Double Entry Journal #1

     "They can, in turn, use their real-world race, class, culture, and gender as strategic resources if and when they please, and the group can draw on the differential real-world resources of each player, but in ways that do not force anyone into pre-set racial, gender, cultural, or class categories.”  (Gee, 2012)

  

      This quote from Why are Video Games Good for Learning? caught me off guard, because I never thought about games like Halo, Runescape, or the video game they mentioned—World of Warcraft—would be an avenue to cut through the wall of discrimination, and allow people to focus on the positives of what makes them unique rather than the fact that they are different. I watch my husband play live multi-player games and it never dawned on me the brain power necessary to be successful at such games. Communication, spacial reasoning, logic, and strategy are just a few of the skills needed and are improved upon by playing these games. The political issues, such as race, gender, and ethnicity, are very rarely ever brought up during a game. It is a group of individuals thrown together, whose only thought is to obtain the goal of winning. All are working together towards a common goal, which makes everything else unimportant. Each group member can draw from the strengths of their associates, such as in the workplace.

     This article somewhat changed my ideas of the connection between video games and learning. I believe that video games can be tools for learning, but I think that it is, more often than not, used to replace reality and de-stress. I never considered that video games could be used for learning skills that are necessary for the workplace. Students need to learn these concepts before they graduate high school, and little do they know, that the popular games they’re playing are subtly teaching them these skills. If done in school, students often rebel at working with other people. They focus on differences, rather than the group goal. In a video game, they don’t even consider the differences of their teammates.

 

“This issue of marrying personal and “in game” goals, leads to the issue of identity. Video games are all about identity The player “plays” some character; the player takes on, carries out, and identifies with some special identity in a virtual world.”  (Gee, 2012)

 

            This kind of confused me. I like the concept of marrying curricula goals with personal goals to teach students (which the author references this concept in the article). I think that will definitely entice and engage students’ learning. However, I’m not sure how a game, such as The Sims, where the player has the autonomy of creating personal goals, as well as finish game goals, will motivate players to play the game more.

            This quote only confirms my thought that real-life relevant problems and/or projects are what is needed in school. If educators can teach students these facts through video games, then I say that will be a great way to learn for the students. They will be able to keep their identity and solve problems that will/does relate to their lives. Also, I like the idea of these types of video games in middle school, when students are trying to figure out their identity and place in the world. These video games could encourage students to do the right thing and problem-solve, especially when their character/avatar faces consequences that they don’t have to in real life.

  

“This essentially means that the player must figure out the rule system (patterns) that constitutes the simulation (the rules that the simulation follows thanks to how it is designed). The player must discover what is possible and impossible (and in what ways) within the simulation in order to solve problems and carry out goals. Achieving these goals constitutes the win state for the player.”  (Gee, 2012)

I like this quote a lot. I think that this quote really explains what I was talking about previously. Students can use their character to explore and test their boundaries without doing it in the real world. This will show them what is possible and impossible for their own personal character to achieve in life. For example, they may play a game where their avatar would have to steal to survive, and thus, will run from the cops. Then, the student could understand how much work it is to survive with a life-style like that of a thief.

           I believe that this article confirms and somewhat tweaks my perception of video games in education. I think that video games should be used and are very engaging tools for learning. However, I don’t know how I could implement it with math concepts. The problem I see occurring is not having time to play a game for learning, when we mainly have to teach students in order to prepare them for standardized tests. Maybe I’m just being a “negative Nelly”, but I don’t see it happening, in my case with math, unless it was a game that incorporated multiple objectives of mathematics (hopefully this class can show me a way to do it effectively and efficiently).

Gee, J. P. (2012, November). Why are Video Games Good for Learning? Retrieved January 19, 2013, from Academic Colab: http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/MacArthur.pdf

Other resource:

What Video Games Have Taught Us

 

 

Tassi, P. (2012, June 14). A Gallery of Life Lessons Learned from Video Games. Retrieved January 19, 2013, from Unreality Magazine: http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2012/06/14/a-gallery-of-life-lessons-learned-from-video-games/