makes them think differently than just the “normal” teaching techniques. I also think they can learn more this way because it will keep them more engaged and willing to learn instead of them being talked to in a classroom. They can experience and learn with video games outside the classroom not just during school time and can be fun for them. I think it helps build strategic skills along with using parts of the brain you don’t use when in school.

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  8. After reading Chapter 6 and Gee – Why Game Are Good, it made me realize how video games could come in handy when teaching a lesson to students in your classroom. I think that if teachers are able to find games that are educational, especially ones that make the students feel like they are not learning, then it could become a great tool to use because students will want to do their homework because it does not feel like they are doing work. By the time that we become teachers the world is going to be even more reliant on technology so having children using things that they are already used to using for things outside of class will be good to incorporate into my classroom.

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  9. After reading Chapter 6 and Gee – Why Game Are Good, it made me realize how video games could come in handy when teaching a lesson to students in your classroom. I think that if teachers are able to find games that are educational, especially ones that make the students feel like they are not learning, then it could become a great tool to use because students will want to do their homework because it does not feel like they are doing work. By the time that we become teachers the world is going to be even more reliant on technology so having children using things that they are already used to using for things outside of class will be good to incorporate into my classroom.

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  10. After reading Chapter 6 and Gee- Why Games Are Good, it made me rethink my opinions on video games in educations, and video games in general. From the readings I learned can enter a game as a complex system and learn deep conceptual principles about history and the social sciences. Adult’s educational leaders can use the gam to understand modern principles of school leadership within a framework that sees schools as complex systems interacting with a variety of other complex systems. This tells me that it can actually be beneficial the incorporate these games into education. I know from personal experience from working in classroom, the young students would go and play video games during indoor recess or would work towards time on the computer to play as a reward. Video games are a great motivator for students. It’s fun for them, and they don’t even think they are leaning or even working that hard. So it’s a win-win situation for students and teachers.

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  11. I have been playing video games avidly since I was 5 years old and I can honestly say they have had an impact on my education. I never really thought about it until now, so just imagine if games were actually integrated into a classroom. The possibilities are endless in terms of bringing out a pupil’s creativity and building teamwork. Obviously games must pass certain regulations and have a real educational purpose, but after all the kinks are worked out you’ll be left with an asset that truly motivates the students. If teachers don’t connect to their students we’ll be left with a generation of kids who will dread going to school because all they do is sit in a lecture. Video games are just one of the many ways engage the students an ensure that they enjoy learning.

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    Replies
    1. I would like to see some replies concerning specific points in the article.

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    2. I would like to see some replies concerning specific points in the article.

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  12. I have never played video games much, and prior to this reading I would have said that video games are not effective in class. However, Chapter 6 changed my perspective on this. As all my classmates have similarly stated, it all depends on the actual game, it's objective, the criteria, appropriateness, etc. So for being an early childhood major, i think games would be great because they would catch the kids attention. However, the challenge i think will be finding games that truly aid learning and fit with the lesson, rather than just being fun and random. I am really intrigued and challenged to find a video game though that corresponds because i think it would be a new form of learning that kids would actually not dread and look forward too. I know from past experience that my kids at the daycare always fought over computer time because some weren't as fortunate to have one at home or be allowed on it, even though the games they played were non educational. I think video games is just another creative way to get children more involved in their own learning, especially for younger kids when learning and retaining information at the expected pace is crucial.

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  13. "Gee - Why Games are Good" only added to my thoughts that video games can definitely be helpful in the learning process and in the classroom. The stipulation is that, as the instructor, you must be able to pick the correct type of game, or even a single game itself, that correlates well with what you are trying to teach. As a veteran of Civilization Revolution, and of Age of Empires and it's respective expansions, I do think that games have the content to help in class, but when I went back to play them again for our Camtasia Videos, it quickly hit me that they wouldn't be much help outside of a Social Studies/Government/History class. Someday if I'm teaching Trig. or Calculus, you would not see me pulling out AoE but perhaps some online Billiards or Golf to practice angles!

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  14. I like many others have not been a huge fan of video games in the education world. I was never into them when I was younger and I remember whenever I babysit the kids they only wanted to sit in front of the TV and play their video games. After reading chapter six and Gee- Why Games are Good my opinion has changed partially. In the article the author wrote about how a positive effect of video games are “They can be open-ended, allowing for goals and projects that meld the personal and social” This is very true and is something I haven’t thought about before. The kids I used to babysit would get SO excited when they reached a new level or got past an obstacle that they had been working on for days. If teachers can find a game that is educational and really does implicate the lesson then I think it would be great in early/middle childhood. I don’t know if I would incorporate video games in a high school class. For this assignment I played the Civilization game. I built things within my castle, expanded my army and conquered another nearby castle. It could be a fun way to end a Medieval History unit and they could see and participate in what life was like back then.

    My link for my video on my game:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GzsMYnAnGk

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  15. After reading chapter 6 and "Gee Why Games Are Good" I found a new appreciation for online gaming being used in the classroom. One of the parts in the article was about how online gaming creates an environment where people with diverse characteristics come together to finish a final goal. Kind of like the movie Avengers where there is a bunch of different superheroes who band together and save the world. But, in the classroom and future workplace online gaming can teach people about working with people from different cultures, races, and ethnicity to collaborate and find a common goal. Also, what is beneficial about online gaming is there are good educational websites for science that can simulate a n experiment. So if I had a lab that I didnt have the materials for I could find it online and the students can do a simulation experiment. What I don't like about online gaming is sometimes the students can get lost in the game and not retain the information that they have learned. The article stated that teachers found that students couldn't retain most of the educational content from the game after playing.

    My link for my video is
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLsSmDq0QYY&feature=youtu.be

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  16. Chapter 6 and Gee’s article gave me a different perspective on videogames in the classroom while easing some of my skepticism about potential difficulties. One thing that reinforced my current beliefs was that gaming can teach students valuable skills such as teamwork, problem solving and strategic thinking, etc. It can also help students to enjoy learning and even kind of be tricked into thinking that they are just playing games when they are really honing their academic abilities. Also, it shows students to learn by trial and error and promotes the belief that it is okay to fail as long as you persevere. I will try my best to integrate video games into the classroom in the future.

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  17. Video games in the classroom can be very effective at an elementary level and bring aspects to learning that a teacher alone simply could not bring. This is especially true when you are teaching kindergarten or first grade and the children are developing spatial reasoning. There are many games developed specifically for this purpose and have been proven to work wonders. However, me wanting to be a social studies teacher at the high school level, I do not see this being as effective, especially on a regular basis. Some could argue that the medieval games can depict the lifestyle of the different social classes of the time as well as architecture and other things of that nature. Maybe I am being old school, but I think there is a time and a place for these things and I do not believe that my classroom is that place. Kids are not very sociable in face to face situations be as it is, I want my classes to be very discussion based so they can learn how to take in other peoples opinions as well as defend their own. A video game simply cannot teach you that important life lesson.

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  18. Chapter 6 and Gee's Article "Why Games are Good" really put an importance not only on online activities but also the idea of incorporating video games into the classroom. Chapter six actually discusses many useful activities and applications online that will benefit us as students and also educators, such as the numerous google+ applications and the many video production and coding/programming tools such as camtasia and scratch. Gee believes that video games will revolutionize the classroom and make students yearn to learn. We are living in a video game era, there is no doubt about that, and i do believe they can be useful in the classroom to an extent. Like we always say though, their is a lot of junk on the internet and that goes for video games as well. If you find the right educational principle game though, I would not be opposed to allowing my students to use it.

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  20. Gee Games
    This has been one of the best chapters I have read yet for this class. I have always played games so I already have an understanding why games are useful. Technology has just increased so much in the past 25 years and the students in the future we will teach will have more of an interest in technology then we do now. Some games are obviously more applicable then others. For instance, as a science teacher, it would be useful for students to learn the scientific method through the Machinarium, where you must observe, form an idea of what will work to make progress, then testing your ideas. Games like World of War craft however don’t have really any educational application and would become just a distraction to the curriculum. As a teacher I know for sure I will incorporate video games into the classroom.

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