Double Entry Journal #2

“Video games provide the learner with real environment that gives the students chance to stimulate what they want to learn... Today, video games can help many students improve their learning styles. ” (Web 2.0 and)

When I came to the subject of video games in this article, I found myself recalling the computer games I played when I was younger. My parents bought computer games to help prepare me for school and those games taught me the basics. Then when I was in elementary school we used video games for math. In these games you would use a character to jump, swing, or hit a correct answer to a problem. Having us go into the computer lab and play these games gave our teachers a break, and kept our minds learning.

I feel video games are a useful tool for teaching and can encourage learning for all ages. With video games students can view maps of actual planets or countries they are studying in science or history. A child can enter another world through video games and there they can enhance their skills in or learn math, spelling, reading, etc. With so many educational games in circulation we should never run out of learning opportunities.

Finally the most important part of video games is how almost any game can stimulate all learners. Video games provide exciting visual aids, they can allow auditory learners to speak with other characters, and kinesthetic learners are able to move their character or even themselves. One educational game that is inviting to almost all learners is My Word Coach for the Wii, which is for teenagers and above. This game gives you a word with a missing letter and you have to spray paint the missing letter on the screen, another level of the game has a definition on the screen and four note cards with possible answers and you move your character to the note card with the correct word. The game also reviews the words you miss. Another educational video game out there is Xbox Kinnect's Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, which is more for kindergarten and below. This game keeps you moving, has great visuals, and Elmo and the Cookie Monster are always talking to you and sometimes you actually speak to another character. Video games can be inviting to all ages and all learners can have their minds stimulated and enriched by using them.

I found this article, Combing Computer Games with Classroom Teaching, very interesting. This article shows how using video games has improved students test scores at a low-income charter school, and shows children utilizing their computer lab time for more than just typing.

Barseghian, T. (2012, January 23). Combining computer games with classroom teaching. Mind/Shift, Retrieved from http://mindshift.kqed.org/2012/01/combining-computer-games-with-classroom-teaching/

Web 2.0 and emerging learning technologies/learning styles. Retrieved from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Web_2.0_and_Emerging_Learning_Technologies/Learning_Styles