My thoughts...
Games are usually used to pass time, some call it waste time, some it is life and death to improve to the next rank. Games are so widely varied It can be exercise, running on the spot, ducking and diving and crazy arm swinging are just some of the movements that games make us do now. The Wii has been a revolutionary new console that has made us fairly active while gaming until we became more intelligent and eventually have figured out that we can play the Wii sitting down.
But once again evolution continues to amaze us and the Xbox Kinect has solved that problem with out having a controller so you become the controller to succeed. This is how many kids and even adults are learning ways to improve their fitness through games. "63% of parents believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives" (grabstats), this goes hand in hand with education, it's important that our children are properly educated to let's educate them to their strengths. |
I will be honest it was difficult at first to see how games can be useful for learning but after reading articles and watching some videos from these researchers it really inserts a reality check. There were so many times where I got stuck on a level or could not complete an achievement and I failed and failed but kept on trying new strategies until I succeeded or asked someone else for advice and tips to achieve my goal.
These learning strategies are not just in "educational games", they are apparent in first person shooters, RPG's even arcade games and others. Knowing the environment around you so you don't get shot is crucial, selecting the right equipment and quests change and alter how your character acts and memorizing button combos are all things that intrigue us and we learn without even realizing it. There are some serious gamers out there, I mean the sheer number's can be overwhelming this was found on grabstats.com - Computer and Video Game UNIT Sales (2006 and 2007): 241.6 million (2006), 267.9 million (2007). The data is a bit outdated but realistically there are a lot of students within those numbers and this is a way to reach them. The unit numbers went up by a large margin and ultimately each year the companies are releasing more games, this phenomenon is growing and teachers need to grow with it. |