Gaming In Education

Gaming in Education

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   Gaming in education you say? You normally don't associate video games with education. When you think video games, you think playing them at your house, killing people in Warcraft or Call of Duty. You don't think playing them in classroom, having an educational purpose. However, some educators are saying things may change and soon educational video games will be used in classrooms all over. According to the Scientific American, "Video games are playing an increasing role in school curricula as teachers seek to deliver core lessons such as math and reading—not to mention new skills such as computer programming—in a format that holds their students’ interests. If you go to their website, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-video-games-are-the-future-of-education/, you will find more on video games and how they can serve a purpose in the classroom.

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   To me, when I first heard about video games being played in the classroom, it actually made me laugh a little. Before this class and discussing video games and their purpose, I never thought they could be used in the classroom; however, now, I do see the many purposes they can serve in the classroom and how they can be beneficial. Provided below is a list of 5 ways that I see how video games would be beneficial in education and why I would use them in my classroom:
 1) They can be engaging- Video games allow the student to be more engaged in the lesson and keep the student focused.
 2) They can be project-based learning- Video games fit in with the 21st century skills and work with teachers to bring more technology in the classroom.
 3) They can let the students see that learning is fun- Students would like to play a video game than listen to a lecture or go through a powerpoint. If the students see that they can play games while learning at the same time, they will then think that learning can be fun and doesn't always have to be so boring.
 4) They can build basic skills that children need- There are plenty of games out there that can work with students skills, such as hand-eye coordination, memory, problem-solving, etc.
 5) They can be rewarding- Video games often reward the students, even if they may fail, and doing this can let the students know what they are doing matters and will then make the student even more motivated to learn.
The video below provides a deeper look into video games in the classroom and how they can be beneficial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA7KuOyH3PQ

   There are many ways to use games in the classroom. I didn't mention earlier but video games are a good way for students to work on their communication and collaboration skills. If you give students a video game and put them on teams, then they will have to find a way to work together and figure out how to solve the game. Video games don't necessarily have to be on systems such as the Wii, Xbox, or Playstation but can be on the computer or iPad. This means that educational games on the Internet or iPad apps can also serve the purpose of a video game. There are many games out there on the Internet that can be used in the classroom to engage and teach the students that learning can be fun. iPad apps are a great tool for elementary school kids because the iPad is an easy tool for them to use but also a way for them to play games and learn at the same time. For older kids, such as middle schoolers and high schoolers, you could use the iPad in these classrooms as well but instead let them go on a scavenger hunt on the iPad, having to use Safari or other apps to complete the scavenger hunt. There are many ways to use games in the classroom and the way that this will get done in a positive and beneficial aspect is by having CREATIVITY! 

   Creativity is key when it comes to using games in the classroom and one example of that is from Shawn Cornally, who found use of video games in his STEM classroom by being creative (http://www.edutopia.org/blog/video-games-in-STEM-classroom-shawn-cornally). Shawn says that he saw it was obvious that games were grasping students attentions so he wanted to find a way to use them in his classroom to grasp his students attention. He used the game Minecraft to talk about physics and different aspects of physics, crazy right? There are so many connections out there in video games and we have to be creative to find those. Another teacher who has found a way to use video games in their classroom is Mr. Pai, who brought Nintendo DS' into his classroom to play English and Math games. He used the game Brain Age, which works with students to increase different areas of their brains, english and math skills included. He did this in hopes to increase the reading level of his 3rd grade students and it worked. He said that after bringing the video games into the classroom, his students went from a 3rd grade reading level to 4th grade in just eighteen weeks (http://blog.tophat.com/4-ways-to-gamify-learning-in-your-classroom/).