“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
Wonderful explanation of how video games can support learning in school!
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