Video games in education? Yes!
I have to admit, when I first heard about the idea of using video games in classrooms (and libraries!) I was a bit skeptical. Weren’t they, after all, just entertainment? What value could they possibly have? Well, since reading (a lot) about gaming and literacy, and hearing experts like Beth Gallaway talk about the topic, I now understand a lot more about the way kids learn these days. I saw a story on the news about games in the classroom, and found an article on today’s Reuters news wire that you should read. Here’s a quote:
“David Williamson Shaffer, an education science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says schools should use games to prepare children to compete in the work force, where juggling technology is a daily requirement.
“People think that the way we teach kids in schools is the natural way we should learn,” said Shaffer, author of the book “How Computer Games Help Children Learn.”
“But young people in the United States today are being prepared for standardized jobs in a world that will, very soon, punish those who can’t innovate. We simply can’t ’skill and drill’ our way to innovation.”
Wow, that’s powerful! Read the complete article on the Reuters website.
I have mixed feelings about gaming. I think as a purist games are an engaging way to get kids interested in some topics. But I think largely games for educational settings are weak and poorly designed. I see kids use the games after the fact as time wasters. I find myself spending way too much of my time addressing games on the media center computers as a discipline issue even with a decent AUP. Some how as educators we are still using computers as entertainment and not as much tools. I see teachers who are poorly trained on how to use games and activities effectively. In schools where computers are adopted as a seamlessly as a part of the curriculum, you see games and other creative uses as less of a draw to waste time. I am not an old fogey, I am a gamer through and through. BUT…I wish I saw kids who saw using a computer in their classes as a necessary part of their learning not as a blow-off activity the day they are in a computer lab or the library. I am willing to be convinced and learn more….so talk to me!