It's hard to believe that week eleven is here! I was suddenly inspired to write this tonight, since our topic is the use of interactive games - and my husband received the gift of a Playstation 3 tonight.
I know that at my own school there has been huge debate on the benefit of using games as motivators to instruction. Some teachers are ardently against it, and some go full blast for it. We had a very creative teacher at our school who did a good job of balancing the use of games with other strategies, and since his departure the support for this concept has dwindled.
I think games are beneficial when used as a motivating tool and as a method of review. The issue becomes I think when teachers try to use games, or any technology, to replace instead of augment instruction. The issue becomes as well how to use games to keep an entire class engaged.
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6 comments:
Games have always been useful....a spoonful of sugar and all that, but games are now becoming THE focus. I am not yet convinced, but it usually requires more evidence for me.
When I raised my children, we would do our work, so that we could then play--and we did. I didn't try to make the work BE the play. Turning some jobs into a game only extends the job. I'd rather get done, and then enjoy what I want to do.
Something I have noticed with games is that there is a lot that goes into playing them. People know all sorts of things about the properties of objects and how they behave under what circumstances. And then they apply that knowledge to accomplish things. Those to things are physics and engineering. So, shouldn't it be possible to develop a game that teaches the actual physics and engineering concepts and rules rather than the invented game concepts and rules but keeps the game aspects that have over 10 million WOW subscribers.
That is a great analogy Susan of work before play.
I see my high school sons (16 & 18)get so sucked into the games it's addicting. As soon as they get home from sport practices they eat some food and go straight to the video games. I'm glad they didn't start out young with those type of games or I know their grades would have suffered.
If you have boys addicted to video games, you should read Leonard Sax's Book "Boys Adrift" Its a quick read in parent friendly language, and he devotes a whole chapter to boys and video games.
Rachel-
I wish we had more access to computers in my school for gaming simulations, and so many other technology uses. I can use some simulation games when I'm lucky enough to get some space to sign up for the one computer lab that will accomodate this.
Hey - playstation 3 is great - enjoy!
Rachel-
I love your kitties! Now we have 5 since I'm living with mom. I have the house project in MS Word. I can email it to you and you could adapt it for your class, if you want.
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