My experience in the past with games in schools have been mixed. When I went to school, which I am currently 25, we played games on the Apple IIe's. Most of the games really didn't offer much learning or application, but there were a few, such as number munchers that I can recall. Currently, in the school district I am working at, we have been having a battle with the lab teachers about the software / 'games' we have in our district. Our curriculum person wants them all gone, mainly due to a bad teacher in the past that just had students play games to pass the time and the person never really tracked progress and the games didn't really encourage any learning. I don't know what these games were since this happened before me, but I can see why this is a heated issue.
But personally, I was on the fence on this issue and I can see both sides of this argument. Recently, after talking to a lab teacher, I saw the value these games have IF you understand what areas, or objectives, these games can fulfill. I think games can help students learn and practice the materials they learn in their classes. It is very important for lab teachers to create lesson plans and list objectives they like the students to fulfill and they need to explain how a game might reach some or all of these objectives. I think this area is where most lab teachers in schools lack and districts don't require this. I could be off basis on this but from my experience in 2 school districts,this is what I have observed.
Well, that's my thoughts on games. I think they can have real value for students in schools to help learn and practice what they are learning. It is also good to get games that are network versions, so you can track students progress and see if they are meeting/reaching the various objectives or improving in the areas they are struggling. This is something our district is doing so we can track students progress and make sure they are actually doing what they should be doing.
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4 comments:
Do you find the lab teachers are open to suggestions from teachers? Do they connect their objectives to the classroom teachers' objectives? It seems like synchronizing these would supplement learning greatly. Would your lab teachers facilitate something like PowerPoint game creation?
Nicholas,
I think the real trick to games is making an impression. The information has to go beyond simple recall for the light to come on. You have to be able to tap into many senses and therefore multiple layers in the brain. I do not know if there are many games out there that do that for students. What is your opinion?
Kathleen, I don't know about the lab teachers being open to suggestions from teachers. The lab teachers are more focus on trying to keep the kids busy for the hour they have them. I agree that syncing the two items will increase learning greatly as well, but change in our system will have to come from top down.
Leah, I do agree with you about you have to tap into multiple layers in the brain to keep interest and to have a result on students. But as we continue to evaluate games in education, I think they will create better and better games for students to learn and they will be able to work more effectively as they continue to apply knowledge about how people learn and applying them to the software.
Nicholas,
I agree with you that video games can be useful in the classroom if it has educational value that can be linked to the topic under study. From your post, it seems that you are very knowledgeable in video games. Do you know of any video games for middle school science?
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