Here's my recent essay for my CS 101 class... I just copied and pasted it here... I hope you can read it. If the subject is interesting to you, I highly recommend reading the papers I cite at the end. Any of James Gee's work on the topic is very interesting. Enjoy.
Video games have inherited the negative stigmas associated with television and comic books, stigmas that link video games to learning disabilities and behavioral issues. Many adults still consider video games to have only negative side effects on children, they fail to take a closer look at the challenges of games and recognize that children that play video games are developing important problem solving skills through interactive game play. Game players find dumbed down games boring and uninteresting, this encourages game developers to design games that are both challenging and rewarding. These challenges flex critical thinking skills among players. Many times adults avoid playing video games because flexing these skills is “too hard”. Often, these are the same adults that will dismiss the benefits of video games. The video game environment immerses children in virtual situations that encourage active learning in order to be successful in the game, parents and educators should re-examine video games and the unique way they excite children to learn.
The first positive aspect of video games that parents and teachers should acknowledge, is that video games serve as training wheels for tomorrows technically savvy citizens. Video media is an engrained aspect of the modern global culture. Keeping children in a media void bubble could very well have disabling consequences as youth move up and into the work force. Parents and educators should take note that technology penetrates every facet of modern American employment. Teachers, mechanics, police, journalists, scientists, doctors, even farmers and cashiers all interface with computers and digital technology on a daily basis. Video games make technology accessible in an appetizing and digestible form for youth. Children are compelled to learn how to play games, and through playing they learn how to use the technology, and they become comfortable with technology. Parents should recognize that this comfort around technology is a benefit to their children and they should not be afraid of it themselves.
The second positive aspect of video games that parents and teachers should recognize is that gamers are thinking and learning. When a gamer plays a video game he feels free, driven even, to explore the virtual world in which he finds himself in. Gamers are comfortable within the video game environment, their roles are clear, the rules are defined, and there is always a solution to the problems they are confronted with. Players face in-game challenges that, through exploration, trial and error and problem solving, they are able to meet. If a mistake is made, the video game entices the gamer to try the challenge again, and the player learns what does and does not work. The most effective way to learn a game is through trial and error. If a player “perseveres, they will achieve their goal.” If they fail, they can try again, learning from their mistakes so there is not a repeat failure. In game play, “failure is a learning experience, not an end result.” (Simpson 19 par. 4) Players are invested in the outcome of the game, this is strong motivation to learn how to use the tools they are given, how to maneuver through puzzle like levels, and how to think on their feet to solve problems. Successful games stimulate the desire to be successful, they entice players to invest time and effort to meet the challenge of the game. In his paper, Digital Games in Education: The Design of Games-Based Learning Environments, Begoña Gros suggests that the design of the learning environment could be built on the educational properties of games. By creating an environment where, like in games, children can promote challenges, co-operation, engagement and develop problem-solving strategies, educators can create a positive familiar environment which can improve learning.
(Gros 23 par. 2)
The third positive aspect of video games that parents and teachers should recognize is that video games have a lot to teach us about successful pedagogies. Rather than a single path to reach a goal, game developers have taken into consideration the fact that all players are not equal. They take the time to design more than one route to success into their games (Simpson 20 par. 6), and they make sure to offer varying speeds of play for different levels of players. All gamers expect the opportunity to try out different routes to their goals, and they are not afraid of making a mistake because they can always try again. Many students find themselves in a system that assumes that they will all take the same path and reach the same goal at the same speed. They are usually disciplined if they fail, and trying again is not looked upon favorably. Perhaps if students could, like in the video game environment, attempt different routes to success, more students would feel comfortable with educational exploration and less afraid to risk failing. (Gee 35 par. 2)
“No deep learning takes place unless learners make an extended commitment of self. Learning a new domain, whether it be physics or furniture-making, requires the learner to take on a new identity: to make a commitment to see and value work and the world in the ways in which a good physicist or good furniture makers do. Good video games capture players through identity.” (Gee 34 par. 9)
In games, players are connected to games through defined rolls. They can play the hero, the fighter the healer etc, they are motivated to perform their task well for their roll. Many students feel disconnected from formal education. Often their roll is undefined, and students are apathetic to success. In the one size fits all education curriculum, many students reach a point where they assume the roll of poor math student or class clown instead of writer, historian or scientist in training. If students could be connected to and excited about their academic rolls, students would feel more motivation to be successful. (Simpson 19 par. 6)
The fourth positive aspect of video games that parents and teachers should recognize is that video games can serve as a pool for inspiration for many students. Video games are a common activity among children, teachers can utilize this common thread to excite students about participating in activities such as writing. Exercises such as writing about a favorite level of a game, including details about the game, why they like the game and why it's better than another game. (Hutchison 39) Teachers could also encourage students to design their own game, a process involving character development, story development and thoughtful puzzle design to make it challenging. Older students could work in collaboration with one another, and perhaps, even do some basic game publishing. (Hutchison 39) Games can inspire creative thought in the class room. Instead of disregarding the benefits of interactive games, educators should recognize the ability of video games to entice and encourage a new form of active learning and seek ways to emulate the excitement of learning that children find appealing in their favorite video games.
In conclusion, games stimulate a different route to learning than traditional teaching addresses. Video game learning does not fit old models of basics only education, and educational gains from video game playing cannot be measured with the same tools that have been used for educational gains in past generations. Children who play video games are challenged to learn differently. They use knowledge they are given in-game to solve in-game problems. The game process is not about learning facts, games are much more than memorizing information and regurgitating it on demand. The learning that takes place in video games is about learning how to use knowledge, skills and tools gained to solve problems.
Works Cited
Begona, Gros S. "Digital Games in Education: The Design of Games-Based Learning
Environments." Journal of Research on Technology in Education Summer 40 (2007): 23-28. Academic Search Premier. ProQuest. Columbia Basin College, Pasco. 2009
.
Gee, James P. "Good Video Games and Good Learning." Phi Kappa Phi Forum Summer 85
(2005): 33-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Columbia Basin College, Pasco. 27 Feb. 2009
ebscohost.com/login.aspxdirect=true&db=aph&AN=18088902&site=ehost-live>.
Hutchison, James. "Video Games and the Pedagogy of Place." Social Studies 98 (2007): 35-40.
Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Columbia Basin College, Pasco. 27 Feb. 2009
.
Simpson, Elizabeth S. "What Teachers Need to Know about the Video Game Generation."
Tech Trends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning Summer 49 (2005): 17-22. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Columbia Basin College, Pasco. 2009 .
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