This blog addresses the need for instructional technology in education. Educators, educational leaders, and people interested in educational technology are invited to posts their thoughts, ideas, and concerns about the future of education and this ever changing digital generation.
This is such an interesting question and one that I know the Chronicle of Higher Ed has taken up a few times. Gaming has such incredible potential for curriculum, I think. As the mother of a 17 year-old boy and 14 year-old girl, I learned a long time ago to not pass judgment quickly on these games. While I would much rather that my children exercise their bodies as well as their thumbs, I am constantly seeing evidence that the gaming, including Halo 2, has helped them. As an educator, I also know that I would be well-served with some of my students to have gaming-type activities. Those types of activities would reach my students where they are. I just pulled up a Pew study from a few years ago and wasn't surprised to see that 100 percent of the teenage boys who were sampled had played video games. I have noticed a resistance on the part of some of my colleagues to embrace gaming technology. The major argument deals with the violence. There is no question that these games are violent but their ability to motivate minds and to create interaction is phenomenal. I know that the traditional one-way lectures seem somewhat ineffective these days and I believe we need to do more to simulate the action and the interaction in these games.
We are surrounded by violence and this begins at an early age. Violence is inevitable and I do not know if it can be used as a viable excuse anymore in keeping children away from certain games.
Absolutely, gaming can be used in an educational environment to promote/enhance learning.
I have a colleague who sets up gaming tournaments after school and students have to carry a certain GPA to participate. The games he chooses for them enhance their learning in social studies. Some students that participated this past year were not in school most of the previous year. It certainly does motivate!!!!
The mother in me thinks.....
An article in TV Guide (7/13-26, 2009) about Sponge Bob Square Pants, who is turning 10, quotes the creator as stating, "There's violence, but it's getting whacked on the head by a crab. It's silly, good clean fun for kids."
I have never thought of any violence as "good clean fun." When my child whacks me over the head (normal, yes) I do not think of it as "good clean fun." When his friend head-butts him (yes, normal) I do not think it is "good clean fun". Maybe if we were all crabs I would???? Just kidding.
I fully accept that there are varying degrees of violence. I am just using this as an example of how we can justify anything, including violence.
I fully accept that my child will be exposed to games such as Halo. I love gaming, although I rarely have time to play. My husband is an avid gamer and a computer engineer. By the time Noah is a teen Halo will probably be considered barbaric and he will have a virtual gaming system in which he becomes a physically active agent within the game - making thumb play seem silly!
2 comments:
This is such an interesting question and one that I know the Chronicle of Higher Ed has taken up a few times. Gaming has such incredible potential for curriculum, I think. As the mother of a 17 year-old boy and 14 year-old girl, I learned a long time ago to not pass judgment quickly on these games.
While I would much rather that my children exercise their bodies as well as their thumbs, I am constantly seeing evidence that the gaming, including Halo 2, has helped them.
As an educator, I also know that I would be well-served with some of my students to have gaming-type activities. Those types of activities would reach my students where they are.
I just pulled up a Pew study from a few years ago and wasn't surprised to see that 100 percent of the teenage boys who were sampled had played video games.
I have noticed a resistance on the part of some of my colleagues to embrace gaming technology. The major argument deals with the violence. There is no question that these games are violent but their ability to motivate minds and to create interaction is phenomenal.
I know that the traditional one-way lectures seem somewhat ineffective these days and I believe we need to do more to simulate the action and the interaction in these games.
The educator in me thinks.....
We are surrounded by violence and this begins at an early age.
Violence is inevitable and I do not know if it can be used as a viable excuse anymore in keeping children away from certain games.
Absolutely, gaming can be used in an educational environment to promote/enhance learning.
I have a colleague who sets up gaming tournaments after school and students have to carry a certain GPA to participate. The games he chooses for them enhance their learning in social studies. Some students that participated this past year were not in school most of the previous year. It certainly does motivate!!!!
The mother in me thinks.....
An article in TV Guide (7/13-26, 2009) about Sponge Bob Square Pants, who is turning 10, quotes the creator as stating, "There's violence, but it's getting whacked on the head by a crab. It's silly, good clean fun for kids."
I have never thought of any violence as "good clean fun." When my child whacks me over the head (normal, yes) I do not think of it as "good clean fun." When his friend head-butts him (yes, normal) I do not think it is "good clean fun". Maybe if we were all crabs I would???? Just kidding.
I fully accept that there are varying degrees of violence. I am just using this as an example of how we can justify anything, including violence.
I fully accept that my child will be exposed to games such as Halo. I love gaming, although I rarely have time to play. My husband is an avid gamer and a computer engineer. By the time Noah is a teen Halo will probably be considered barbaric and he will have a virtual gaming system in which he becomes a physically active agent within the game - making thumb play seem silly!
Hypocrisy surrounds me.......
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