Week 10: Education and Gaming

Games in education are not a new concept by any means. Teachers have always used games to increase student engagement, interest, and understanding. So the idea of using video games in the classroom is not a radical concept.

In the past I have used games to increase student engagement, or even take a break from the normal classroom setting. Games create a less formal and more inviting setting for most students. There are several educational game sites I have used. One site is I have used is Quia (http://www.quia.com/web). This is a pay site, but there are some free resources and games available for trial. I used the Challenge Board on this site for reviewing vocabulary, and it was very popular with my students. I have also used games on the History Channel's website (http://www.history.com/games.do) to try an create interest in history. I will admit that some of the games on this site are somewhat violent, and therefore age appropriate judgement should be used. I also use games from educational sites like Cool Math (http://www.coolmath-games.com/), Fun Brain (http://www.funbrain.com/) and Fact Monster (http://www.factmonster.com/games.html). These sites have a variety of games based on math, problem solving, geography, language arts, and problem-solving. I take different roles while using games in the classroom. Sometimes I just observe students, but most of the time I am directly involved and often challenge students to "beat my score". I believe that this create a positive and fun atmosphere in the classroom, which leads to a higher level of student motivation.

Watching kids play games is very interesting. Kids, even those with attention problems, seem to be able to focus on games very easily. This is also true with most adults. This is both a positive and negative aspect of gaming. The positive aspect is that in general it is a great way to gain interest in a specific topic. Students enjoy playing the games and this creates a curiosity about the topic. The negative aspect is that students may become hyper focused on the games and completely ignore the rest of information. Also students that play realistically animated games can be drawn into the game so much that they start to replace the game for reality.

I believe that there is a place for gaming in the educational setting. However, it should be used as a supplement to the curriculum and not a replacement. As with any other type of activities or media, it gives us another method of relaying information to our students. All students learn differently and the more variety we can add into our delivery methods the better. We must also decide on what is acceptable in the games we use. Many games today contain graphic violence, sexually explicit language and scenes, and other inappropriate content. This material has no place in the K-12 educational setting. The games we use must also be relevant to the curriculum we are teaching. If we use our best judgement, gaming can be a great addition to our educational programs. But if we use gaming without doing so, it will take away from our already limited time with students.