I am shocked and amazed by this man Gee, I usually find so many fallacies of logic and down right stupid ideas coming from these academics that I can barely bring my self to read the entire essay. I could not find one thing that I could disagree with or even play the Devils advocate with in Gees essay. He’s right on the money, the only problem is that the rest of his generation doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.
My father is hands down the smartest and wisest person I know. He is a practicing lawyer, published author, holds a doctorate of philosophy and religion, and is a part time university prophesier, among many other achievements. He hates video games, cant understand why I waste my time playing them and would probably never make it past the first level of Mario Brothers, no mater how much time and effort he pout in to it. He is incredibly intelligent and always willing to learn new things but I truly believe that his brain is fundamentally different than that of a digital native.
This is most likely the case with most of our teachers from the aging baby boomer generation. Its not really there fault, but that won’t save them from falling away into history, pushed aside by the next wave of brain power. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my teachers and I probably am more like them than I would like to admit, but it’s clear that there are irreversible changes taking place in the way people learn and unless one is part of it they probably don’t even know that they are out of the loop.
So to answer the three questions 1. Yes I believe that video games should be used in schools. They should compliment not take the place of traditional instruction. Education should always have an entertainment value; I have never understood the people who force students to suffer through torturously boring stuff. If you can’t explain it clearly you don’t know what you are talking about, and if you cant make it exciting than you should not be a teacher. 2. “what learning principles that Gee claims video games incorporate have you personally agree are lacking in education?” ,Don’t know what this means, so I will move on to question 3. As I will be teaching art, most likely ceramics, there probably are not any video games that would apply. The practice of creating art with your hands and manipulating the material would be very hard to reproduce in a video game but I would not pout it past the geniuses that create such games. The real advantage I have as an art teacher is that I and my students get to actually do all the things that we will be learning about. Un like a history teacher who can not take the class to 1066 to watch the battle of Hastings, I get to take my students to the kiln, and potters wheel, and create thing right there and then. Video games are amazing and wonderful tools for learning and entertainment, I am not sure how to bring them in to teaching art other than the obvious application of teaching students to be the artists that create the video games, but I will keep thinking about it.
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Well, I have to agree with pretty much everthing you said. I myself no longer really play video games unless it's for a bit of nostalgia or an arcade type (play it up, turn it off, never think about it again) game. However, video games are fun and easily educational. Alongside traditional education, I see absolutely no reason to use them.
ReplyDeleteI also was impressed by Gee. The perpetual pendulum has swung so far to the side of "only technology will save our kids" that it's ridiculous. Gee seems to have his head on straight about the role of games within education.
Oops... meant to say: Alongside traditional education, I see absolutely no reason not to use them.
ReplyDeleteJoe,
ReplyDeleteI agree with several of your comments about James Gee. Gee makes several strong arguments for incorporating video games into the classroom. He has put much thought in his evaluation of video games, and how they correlate with learning and teaching.
I especially liked how Gee felt that students should perform before they are competent. Play the game, then, read the manual. Traditional teaching often does just the opposite. Other principles he includes are to think linearly, collaboratively, to explore and take risks, and to produce. I think all of these concepts are valuable to learning and teaching. They are self evident in gaming situations.
Video games should complement traditional teaching methods. They certainly can be useful in the classroom. As a future educator, it is important to understand this shift from traditional learning. Many of today’s technologies provide an opportunity to connect with our students. Gee provides great evidence of how video games can advance our teaching to meet the needs of today’s learner.
I really appreciate your candor in your post. There is no doubt as to where you stand. The anecdote about your father I felt was very helpful to your case as well. I like the way you put it when you said "[Video Games] should compliment not take the place of traditional instruction." I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.
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