Digital games often make the headlines and are blamed for everything from youth obesity to fostering violence. Do you agree with this statement and why? How can we address the concerns of parents and administrators when the discussion of playing digital games in the classroom is raised?

 

As an educator, I know that there are going to be games that will be educational for kids. As a parent, I would prefer that my kid was inquiring deeply into subjects he was interested in, playing with languages, problem-solving in math and working collaboratively with others. I would also prefer that he was running outside, having quality phys.ed, and learning to sing and play an instrument.

 

I guess I am not sold on games - even though I listened to Steph's kids and was blown away by how they talked about how games changed their lives. I guess I see games as something kids do in their "free time." Jenn

 

I think that there will always be this debate between being active and being sedentary- and I'm not sure what the correct answer is. I am not completely sold on the idea of using video games exclusively for learning, but I do see them as an asset for students who are visual learners or hands-on learners or who are struggling and need a different approach. If a student had problems learning math skills, then perhaps the idea of a video game, where it is fun and they can visually see numbers, objects, etc. I think they could be of some value. I also think that critical thinking and problem solving skills can be enhanced by using video games. A fellow teacher game me a game called Syberia to play a few months ago and it really stretched my problem solving skills. I am not really a video game person, but I really had fun playing this game, figuring out problems, solving the mystery, etc. Would I use it in my classroom, probably not, but it was better than sitting in front of a television. Could I have been outside- yes (well depending on if it was only -25 or so!:) ). I think that I would need a little more convincing and maybe there could be a game in the future that would change my mind... (Katie)

 

In my household, my daughters don't play games alot but do spend alot of time on the computer - doing schoolwork and socializing. However, they're both really active physically as well. They don't have much time beyond sports and school! One interesting outcome of using the computer is that they almost NEVER watch televsion. I think balance can be struck between being active/sedentarily using a computer - you just give up other things. Parental influence can really play a large part in this issue. Parents who model, value and support an active lifestyle are more likely to have kids participate actively, even if the kids do attach themselves to computer keyboards at times. (I have to go do some push-ups now....ha ha.) (Linda)

 

I dont think digital games are responsible for obesity and violence but I do think that social interaction and physical activity are necessary in everyone's life. Where digital games become a problem is when indivduals replace activity and human contact with constant gaming. I have a similar view about television-it can be very entertaining and engaging if you find the right programs and watch it now and then. The competitive nature of gaming can create an addiction, thats for sure. I realized this as I was trying to better my sunflower score on Bob the Builder.

I think in addressing concerns of parents and administrators when promoting the use of digital games in the classroom, a teacher would need to demonstrate how the game helps students meet the learning outcomes (perhaps demonstrating how it meet unique needs of learners) and how the game meets the criteria of what constitutes a good resource. (Elizabeth)

 

Don Tapscott, on his website Growing Up Digital, touches on video games:

"Kids of middle and upper-income families are enjoying less and less spare time. Extra curricualar activities, along with extra lessons and league sports are lengthening the school day. This is resulting in a generation that believes that every moment must be filled with "productive activity." The result? A generation of children with less control over their real movements."

 

Tapscott then describes the work of Henry Jenkins, Media Studies professor, MIT who studied the decrease in physical play space outside on boys vs girls because of safety. Jenkins says boys like video games because they allow them to safely play in oven spaces. Boys can release aggressive behavior through the game rather than in a tussle in the park outside. I remember a friend telling me about how their circle of friends used to play outside for hours and hours. Now the parks are empty as kids retreat to the their game consoles attached to their TV or computer gaming. Which caused which? Did the decrease in safety force kids inside or did the games draw them in? Of course there are options - supervised park play or school/community sports and recreation. While not all gamers are obese, our society as a whole is more sedintary and gaming doesn't help the situation, not even Wii! Unfortunately, I know of quite a few junior high gamers who have an unhealthy weight as a result of their diet and lack of exercise, who spend a lot of time at home alone or entertained by the games so the parents aren't required to entertain them after a long day at work. This is reflective of many things including the lifestyle of the family, parental knowledge of nutrition and the family's socio-economic status. arlene

 

 

There is a concern that digital games might become so addictive that social skill development would be negatively affected. Do you think there are other web 2.0 tools that are addictive? I have a couple in mind but would like to hear other opinions on this matter.

I agree with Elizabeth, that teachers would need to demonstrate how games support students meeting the learning outcomes. How could this be accomplished? (Cindy)

 

My friends on Facebook always seem to be playing games or taking trivia quizes. I wonder how they have time. Admittedly, they say they are addicted, particularly to Scrabble. I have gone off of Facebook - both as other things assume my time and as I contemplate deleting my account. I find my blog reader to be the most addictive, although now with collaborating on a wiki, I am scared to go in it and see how many new blogs have been posted. arlene

 

 

Parents and administrators deserve to see the games, play the games, and be given plenty of good, solid reasons why they are being used in the classroom. Aren't we accountable for everything else we do? I am suspicious of the negative influence of some games (Bully: Schoolyard Edition) on behaviours and social skills, but if games are appropriate and played in moderation, I think most parents and administrators would be on side. --Jessica

 

As Jessica stated, as educators, we are accountable for what is going on in our classrooms, and that includes our reasons for incorporating digital games. I think most teachers ensure that there is sound educational value in the games they let their students play. I also tend to agree with the idea that gaming should not be overused. Too much of anything isn't healthy. Cindy, I tried to think about which web 2.0 tool might be addictive, and I think that social networking is the highest on my list: facebook, myspace, etc. I intend to explore that a bit more for our blog in a few weeks. Which tools were you thinking were addictive? (Ronda)...I was also thinking of Nexopia, YouTube, Chatrooms and like you FaceBook(Cindy) 

 

Jessica and Ronda, we are indeed accountable for what occurs in our classrooms. I like the idea of parents and administration being given the opportunity to see the games and play them. How about a 'Games' nite with parents playing alongside their child in the school's computer lab or in the classroom. What a great learning experience for students and parents! You could have an evaluation form that they could fill out for some of the games. What criteria or guidelines could you include in a games evaluation? (Cindy)

 

I can't speak for Cindy, but we used Facebook to communicate about this wiki and we just started playing Scrabble together (after we were done the hard work of course!) and I could see that becoming addicting. Personally, I have found that my blog has become a bit addictive- not the actual blogging, but whenever I come across something interesting I start to think about my blog. The night before my last blog, I was going over the points I wanted to address as I was trying to go to sleep and I had a dream about blogging- scary huh? I'm not sure about addicting, but this stuff is getting to me! (Katie)

 

I hear you Cindy, dreaming in cyberspace is becoming the norm for me as I flit between websites for hours before I go to bed. There is great danger of this becoming addictive and taking over the balance we strive so hard to achieve in life. For kids who have difficulty with social connections and self esteem, being online (in chatrooms, on facebook, exploring websites) could become very addicting. (Elizabeth)

 

I agree, Elizabeth, that some parents use video games as the new baby sitter after TVs and movies. It gets away on them and then they can't get their child to stop playing into the wee hours of the night or they do it without the parent knowing. At school, we then have to deal with one cranky student due to lack of sleep. arlene

 

Like anything else really...you can blame the game or take responsibility as a parent. I know that sounds harsh, but I am a firm believer in teaching your kids basic ground rules that they will carry with them everywhere. That being said...I do not think that these games have any place in the classroom. I do believe they can be addicitve, but this should be controllable at a young age. I also firmly believe that if you are going to introduce a digital game of any kind in your classroom you should give parents a heads up. If a primary students tries to take out a book with any questionable content I always ask for a note from parents. I have never come across a game I found any sort of innapropriatness in within a classroom or shcool for that matter.-Jean

 

As a mom of three kids who do play games I have always been amazed at how social they ARE. Many games are multi-player and of course lotsof kids are texting or IM-ing while they play.(I still call it msning but my 14 yearold corrected me the other day). As for educational value I think the liklihood of that continues to grow as gamers become adulys and parents themselves. These are the people who have ideas about what would make the learning engaging and they are the ones with the tech savvy to create rivetting storylines. I'm thinking especially about history games--create a civilization, raise crops and cope with natural forces, build a govenrment, follow the routes taken by early explorers. anyway.The imagination and intelligence is out there and game players are getting older. (stephanie)

 

Stephanie, at games + learning + society it mentions some of the suggestions that you provided, saying video games "let us relive historical eras, manage our favorite sports teams, or even lead organizations in virtual worlds consisting of hundreds fo real people from around the world." Last term, my final project was about the Holocaust. Some articles I read suggested simulation. However, Holocaust education groups did not. While this does not directly related to digital gaming, it does imply the importance of considering whether the top of of study is an appropriate one in which to incorporate the use of digital game simulation.

"Thought-provoking learning activities are preferred, but even here, there are pitfalls to avoid. In studying complex human behavior, many teachers rely upon simulation exercises meant to help students "experience" unfamiliar situations. Even when teachers take great care to prepare a class for such an activity, simulating experiences from the Holocaust remains pedagogically unsound. The activity may engage students, but they often forget the purpose of the lesson, and even worse, they are left with the impression at the conclusion of the activity that they now know what it was like during the Holocaust." from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website

 

Last week when learning about wikis, I came across a recommendation by Will Richardson in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts to visit the Holocaust Wiki Project. It is talked about at A History Teacher. As part of the project students write from the perspective of people who experienced the Holocaust. I must admit I was very uncomfortable with this idea. arlene

 

Stephanie and many others may enjoy reading the book Don't Bother Me Mom-I'm Learning by Marc Prensky. The website on digital games that I mentioned in the first question is the companion website to this book. Prensky's book addresses concerns about children becoming addicted to games, issues of socilization and concerns about developing aggression because of games. (see Booklist's review of this book at;

http://www.paragonhouse.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=399

 

I feel that digital games are not going to disappear anytime soon. Most likely the opposite, and we the 'digital immigrants' need to discover what our students can learn from these games, another web 2.0 tool that students our 'digital natives' utilize when learning. (Cindy)

 

 

As a parent and a teacher, I have a hard time with digital games being used in the classroom on a regular basis. I see the value in them as 'fun' and perhaps I am just burying my head in the sand, but with every teacher I know saying they are craming more and more into a shorter time frame, I'm not sure digital games would be on my priority list. Like Linda and Elizabeth have said, balance and mentoring, modeling are keys to developing solid behaviour in our children. Our no tv policy Mon-Fri works for us and I find other than 'family movie night Friday', the kids rarely want to turn the tv on the weekend, unless its Hannah Montanna. I have now eased off a bit on access to the computer for them and find they most want to go on a) when they have had computers at school that day or b) when they see me at the computer for this course (modelling once again). On the other hand they are also unfortunately getting a negative feeling from 'mommy' being on the computer as it is taking noticable time away from me doing things with them. Thus I try to go on when they are in bed.

 

Yes I agree with Jess that facebook has the potential to be addicting. Updating my wiki can also become addicting. I too see sites I just need to add or am thinking while someone is talking to me about how I can improve it. Control and being responsible for our own actions are key to balance. I was speaking with our grade 7 teacher this week over lunch. We were commenting on how in spring the 7's begin to sew their seeds and test their limits as they get ready to head into highschool. One thing we talked about was, how if you want the 'right' than you must accept the 'responsibility'. The 'right' they get, the 'responsibility', not quite so much. (Val)

 

Val, you bring up some good points about the parent's potential view of using computer games in the classroom. I think that I would have a hard time justifying their use if a parent questioned me. Even reading all of the literature to prepare for this wiki hasn't really changed my mind. As I've said before, I think that games can be used as tools for children with learning or even physical disabilities, but if there is a better way of teaching a topic without using a digital game, I would do it that way. I also have a hard time being an advocate for games when I spend my whole day telling students in my library that they cannot be on games in the school. I would lose a bit of credibility there I think. (Katie)

 

Katie I agree with you its hard to preach one thing than do another. It just wouldn't be consistent and as you say generate a loss in credibility. I like the game aspect for physical disabilities. I think I will explore that further. Our principal just purchased a proxima and I notice it being used successfully, and with great excitement, by a disabled student and his EA. They have asked me for more information on webtools and I hope to sit down with them in the near future. If anyone has great sites or ideas please let me know. The young man I am speaking of has autism. (Val)

 

Katie about your question on addicting games, I beleive I have found one. I come from a very competitive family, my parents and siblings love to compete at many things when we get together. My 75 year old mother e-mailed her 4 children this website and challenged us to come up with the highest score. Air Force Test Instructions: "The object of the game is to move the red box around with out getting hit by the blue box or touching the walls. If you can go more than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. It has been said that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes. Give it a try. Be careful - it's addictive!"CFUW Nanaimo

Just to add to the 'fun' of it all, my best time to date is 20.84 sec. but for the record my usual time is under 4 seconds. Good Luck! (Val)

 

This is a fascinating discussion. Before this course it wouldn’t have occurred to me to play a video game for any reason---but as I’ve struggled through each new web 2.0 technology we’ve been asked to try, I know I have learned volumes because I was “required to try”. (I’m pretty sure my learning curve has been the steepest in this class--- you are all teacher and technology gurus to me!) Adding a novel and fun element to the learning can be motivating.

 

I keep thinking about the different types of learners we seek to empower, ranging from the autistic child whose learning experience flourishes because of a technological change (Jessica's story ) to the advanced learner whose projects can meet the learning criteria and then be powered by technology to go far beyond the norm. Why not consider games as a positive possibility for these digital natives?

 

As others have said, if the game used met my learning criteria, and IF I was comfortable with the technology, I would try it, because I believe the students would be engaged by the medium. In fact, since at present, if the library computers aren’t booked by a class for research purposes, I find myself monitoring the 26 computers in the library all day spending most of my time asking kids to stop playing solitaire, an arcade game, or Facebooking, I would love to have an alternative to suggest! Using games instructionally doesn’t happen at all at the moment. (It may be different in the computer labs. I know there are some recreational after school gaming clubs that the IT teacher runs).

 

My own kids have convinced me that ‘obesity and violence’ are not absolutely linked to video games, but thoughtful research and reflection would be required before introducing any game into the school environment. Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions of places to learn more. I am a temporary replacement, so I won't be initiating any big/expensive changes, but I can certainly gather information and be ready to share with the TL when she returns. (stephanie)

 

I have heard very strong opinions on both sides of the "games are dangerous" debate. It kind of runs parallel to the concerns with young people listening to certain musical artists. I think that the issue is real. Too many of my lovely Grade 3 students spend a lot (a lot!) of time in front of their PS3 or an equivalent. I don't think that it's corrupting their character, but it isn't making them more interesting people. Also, when I hear how many people are into massively multiplayer games (Second Life, Everquest), I get worried. It is difficult for a board game or a book to compete with an immersive 3D game.

 

I think that as a teacher, if I chose a useful game and tried it with students judiciously, my admin. and parents would be open to it. (John)

 

I think that most posts here recoginze the fact that too much of anything is never good. Too much time spent on the computer, for any purpose, probably isn't a good thing. I also see a common theme of diligence and knowledge about what students (and our own children) are doing on the computer at all times. There are many disadvantages to being sedentary and we all seem to recognize that... moderation in all things, especially moderation! :) (Katie)

 

Addressing parent and teacher concerns with regards to using digital games in a school setting is a real issue, one that cannot be ignored. Many of our colleagues have shared their opinions and concerns on this wiki about integrating games into the curriculum. I highly recommend that if your school has money in their budget, Marc Prensky's book (Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Learning) would be a very supportive resource that addresses these concerns. As I said earlier, digital games are not going away anytime soon and we need to explore ways of supporting student learning using digital games.

(Cindy)