Gaming in Education 2 - Final Reflection

I've never really thought about using mainstream video games as educational tools. However, after reading both of Gee's articles, I can definitely see the connection. It's alamost insane that schools teach students to memorize and not how to actually use the information in the real world. Students can learn so much more and actually retain that information by actually physically using it. Games are a great way to actually physically use information from the classroom. With that in mind, I played three different games to find what a player/student would get out of the game.

Brainiversity

Brainiversity is a really fun "educational" game. I say educational in such that it works on spelling, math, and memory skills. The player is timed and has to answer as many questions possible in the time correctly. The game isn't the usual work done in school, but rather put to a much more fun atmosphere. However, I could see where this game could get old after a while.

Third World Farmer

Third World Farmer is an online game where the player conducts a family in a third world country to try to survive for as long as possible. This game is a great way to add a hands-on feel to what the third world reality is really like. The player controls what crops to plant, animals to buy, barns and other buildings to build, and to choose when to give medicine to a sick family member. They also choose if the children go to school or not. If the player is lucky, in one year a family member won't die or the family won't be robbed if they made any money at all.

Call Of Duty

When most people look at the box of Call Of Duty, they probably think it's just another violent game. However, there is a lot more to it than most people think about. In the online portion of the game, the player creates or is put on a team of other actual people. At that point the team strategizes how to use the environment around them and the best course of action to take to beat the other team. It also teaches how to quickly think of another strategy once the other team starts to penetrate or be in the lead. If the strategy the player and team doesn't work, they work together to get past the frustrations and work cooperatively on planning a new one. There are many choices that can be made as a team and with the environment. On top of this, the game also teaches communication and people skills, even in a virtual world.


Connecting "playing" with technology and school-based learning is a great idea. It brings freshness and the new age to the classroom. Most children can relate and learn a lot from video games that they probably don't realize. For most, including myself, school and fun don't usually coincide. It also helps relieve the students from just memorizing, to actually use the concepts learned and use them in a real world like situation.

Another aspect some people may not realize is that some topics are difficult to actually teach without students being able to physically see how the topic works to understand it.

There’s a website (http://www.brainmeld.org) that educators can use as a resource on how, why, and different guides, depending on grade level, to games that can be used in the classroom. This seems to be a great resource on getting educators started with games. There is lots of information and a message board to ask questions or state ideas.