I was checking out some of the required blogs for the class and came across one blog that caught my attention on Slashdot. The blog discusses how schools are at the beginning stages of creating video games to integrate into the classroom and be used as a learning tool. The blog also has a link to an article which goes into more detail about the plans. Apparently a school in New York is being designed for students in 6-12 grade who will have video games intigrated into the entire curriculum. An example of one of the games that is being created is students play the role of a virtual investor and try to discover why fish are dying in a virtual park. This game helps them experience real life problems showing how different choices can affect the parks business.
There are some people who are complaining about this transition from book learning to virtual learning saying kids will develop ADD and aggressive behavior and are against this new method of learning.
After reading both articles, I begain to really think about how this new method of teaching would work. While I am not going to be affected for a while, til I have children old enough to go to school, this is still an issue I will eventually have to face. The idea of learning through video games seems like a great idea to me. We are moving into a new age of technology, as the article says, and everyone needs to be kept up to speed or be left behind, which is one benefit to virtual learning. Children will be aware of the new technology advances and be capable of using them. Learning how to do thingsis much easier at a young age. Also, learning with a video game alloows for a much more "hands on" experience with the problem. Reading from a book only allows one to participate in so much of the problem, where as learning on a computer, for example, allows the student to become part of the problem and test how their solutions would work. Virtual learning could also benefit science classes where a teacher wants to show students how mixing two different types of chemicals together can be deadly or dangerous. Telling a student not to do something because of the outcome is effective, but most of the time (I know from experience) they want to see the explosion, or see the reaction. With a virtual learning device, Students can mix different chemicals together an see the reaction without being put in immediate danger.
While I believe a virtual learning experience is a great idea, I don't think that books should be abbandoned all together, which will not happen. The article stated that books will always be incorportated into the learning experience, but the virtual aspect will just enhance the learning more.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey ally, I agree with you completely that teaching is becoming more and more digitized. The video games seems like a great learning tool that allows the child to experience interactivity on new levels. The junior achievement program here in Delaware has a "game" similar to the one you talk about but is more business related. This program is more for highschool students but I believe they have similar prgrams in the middle and elemetary school s. The program is called JA Titan. While simulating “business quarters,” students need to enter decisions on price, production, marketing, capital investment, and R & D. The impact of their decisions will eventually lead to the success or failure of a virtual company. I wish they had something like this when I was highschool. The technology will keep progressing and who knows what will be next.
Video games are definately interesting to younger students, but I am not really convinced on how effective they would be compared to the old fashioned way. Nonetheless, I do agree how the program JA Titan can be used in business, for the computer would provide a more realistic and accurate portrayal of actually running the business. I just feel that since younger students aren't mature enough to handle alot of things, that they would see these programs as fun rather than a learning experience. Unless these video games are strictly graded or monitored, these games could be just a waste of time..
Post a Comment