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Benefits of educational video games
Benefits of educational video games
Benefits of video games for education
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One way to excite students about learning is by using games. Game play can require students use higher-order thinking skills, where they are analyzing, creating and understanding the concepts at deeper level. Making games from content, or Gamification can be done by creating teams, scores, competitions, and rewards. Real life simulations incorporated into a game environment can create a powerful learning environment.
Summary:
There are many ways to teach programming concepts, my tendency is to teach through games. In the article on the 10 Commandments of Innovation, Juliani explains the need for students to be challenged and also have fun. The commandments that resonated with me, require a purpose and learning on a global level. As I struggle through ideas, I can see some possibilities to incorporating classrooms and teams of students from other schools and areas as well.
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Imagination and innovation are not words that are commonly used in describing the learning activities in an introductory computer programming course.
But there is a difference in how I can teach the coding requirements of the games, allowing for more student innovation and also a bit more fun. The changes I can make were explained best in an Edutopia article “A guide to Game-Based Learning” by Vicki Davis. What is missing from my lessons is the “Gamification” of the RPS’s coding. That is “applying typical elements of game playing (e.g., point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity. Great classrooms often use both.” Wouldn’t it be interesting to make a game out of programming a game, and what would it look
like. While RPS’s has a finite number of conditions to check (3^2), the real power comes when you code rock-paper-scissors-lizard-spock (RPSLS). The game which has 5^2=25 different conditions is actually only one condition for win or lose and a second for tie. This works for all the different versions, referred to as R-7, R-15, all the way up to R-101. If you thought about the different permutations in a game with 101 options, 101^2 =10,201. An overwhelming number for students to begin thinking about. It is a fun assignment especially when the students realize how the algorithm works. The first rule of innovation is that of student choice. What a better way to involve students than to have them help “Gamify” the assignment. Choosing teams, documenting the processes, sharing resources, creating a competition, and what would be evaluated as the end product. As I brainstorm ideas, I think about what would be the game part that would allow for the most innovation on the part of the student? I will use this as an outline of ideas and have my students “buy-in” to the idea by helping create what we will do. I have setup a Wiki-space where they will be have to post problems, ask questions and also post successes with advice. I am excited to see where this goes.
I believe observations were very accurate, but from my experience as a teacher, what she indicated is becoming the norm. She mentions that students who came in for extra credit were very enthusiastic, but the following year when students were required to participate, the enthusiasm had waned, to the point that some students did not participate. I will bite my tongue, in regards to students not participating in ‘fun’ educational programs. Teachers and faculty spend countless hours in developing material to engage students, and the best courtesy that some of these students can offer is apathy. I will get off my soapbox now…Whew! To conclude, the paper’s primary aim is to help library instruction, but its use would work for most any discipline. Again, to recant, the author and I included believe that integrating games into instruction can have positive outcome sometimes strong outcomes. The current thought is if one says game and education, one will probably think of digital game. In addition, the thrust of the argument is a game can simplistic and non-digital to be an effective tool for
... games can also be used in education purpose. A FPS game called Re-mission was developed to help young cancer patients to understand and fight against the disease.
As the dull scent of chalk dust mixes imperceptably with the drone of the teacher's monotone, I doodle in my tablet to stay awake. I notice vaguely that, despite my best efforts in the shower this morning after practice, I still smell like chlorine. I sigh and wonder why the school's administration requires the students to take a class that, if it were on the Internet, would delight Mirsky (creator of Mirsky's Worst of the Web), as yet another addition to his list of worthless sites. Still, there was hope that I would learn something that would make today's first class more than just forty-five wasted minutes... It wouldn't be the first time I learned something new from the least likely place.
A. Ask students to create original games they might play if they lived in an isolated part of the world. Have students use materials on hand for props or equipment and teach the game to their classmates or to students in another class.
When deciding on instructional model teachers have to take things like gender and the base objective of the PE unit into consideration. The article states that Teachers preferred the tactical game model because students were more motivated when participating in this model. The TMG participants improve significantly in skill development declarative knowledge and game performance compared to other models (turner, 1996). Students would have a significant improvement in game play performance of skills and technical knowledge of the skill methods. This is partly because the environment of TMG supports the specifics of interactive behaviors in a classroom, increasing positive interaction and canceling out negative interaction giving students with lower skill levels a greater opportunity to learn. When students have more opportunities to learn, they are more motivated minimizing off-task behaviors creating a physically active atmosphere. Students enjoy the TGM because it increases their tactical ability and tactical awareness, allowing them to play at a higher game
"Teaching Games for Understanding ." Teaching Games for Understanding . N.p.. Web. 16 Sep 2013. .
TIRAINE, no, RITINAE, no, INAIRET no…..INERTIA! INERTIA! I quickly place the tiles on the board in a moment of victory. Yes, I did just begin my personal statement with a bunch of mumbo jumbo nonexistent words. But this moment, my very first seven letter word in Scrabble, which means an extra fifty points added to your score, accurately represents the joy I feel when playing board games.
I thought that this game would be a perfect learning device to teach a variety of important subjects to the age groups ranging from 10-13 years old. My idea is that it would be incorporated in to a family living/economics/home economics class, most likely in a junior high setting. I think it would be best if each student had a computer of their own and worked individually. As their teacher I would pre-set other families for their “sim” or “sims” to interact with.
Each year, as a new group of students enter my classroom, I will encourage them to be expressive of their imaginations in their favorite subjects, whether it will be art, literature, math or music. We all have rules and regulations to follow, and each student will know that there is no exception in the school or the classroom. Another goal in my classroom will be to keep the students excited about learning, not to treat school as a game or a social event, but to encourage a unique and fun atmosphere to learn.
Instead of teaching us how to do projects and essays, how to use the quadratic formula, how to understand the concept of war, teach us instead the art of persuasion. Teach us the ways of entertaining an audience, the dilemmas that the world faces. Teach us that there are an enormous amount of issues in the world and they come with an abundant amount of solutions. To learn how to engage an audience is to learn how to teach one.
There are two approaches to games and learning, namely, Game-Based Learning (GBL) and gamification. GBL, also referred to as 'Serious Games', which are computer or video games designed for a primary purpose (education or solving a problem) other than entertainment. This involves the use of simulations to support teaching and learning. Gaming simulation is an interactive-learning environment that makes it possible to cope with authentic situations that closely mimic reality. According to Kip Kelly (2013) “serious games can allow players to apply what they have learned in an L&D [Learning and Development] experience and apply it in a safe, simulated environment. For example, health care professionals can practice a new medical procedure using a serious simulation game before introducing it in the workplace”.
...the ideas that are taught in schools. Games also need to intermix instruction with demonstration. This is a big difference from the basic way of learning in school, which is memorize and regurgitate. Demonstrating shows the student what it looks like and they retain the content longer.
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.
I can still see that there’s a lot of potential in the field of education Gamification. Clearly there should be a way to help kids learn from what they do best – play. This is why many educators are looking into a variety of new tools and techniques in Education Gamification. If we can harness/utilise the energy, motivation and sheer potential of their game-play and direct it toward learning, we can give students the tools to become winners in the real game of life.
Blanco, Á., Torrente, J., Marchiori, E., Martínez-Ortiz, I., Moreno-Ger, P., & Fernández-Manjón, B. (2012). A Framework for Simplifying Educator Tasks Related to the Integration of Games in the Learning Flow. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 15(4), 305-318.