Are Video Games Actually Good For Kids? - CBS News.
It is obvious that an issue is becoming topical when CBS does a short grab on it during their news broadcast. This was the case in January 2011, with the brief report, “The Games our Children Play”. The stereotype of gamers as ‘playing alone in a dark basement’ was negated with an interview and references to a recent study by pewinternet & American Life project .The interesting data presented here was that,” 65% of kids often played with someone else and the most popular games were not violent...they involve racing, puzzles and sports”.
Two points from this news report are particularly relevant to educators:
1. The majority of teens play video games. (Lenhart, A. 2008. Williamson, B. 2009)
So, if games are already a major part of kids lives...doesn’t it make sense to meet them where they are at? As a casual teacher who goes into many primary schools the eagerness for children to play curriculum based games such as study ladder and mathletics is always there. Not only do these games provide motivation for learning but they engage and extend the students in different ways to what the classroom teacher can. Also, with students being able to log on at home (which they do as the games are fun), content based learning continues beyond the traditional school hours of 9am to 3pm.
2. Game play supports active learning.
Active learning involves students doing most of the work while they engage with the material being learnt. They are DOING something including discovering, processing, and applying information. According to the Education Queensland- Games in Learning Project, “Learners establish goals and make frequent important decisions, they practice competence and feedback is provided in relation to performance.
So as a teacher who has never really given much thought to using computer games in the classroom I think that the evidence is definitely mounting with regards to the positive role they can play and it is time I investigated further
REFERENCES
Lenhardt, A, Kahne, J, Middaugh, E, Macgill,A, Evans, C, Vitak, J. (2008) Teens, Video Games and Civics
Williamson, B (2009). Computer Games, Schools and Young People. A report for educators on using games for learning. Futurelab www.futurelab.org.uk
http://education.qld.gov.au/smartclassrooms/strategy/dp/games.html
Are video games good for kids? You have advanced two key pieces evidence to support such a claim, Jacqui, with this review. It is a topical issue with so many pundits putting across their two cents worth - a quick filler perhaps, when the news is slow? However, I digress.... My understanding of this issue tends to support your observation that the most popular games are not the violent ones. I discovered through my research that games such as Tetris and Sims are among the Top 10 games.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the statistics that are presented about the number of students playing games is interesting - why aren't the other 35% playing them? And is this just an American phenomenon, due to the relative wealth of its population? Going further, this does tend to raise some equity issues - would all students gain adequate access to these video gaming opportunities if they are, or will become, an integral part of the teaching and learning process?
Will this be yet another literacy that is out of reach for the disenfranchised? Already our school system seems to reward those students who have access to an educated family environment. The ease with which we suggest that these sorts of activities can be carried out "at home" may not be the case for many students in reality. Perhaps even more reason for the school library to be part of the process, to try to provide some access to resources, such as computers, internet service and games, which may not be the priority within the family context.
Sheryl, a very pertinent observation about the inequitable access to resources amongst some of our students and the library being part of the solution to this problem. Did those laptops ever get rolled out to all yr9 students as promised several years ago......?
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