Further Musings of a Confused Teacher Librarian

I don’t think I have yet been convinced about the benefits of using video games as a teaching tool in my classroom but I am mindful that my research has only just begun. And I also ponder my own bias that I may have brought to the research, “Did I subconsciously negate the findings due to my own pre-conceived ideas about video games?”

I am convinced of the many educational benefits that video games can employ such as complex thinking, problem solving, risk taking and cooperative learning skills.  I agree that video games especially virtual reality games are both exciting and educationally productive but I am also questioning the amount of time children already play these games in their own leisure and wonder, ‘How much time do these children need to spend playing games to reap the rewards?’  It may be argued that if children are already gaining these important life skills in their leisure pursuits, do they still need to use valuable school time as well?  Especially, considering most of the games do not align will with the current curriculum.

What of education games and fun games?  I am reminded that Floyd (2008) describes ‘educational games’ as akin to hitting oneself over the head and that the games themselves often lose the fun element when they become educational and thus lose their appeal to gamers.  I guess, what I am asking game designers to do, is to develop video games that mirror ‘fun’ games but also align with the curriculum.  Part of my job as a teacher librarian is to support the learning that is happening in classrooms and I am not sure that allowing children access to video games especially virtual reality games will meet this mark.  On the other hand, I have accessed fantastic games that fit neatly into current units of work that the children found to be motivating, challenging and fun.  Virtual reality games are fantastic, but the content would have to be very carefully crafted to meet the educational needs but retain the fun element.

While I found little research about the teaching of the ‘video game’ genre specific to young people, I think there is a real need to teach children the critical literacy that accompanies the culture that surrounds many of these games, in the same way that we teach children visual literacy in comprehending movies, billboards, commercials.  It is embed in the current culture and as educators it is our responsibility to ensure our students are making informed choices and understanding their world.  i.e. they need to learn about the games themselves so they can recognize gender bias and representation and the concepts they regularly encounter.

Would I include Wii gaming consoles in the library now?  I honestly don’t know.  I do know that it would make me the most popular teacher in the school but I am not interested in popularity. 

I have asked other local schools about their use of Wii gaming consoles.  One school has a Wii in every pod of classrooms (4 classes).  And how were they being used?  Who used them? The answer: as a reward for students who displayed good behaviour or excellent work ethic during the week!  Needless to say, I want a teaching tool that is more than just a reward at the end of the week.

I want to engage my students in their learning in the same way video games engage them but I am not yet sure that the video games I have uncounted will meet this mark.  However, that is not to say that I will disregard video games.  I try to carefully choose the learning tools that will enhance the learning and engage the students in my class and if I am able to locate a virtual reality video game that achieves this end, I will adopt it into my classroom pedagogy in the same way other learning tools are adopted.

Confused Teacher Librarian

Video Games and the Future of Learning

Video Games and the Future of Learning  Accessed from

http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:zef39GB4nmUJ:scholar.google.com/+video+games+educational&hl=en&as_sdt=2000

In this paper the authors ask the question, ‘How can we use the power of video games as a constructive force in schools, homes and the workplace?’  They present an argument that video games are more than just a popular form of entertainment for young people. ‘..they (video games) create new social and cultural worlds: worlds that help people think by integrating thinking, social interaction, and technology, all in service of doing things they care about.’ Shaffer (2004) Throughout this paper, they refer specifically to the engagement of reality games as providing much of the core skills, habits and understandings that underpin current educational trends.

Rich (2008) notes that video games are the, ‘best educational teaching tool because the nature of the medium means the gamers are active players not passive observers.’  Shaffer (2004) agrees, and throughout the paper, discusses the opportunity afforded to students because they are able to view the world in a variety of ways that remain meaningful, interesting, engaging and educational.

Shaffer (2004) espouses that video games especially virtual reality games such as Sims and Lineage are rich powerful learning environments where the player is able to learn about situations through their play. The learning intent is the understanding gained through the gaming experience and the ability to transfer this new knowledge to different situations. The authors refer to the ‘Epistemic Frame’ – games that give students a virtual world that mirrors that real world.   Students are able to learn the job of a ‘town planner’ through design and problem solving.  In this way students learn how to think like a town planner and will transfer the knowledge learnt in the game to their own environment.  McGonigal (2010) agrees, ‘Gamers are a human resource that we can use to do real-world work and games are a powerful platform for change.’  The authors note, ‘..by creating virtual worlds, games integrate knowing and doing. But not just knowing and doing. Games bring together ways of knowing, ways of doing, ways of being, ways of caring: the situated understandings, effective social practices, powerful identities and shared values that make someone an expert.’ Shaffer (2004)  However, Squire (2002) warns that studies have shown that not all students transfer this knowledge successfully, ‘…the process of interpreting game play of drawing analogies between symbolic representations in the game and their real life analogy is one of active interpretation.’  I would argue that this may well be the case especially with young children and adolescents.  Just because gamers are playing the game successfully, does not automatically mean that they will transfer correct or even useful information to the real world.  Put simply, gamers may misinterpret the basic knowledge base and draw miscued interpretations.  When one discusses good learning and teaching models, it is important to ensure that the model includes scaffolding for the desired learning outcomes.

Gee (2005) supports the notion forwarded by the authors that video games provide the opportunity for students to learn through virtual worlds. ‘A good instructional game, like many good commercial games, should be built around what I call "authentic professionalism." In such games, skills, knowledge, and values are distributed between the virtual characters and the real-world player in a way that allows the player to experience first-hand how members of that profession think, behave, and solve problems.’  Shaffer (2004) further purports the notion that through video games, students participate and cooperate with a number of other people who give instant feedback on their progress and furthermore students do not have to learn useless facts or knowledge to achieve this end.  A good video game’s knowledge base is integral to the game and gamers learn in context.  This is conducive with good teaching methodologies as employed by Education Queensland. (DET, 2009)

As Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee (2004) explain, for students in a school environment, the real audience for discourse is the teacher while a virtual reality audience can be the world.  They purport that this makes the learning experience more powerful and meaningful to students thus creating an environment for better learning.  Teachers have long espoused to aligning current curriculum with real life situations.  Mathematics investigations, currently in the fore front of maths teaching in Queensland schools, are based on a similar theory.  Education Queensland’s Teaching and Learning Roadmap (DET, 2009) asserts the mandatory embedding of Higher Order Thinking skills in all Key Learning areas.  However, as the authors purport, video games take the learning to new levels and this goes well beyond any attempt by regular classroom teachers to make the content ‘real-life’. Furthermore, the authors assert that learning in the classroom is often solitary, with students isolated from one and other and that the curriculum ‘rarely has any relevance outside the classroom’  while game play is a ‘thoroughly social phenomenon’ Shaffer (2004,4).  They further assert that the nature of collaborative and social networking that video games enjoy provides the environment for meaningful learning experiences. ‘The communities that game players form similarly organise meaningful learning experiences outside of school contexts.’ Shaffer (2004, 4) This idea is supported by Dickey (2005,70) who asserts, ‘…it is the interactions with other learners and the materials that allow students to analyse, synthesize, evaluate and employ critical thinking skills as they make decisions and determine the course of their actions.’

According to Shaffer, Squire, Halverson and Gee, educators struggle to recognise the educational potential in games because they view learning as memorising facts and regurgitating sets of knowledge, while the virtual worlds of games aren’t about recalling facts.  I think this is very unfair criticism levelled at teachers. The reality is many of today’s classroom teachers already struggle with an overpopulated workload, constant criticism in the media, increasingly bad behaviour from students and parents and the publication of national testing results.  Much criticism of national testing, led by teachers themselves, is that the testing results are poor indicators of student’s ability and the results give parents and politicians distorted views of the learning that occurs in schools.  I don’t think teachers themselves are so narrow minded that they can’t see the educational value in video games, it is just that the current educational climate dictates that scoring better results in testing, is more valued.  Shaffer (2004, 16) agrees, ‘many ‘mavericks’ have grown frustrated with the archaic view of governments who equate good learning and thus teaching with test results that rely on little more than memory and recall of facts.’

Shaffer raises many more questions than they answer in this paper.  Where does this leave educators and teachers currently?  Even if teachers are convinced of the educational value of video games they are still governed by the ethos of the current government and parent bodies who largely dictate the learning pedagogy in classroom.  Shaffer (2004, 15) concludes, ‘The next challenge for gamers and school designers alike is to understand how to shape learning and learning environments based on the power and potential of game- and how to integrate games and game based learning environments into the predominant arena of learning – schools.’

Reference:

Department of Education and Training (DET) (2009) The Road Map for Teaching, Assessing and Reporting in Years 1-9. in Teaching and Learning.

Accessed 12/10/10 from

http://www.learningplace.com.au/uploads/documents/store/doc_755_2734_ROADMAP_The_roadmap_for_curriculum_teaching_assessment_and_reporting_in_Years_1-9_October_2010.pdf

Dickey, M.D. (2005)  Engaging by Design:  How engagement strategies in pop culture and video games can inform instructional design.  Educational Technology Research and Development Volume 53, Number 2, 67-83, DOI: 10.1007/BF02504866

Access 12/9/10 from

http://www.springerlink.com/content/672h1675qx1068h6/fulltext.pdf

Gee, J.P. (2005) What would a state of the art Instructional Video Game Look Like?.  Innovate 1 (6). Accessed 20/9/10 from

http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=80 

McGonigal, J.  (2010) Gaming Can Make a Better World

Accessed 8/10/10 from

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Rich. M. (2008)  How Video Games Affect Behaviour.  Children’s Hospital Boston

Accessed 20/9/10 from You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsMFsdS3aqU

Shaffer, D.W., Squire, K.R., Halverson, R., Gee. J.P. (2004) Video Games and the Future of Learning. University of Wisconsin-Madison and Academic Advanced Distrubted Learning Co-Laboratory.  Accessed 17/10/10 from

http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:zef39GB4nmUJ:scholar.google.com/+video+games+educational&hl=en&as_sdt=2000

Squire, K.  (2002)  Cultural Framing of Computer/Video Gaming. In Game Studies Volume 2 Issue 1 Accessed 17/10/10 from

http://gamestudies.org/0102/squire/?ref=HadiZayifla.Com

'Video games stimulate learning'

Continuing my search for research, articles and examples where schools are successfully using video games as integral to their learning curriculum....

...the following article, “Video games ‘stimulate learning’”, that appeared in the BBC News / Education, dated Monday, 18 March, 2002.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/1879019.stm#map

This article was written approximately 8 years ago and the opening sentence begins, ‘computer games could become part of the school curriculum’.  Interesting that the authors choose the word, could, and yet it would appear to me that little has changed in regards to video games being included in the curriculum in the years since this news item was reported.

According to the article, research findings have found that children who participate in video games, develop significant skills that included strategic thinking, planning skills, and with improvements in mathematics, reading and spelling.  These findings are supported by Compton-Lilley who further states that video games are successful learning tools because they ‘engage children and hold their attention’. (2007, 718) Little argument could be broached that these are important and necessary skills to be developed in the classroom and yet educators have failed to adopt video games as part of the curriculum.  The report suggests that due to a strong content driven curriculum, teachers find it difficult to justify children spending important classroom time playing video games.  

As a teacher in a Queensland school, where the curriculum is currently being driven by national testing results, I feel this is justified.  However, the report further suggests that educators would use video games more often if the games themselves were linked to the curriculum and the factual information was accurate.  There is already a wealth of educational games on the market that claim to do just that, but these games have received heavy criticism especially from gamers themselves because in an effort to be educational, the games often lose the fun element.  Gee, on the other hand states that, ‘Good video games incorporate good learning principals.’ (2005, 33) and I think the news report misses this point.  Teachers need to be re-educated themselves to the educational advantages of incorporating video games into the curriculum not trying to fit video games to the curriculum content.  Compton-Lilley (2007) supports this notion by paralleling the learning and teaching of reading with the playing of video games using Gee’s learning principals.

References

Compton-Lilley, C. (2007) What Video Games Teach Us About Reading in Reading Teacher;  May 2007, Vol. 60 Issue 8, p718-727  accessed 15/10/10 from

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=11&sid=9bf7c59a-94f7-4437-849c-77968b16448c%40sessionmgr11

Gee, J.P. (2007) Good Video Games and Learning Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning and Literacy. Peter Land Publishing Accessed 10/10/10 from 

http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=6NY2i9stxZwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=video+games+education+gee&ots=eg8VxwXZAt&sig=H__81vw6brxowlD6moLWcpPrX4U#v=onepage&q=video%20games%20education%20gee&f=false

Changes Changes Everywhere!

Before I began exploring the idea of youth, media and popular culture, particularly in relation to videogames, I thought there was little I could learn that could impact the learning of my early childhood students. Throughout this unit, however, a myriad of ideas regarding changes in practice I may need to implement, for I always try to relate all my teacher-librarian studies back to my current teaching situation, have been plaguing my thoughts. In order to gain some focus between what I have learned about videogames in particular and my students’ perspective on this same area I decided to conduct some interviews. Even the fact that I chose to interview my kids using the ‘old-fashioned’ pen and paper method showing my digital media illiteracy!

The following interview was conducted with three and four year old students at the American School in Japan Early Learning Center on October 15, 2010:

·         What computers do we have in our classroom?

~ Only Teacher Tammy has a computer and Teacher Mia.

·         What are you allowed to do on the computers?

~ We don’t get to play on it much.

~ Teacher Tammy does her work.

~ I like it when Teacher Tammy hugs me when she sends a mail.

~ When I get a note Teacher Tammy says, “put it on my computer so it doesn’t get lost.”

~ We saw my house on it.

~ I can’t touch it with my sticky hands.

·         What computer games do you play at home?

~ Barbie, Strawberry Short Cake, Disney Princesses, Olivia, lots

~ I’m only allowed on Friday.

~ My big brother plays fighting games.

~ I just like to watch.

~ Me and my dad play StarWars.

~ Only if I’m good.

·         What computer games do you want to play at school?

~ Anything I want.

~ I can bring my Ben Ten one.

~ Wii

~ We could do writing and stories and games.

·         Why do you like to play computer games?

~ I can do fighting and not be in trouble.

~ I learned it by myself and my sister’s not allowed to touch it.

~ Cause its fun.

·         What other computer things do we need at school?

~ Teacher Tammy gets mad at her computer because sometimes it doesn’t work.

~ Well, we need a kid computer. I can make one out of junk art.

~ Judy [Division Director] needs to buy us some.

~ We could have a DS

While amusing, these answers were also very instructive to me in giving me insight into the world of videogames from the viewpoint of those I am attempting to teach.

Firstly, my students don’t see our current classroom environment as one in which computers or computer games are used as a learning tool and I agree with their assessment! I have felt, up until this point, that there are so many real-life, hands-on experiences that I need to provide for my young students that home and future grades can fill in the digital media gap. However, research from the likes of Henry Jenkins, James Paul Gee and Jackie Marsh have helped me realise that I do have a responsibility to use videogames as a learning tool particularly as I work in a school that has the funds available to provide appropriate resources.

So perhaps the easiest thing for me to do is to replace a piece of old technology with a new one; get rid of my old whiteboard and replace it with and interactive one. I will need to write a proposal to the head of my department for such a request. However, as several other classrooms in my division already use interactive whiteboards approval should be given easily. I will also need to commit time to interactive whiteboard professional development so that it becomes a tool of real benefit to my students’ learning and not just a glorified

Another revelation to me was how much the children identified computer games with their parents and siblings. Of all the key areas looked at during this unit, participation has been of the greatest interest to me. I am fortunate enough to work in a community where the participation gap is of little concern. I would like to investigate further the notion of connecting home and school experiences, particularly through videogames. This will require the children to have access to the same forms of digital media in the classroom that they do at home.

Although focused on students older than my own, perhaps the biggest change in my view of media and technology in the classroom during this unit has come from looking at the Quest to Learn program (http://q2l.org/) and other related research readings. For some reason whenever I have thought about digital media in the classroom I have had visions of needing to embrace it in the extreme. What I have come to understand is that my fundamental teaching practice does not need to change as the introduction of videogames can be used to enhance traditional learning methods not compete with them. As the Q2L website explains: “Technology is always integrated into the curriculum only when it can help to further understanding for the students” (http://q2l.org/node/15).

The true impact of my own learning this semester will be evidenced in the next few months by the changes, or lack of, in my use of digital media in the classroom. Hopefully the result will be a classroom where the youth of tomorrow will be better prepared to engage in the world that will be created by them.

Videogames: A resource for exploring identities

http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=elea&vol=2&issue=1&year=2005&article=2_gee_elea_2_1_web

Introduction

In his article, Gee breaks down the design of video games to show how a good game includes principles which have a positive influence on motivating youth to participate in and enhance learning. One particular principle that is of interest to me is that of identity in video gaming. As an early childhood educator, helping young children form their own identity is a crucial educational task. While this continues through adolescence, and often beyond, videogames offer players one avenue through which to explore alternative identities. The purpose of this blog entry is to examine three of Gee’s ideas on identity and video gaming for 21^st Century learners.

Idea #1: Good video games “should immerse the player in issues of identity and responsibility.”

I have often observed students of all ages who become so immersed in a videogame that they require some form of physical touch to be roused back to their present surroundings. I have never considered the role identity plays in this or how it facilitates the effectiveness of a videogame as a learning tool. When commenting on previous research of Gee’s, Henry Jenkins (2006) explains the relationship between immersion and identity: “projected identity allows the player to strongly identify with the character and thus have an immersive experience within the game, and at the same time to use the character as a mirror to reflect on his or her own values and choices” (p. 28). This suggests that playing through the role of another character is essential to exploring identities. What is not discussed is the value of videogames that do not include an element of role playing. This is perhaps more an early childhood matter where there are no characters or students are asked to help a character accomplish a task or are playing the role of an inanimate object or animal although gender and ethnicity identities are often included. Further research into the differences between youth and early childhood videogame identities would be a worthwhile study. However, merely playing the role of another character is not enough for students to explore identity issues and keep them immersed in learning as Gee explains in his second idea.

Idea #2: “Learners need to know what the ‘rules of the game’ are and who plays it.”

Gee discusses throughout his article the concept of the importance of the player understanding the rules and roles of the videogame in order for them to successfully experience new identities. Gee explains, “[youth] need to know how to take on the identity of a certain sort of scientist, if they are doing science, and operate by a certain set of values, attitudes, and actions. Otherwise they have no deep understanding of a domain and will surely never know why anyone would want to learn – and even spend a lifetime learning – in that domain in the first place” (p. 8). Quest to Learn http://q2l.org is a school which has embraced this model of learning and recognises that commercial games often do not meet this requirement for exploring identities and as such is “a school that uses the underlying design principles of games to create highly immersive, game-like learning experiences” (http://q2l.org/node/13). This includes integrating technology and real-life identity experiences so that students can participate in various methods of understanding the rules and roles involved. My training and experience in early childhood leads me to favour a hands on, real-life approach to learning. However, as Gee also points out in his article, technology can allow students to experience other identities and roles that may not be available to them in their current circumstances.

Idea #3: Meaning and learning come through identity and action.

It is a tenet of early childhood pedagogy that young students learn by doing and do this best in contexts they can connect to. Gee agrees and explains that “when learners adopt and practice such an identity and engage in the forms of talk and action connected to it, facts come free... Out of the context of identity and activity, facts are hard to learn and last in the learner’s mind a very short time indeed” (p. 8). Therefore, not only can students consciously learn through good videogames but also internalise subsequent information. Gee’s article however, focuses on the learning of skills and problem solving through identities related to the abilities or occupation of characters. Cultural, gender, generational, peer and other identities are limitedly discussed. Ito et al. (2010) recognise that videogames and other new media can relate to different categories of youth culture and identity. As such, the many aspects of identity should be considered by students and teachers as they select videogames for learning. A wider variety of ‘free fact’ learning can then be experienced.

Conclusion

The reading of Gee’s article has opened up some points of consideration for me in relation to youth, identity and video gaming. Firstly, all of Gee’s ideas are interrelated and build upon each other to support the need for the sort of good videogames that immerse students in identities. Secondly, where the teacher has the responsibility, the selection of games is vital to ensure all aspects of identity can be experienced. Part of that responsibility should include teaching students how to make those same correct choices. As an early childhood educator, I am beginning to acknowledge that it may be my duty to start this process during my time with the future youth of the world. I think of my three and four year olds exploring the role of an ambulance driver on the playground as they ride on a tricycle and deliver ‘medicine’ to their friends in Hawaii. Perhaps there is a videogame out there that would allow this role playing learning to continue.  

References

Gee, J. P. (2005). Learning by design: Good video games as learning machines. Retrieved from http://www.wwwords.co.uk/pdf/validate.asp?j=elea&vol=2&issue=1&year=2005&article=2_gee_elea_2_1_web        

Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21^st Century. Retrieved from http://digitallearning.macfound.org/site/c.enJLKQNlFiG/b.2108773/apps/nl/content2.asp?content_id={CD911571-0240-4714-A93B-1D0C07C7B6C1}&notoc=1

Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M., Boyd, D., Cody, R., Herr-Stephenson, B., Horst, H.A., . . . Tripp, L. (2010). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

http://q2l.org

Video Games and Education

Floyd fails to convince me of the value of fun games in education. While he raises some valid points, namely, self motional learning, he clearly misses the pressure afforded teachers in this current climate of educational accountability.


Floyd coins the phrase, ‘trangential learning’ to refer to those who choose to self educate because they are introduced to a topic or subject through a different media. He espouses that game developers could tap into this educational stream by including snippets or subtly including references about relevant topics to educate gamers. He believes that self motivation is the key to educational success and that as gamers are already interested in the game and thus they are equally interested in the topic, the key is to channel this interest so that the playing experience enriches their lives and/or expands their horizons.

While I agree with Floyd that self motivation is the key to learning success, I disagree with his ideas on 2 basic levels:-

Firstly, my experience as a mother of teenage gamers, is that they are not interested in anything beyond playing the game and when I point out the historical realities in different games, they show little enthusiasm or interest. I am left wondering what percentage of gamers feel the same way.  They just want the fun element and I think Floyd is confusing gamers with those who are interested in the game with those who are interested in the topic and they are not necessarily mutual because a successful gaming experience does not rely on knowledge of the game topic.


Secondly, as an educator, I want motivators that will connect with a large percentage of my students. I agree with Floyd, in that students learn better if they are inherently interested in the topic but will this interest be enough to motivate a large number of my students to self educate? My concern is that Floyd’s ‘trangential learning’ will only affect a small percentage of my school cohort and I need motivators that will target a larger audience.

Innovations in my future teaching

The new technology has changed the way people live and with increasing frequency changed the way our young generations are learning. Before taking this unit, as an EFL teacher in China, I tried to incorporate new media like English movies into my language class, which can increase exposure to target language and its different culture background for my EFL students. However, I didn’t realize video games might be used into our daily class, actually as a powerful teaching tool. Because in China, videogames are still considered as “electronic heroin”, which teenagers could easily get addicted to and leads to heath issues and disengagement with school. I felt shocked to read in the report by Ben Williamson (2009) that in UK quite a number of teachers have already used computer games in their teaching. Through reading blogs and wacthing YouTube, I also found that game-based learning is very common in some teaching contexts and its amazing potential has been gradually explored. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to be taken into this new practical area and have learned so much useful information, which is helpful for my future teaching. Here are some of new methods with the videogames as a teaching tool I will use in my English class.

Use video games for implicit grammar teaching.

In language class, the biggest challenge for teachers is how to make grammar teaching attractive to students and easy to remember. Students always feel confused and bored with the abstract rules in grammar class, even though I have tried to make the rules explicit and succinct. Students learned and forgot. Here are some little video games that may help me solve the problem. I found them on this website: www.learnenglish.org.uk. There are lots of interesting games for teachers to choose from for different teaching purpose. These games are not too complex and don’t take much time of class.

For example, when I want to teach students about adjective order, I will use the matching game. Before letting students play the game, I will make a brief introduction about what to do in this game. Then students can follow the instructions to put different adjectives in their right places. If they meet new words, they can click Cambridge Online Dictionary for help whenever they need help. After the game playing, students and teacher can conclude the rule together. The new method is intended to make students figure out grammatical rules by themselves through game playing, which is interesting to students and helpful for their memorization. It can leaven the lump of monotonous grammar teaching and promote the effectiveness of teaching.

Video games for immersive learning

Just like movies function in the language teaching, video games can not only provide students with a language environment but in an interactive way. Nearly all the video games can achieve the purpose, especially commercial games. However, given the negative impact I mentioned in my last blog entry about the journal article by Aguilera and Mendiz (2003), I would be careful with the choice of games beyond edutainment software. ‘Prime suspects’ would be one game I recommend my students to play. It provides an immersive Single-Player Gameplay. Every Player is a detective chasing a jewel thief. Enough clues are needed to analyze the suspects’ locations during the crime and confirm suspects innocent. During the limited time, players are given a number of names of items and they need to find these items in some particular settings. During this game, players can learn a lot of vocabulary items such as office supplies, kitchen appliances and even icecream flavors, which are frequently seen and used in the daily life but rarely mentioned in the textbooks. Students can learn many polysemous words with images visually presented in front of them. For example, they can know the word ‘spade’ both as a garden tool and a figure on the card. They can learn words violin and cello with different images in their mind. Diverse mission objectives and events on more than 15 maps combined with beautiful pictures and music attract students’ attention. The well-hidden items add to the difficulty, which challenges students and make them more engaged. It can be an excellent way to increase students’ vocabulary.

Taking cue from students’ passion for video games

If there is one thing that young English learners and ESL classes have in common around the world, it's their passion for playing video games. They love to play and also love to talk about video games. Besides using video games, I will also take cue form students’ enthusiasm and use it in my oral English class. To those students unwilling to speak in English, an interesting topic would be a trigger. I will design some lessons devoted to getting students to talk about video games - but in English! For example, I will bring some video game advertisements into class and let them read and have a discussion about these games. And many relevant topics such as my favorite video game and what do I think about video games can also be used in the oral class. Fluency of their speech and accuracy of word choice can be developed through the practice. (posted by Ronda)

References

Williamson, B. (2009 ). Computer games, schools, and young people: A report for educators on using games for learning. from http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/project_reports/becta/Games_and_Learning_educators_report.pdf

Aguilera, M. D. & Mendiz, A. (2003). Video Games and Education. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 1, 1, 1-14

Integrate video games into education

For a long time, the majority of educators have been argued the negative effects of video games, such as violence and sex (Seth, 2005). As a teacher in a high school in China, I have met a considerable amount of students give a poor performance in their studies because they are addicted to computer games. Some of them even commit a crime because of the violent and sex-related content in video games. Most of the time, if Chinese teachers find a student who seems is indulged in video games, one of the most common solutions is inviting his parents to school and asking them to send their child to a certain kind of schools which is specialized in curing this addiction. We believe that video games will definitely play a harmful role in students’ life. However we neglect the factors that “on average, teenagers spend as much or more time playing videogames than doing homework” (Mayo, 2009, p.80) and it is only a dream for teachers that “students spend the amount of motivation, attention, passion and critical thinking on their class that some students do playing videogames” (Jackson, 2009, p.291). Since it seems that it is hard for students quit playing video games, is it possible for our teachers to integrate video games with education? Maybe in this way, playing can become a motivation for learning. In an article written by Aguilera and Mendiz (2003), the benefits of combing video games with education are justified.

The journal article Video Games and Education (Aguilera & Mendiz, 2003) firstly points out the limitations of previous studies which only illustrates the negative effects of playing video games and then proves the benefits of using video games in teaching through three psychological perspectives: the affective aspect, the connate perspective and cognitive dimension.

To begin with, this article reviews some previous studies which indicate video games are harmful to students or even adolescents. During 1980s, researchers commonly believe that video games are “colossal time-wasters” (Aguilera & Mendiz, 2003, p.7). They tried to calculate how many hours children used in playing games. Some of them even conducted the studies which aimed to alleviate the addictions of video games. This measurement only lead to “an alarmist or apocalyptic perspective” (Aguilera & Mendiz, 2003, p.7), because there is no standard of the length of time used on study and using longer time in studying does not mean having better quality of education. When comes to 1990s, the scientific community openly showed their disbelief of the advantages of video games and pointed out that video games were a meaningless type of entertainment. At the same time, with the trend of focusing on the detrimental effects of the mass media on children, some researcher studies believed that there were a parallel relationship between playing of video games and the rising violence among children and adolescents. Nevertheless, they draw their conclusion merely based on the fact that the percentage of people who chose educational video games was relatively small compared to those who chose other genres’ games. The limitation of this study is that choosing non-educational games do not mean game players hate education and playing games from other genres does not necessarily lead to the violent behaviors. The obvious limitations of these kinds of studies show that we have a negative bias on video games and it is necessary to establish a more objective and scientific approach to investigate the effects of video games.

More scientific research studies claim the contributions of video games from different perspectives. To begin with, video games have affective consequences which mean when playing video games, students tend to have awakening feelings and relieve their stress. Secondly, from connate aspect, many studies prove that the video games concerning arcade-type, action, role-play can contribute to the development of motor co-ordination, manual skill and reflexes. Thirdly, video games have a close relationship with education. Many researchers, such as Estallo (cited in Aguilera & Mendiz, 2003) claim that some complicated games, such as strategy games, can result in the development of intellectual abilities which will help students in study. Some games, such as Sims (social simulation) and Civilization (historical simulation and strategy), can enhance students’ specific skills, including “attention, spatial concentration, problem-solving, decision-making, collaborative work, creativity and of course ICT skills” (Aguilera & Mendiz, 2003, p.8). Similarly, Okagaki and Frensch, (1994) also suggested that playing video games could develop students’ knowledge strategies and spatial ability, increase precision rates and even improve critical thinking. Moreover, Almaraz (1999) regarded video games as a motivation which could trigger students’ interest of learning. In curriculum setting, video games can be extremely useful, because it simulate real situation in every day life. This advantage is often used in medicine and business classes, because there are limited chances for students to practice the skills in real world. In these games, students can practice time and time again and if they do not do a good job, it will not cause severe consequences.

In this article, the advantages of using video games in educating students are explained and sustained by the authors. However, when educators are thrilled about the benefits video games may bring into education, many practical aspects of the implementation need further research and go through a long experimental stage. Except for encouraging competency skills such as teamwork and problem-solving acquired from game playing mentioned by Aguilera and Mendiz (2003), many teachers working in tightly structured curriculum contexts with a heavy emphasis upon content acquisition would significantly doubt the potential of incorporating games into their teaching(Ulicsak, Facer, & Sandford, 2007). The fact that well-designed edutainment games are few in numbers leads to teachers’ use of commercial off-the-shelf computer games in formal education. When using this type of video games, teachers need to overcome many cultural, technical and pedagogic challenges. Take my teaching context for example. The institutional pressure and parents’ high expectation for students’ academic scores make the stereotype of irresponsible teachers as bringing irrelevant media into classroom. In China, teacher training in the field of modern technologies is just confined to how to use simple software such as Microsoft Office. The technical support for using video games is excluded in the content of training, which is one of the prerequisites of using games for educational purpose. And between the belief of great potential of video games in education and theoretical support for integrating videogames into content-based learning, there is still a gap for educators and researchers to fill in the future. (posted by Ronda)

References

Aguilera, M. D. & Mendiz, A. (2003). Video Games and Education. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 1, 1, 1-14

Jackson, J. (2009). Game-based teaching: what educators can learn from videogames. Teaching Education, 20, 3, 291-304.

Mayo, M. (2009). Videogames: A route to large scale STEM education? Science, 323, 79-82.

Seth, S. (2005). Video game Known for Violence Lands in Rating Trouble Over Sex. The New York times, p. A.1.

Okagaki, L & Frensch, P. (1994). Effects of video game playing on measures of spatial performance: Gender effects in late adolescence. J. Appl. Develop. Psychol, 15, 1, 33-58.

Ulicsak, M., Facer, K., & Sandford, R. (2007). Issues impacting games-based learning in formal secondary education. from http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/external_publications/Teaching_with_Games_IJATL.pdf

Make school learning game-like

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/09/09/f-videogames-education-learning.html

Video game format offers a more interactive ‘observe and demonstrate’ style of education, opposed to the traditional ‘memorize and regurgitate’, which is concluded by numerous studies. In this news article, three pioneers in education field have started to use video games as teaching tools of great power in their classrooms.

"We're looking at the notion of how to equip kids in the 21st century to be flexible, adaptive learners."         — Katie Salen 

As Henry Jenkins (2009) mentioned, the participation gap existing between traditional classroom and knowledge for youth to fully participate in the world of tomorrow should be one of concerns for today’s educators. How can we bridge the gap using new media technologies? An access to immersive learning can be built through virtual situations by video games, whose complexity of variables is not far from the reality. Students are participating in a vivacious and varied community while playing. Besides ‘Learn through game play‘, letting students ‘learn about games’ is also a good option open to teachers. Students in the Digital Media Academy developed multiple skills such as creativity, planning, organization and teamwork while acquiring knowledge of game design, all of which prepare them well for any career they will choose in the future.

"To keep pretending that we can leave it out of the classroom, I think, is a grave mistake.… It's not a marginal pursuit anymore. We've got to start thinking about games with all the tools of analysis that are available to us."        —Darren Wershler

Video games as powerfully motivating digital environments still have enormous potential to be explored. However, the biggest challenge facing the educators and designers is how motivational components of popular video games might be integrated into instructional design. Just in September, Obama announced educational game challenge to call for good videogames to reinvigorate education of the USA.The future of a good game is not merely an addition to classroom teaching. It needs potential to replace the traditional classroom with a more game-like learning place where students are more engaged with learning and conduct learning in a more spontaneous and self-directed way. This is a huge job involving joint efforts of educators, game designers and administration of the country. (Posted by Ronda)


Reference

Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: media education for the 21st century. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.

Video games applied in classroom

The notion that video games might be directly used in classrooms is not new as it has been claimed for years that games provide learning experiences more compelling and challenging than the traditional school-style learning. And there has been an increasing interest in putting this new ‘learn through play’ approach in the classroom context. However, some people still have the doubt whether this approach really works in classrooms. Here is a video clip from YouTube about applying a series of video games from JASON project (http://www.jason.org/public/whatis/start.aspx) into a science class, which convincingly demonstrates the benefits video games bring into classroom education.
 

The success of this edutainment game is based on two key factors: students’ engagement and integration with curriculum. The biggest potential of using games is to increase students’ motivation and thus make them fully engaged in learning. The boy said, ‘it is fun but it’s frustrating…” As Seymour Papert said, “Children who do not like school will tell you it’s not because it’s too hard. It’s because it’s–boring”. The students do not feel bored of the difficulty they meet in the game. Instead, “they are working and working and smiles cross their faces, because they have made discoveries.” Games challenge youth in ways they appreciate and provide young people with opportunities to find out themselves. Isn’t this type of spontaneous, self-directed and motivated learning what all the educators pursue? Well-integrated with the curriculum, video games also make play meaningful. Students gain the knowledge through their own exploration. With a challenging target, students can also learn skills of problem-solving. ‘How would 11 or 12- year-old students understand about energy transformation?” Video games provide an answer.

However, some obstacles in using edutainment games are inevitably emerging. Before teaching children, teachers should know how to play the game first. And for many of the teachers, it is not an easy job to play the game well. So teacher training in playing and using the relevant games in their classrooms is in demand. And also explaining the game and the rules to students needs substantial investment of classroom teaching time, which is very limited already. All these issues should be taken into consideration.                  (Posted by Ronda)

Musings of a confused Teacher Librarian

Recently, a young male teacher approached me regarding purchasing Wii gaming consoles for the library. I reacted with surprise and laughter, “What for?”
He strangely replied that games were a great teaching tool.
“Really?” I looked at him with an expression that I am sure said, “Of course, you are a young male, who is addicted to gaming...”
And I walked away shaking my head, “Purchasing a Wii for the library! Hardly!”

I thought nothing more of the conversation until I began this course. Needless to say I began to wonder about my stereotyping of Clint and his request. Could games really be used as educational tools? How? Success? Types? Wii games? Educational?

I had only really considered gaming as fun, not a learning tool. I have 2 teenage boys who spend an insurmountable time gaming. And perhaps some of my stereotyping of games and males, comes from my age and personal experience. Were my boys learning as they play these games or were they just having fun?

As I began to consider the possibility of gaming in my classroom (i.e. primary school library) I am reminded of another great educational debate that raged not so long ago - Should children be taught to use calculators? (I am showing my age!) and I am reminded about the many naysayers who said that children will never learn to add up. Perhaps, for me this idea of using video games as a tool to educate children is another educational technological leap I must take and I have a personal issue with change rather than with the technology.

I don't want to be a naysayer - Children already spend too much time on computers and gaming; The curriculum is already overcrowded: Can busy teachers fit gaming into the curriculum?; Is there any real purpose or point. But on the other hand I don't want to be a teacher librarian who is archaic and out of touch with my students and who misses valuable teaching tools because of pre-conceived and stereotypical ideas.

Through this blog, I hope to begin a learning journey that will help me answer some of my questions. I want to make an informed and educated decision that benefits the students in my school.

Confused Teacher Librarian