Journal Entry #1

In the article Why are Video Games Good for Learning, I found the following quote caught my attention.

Video games don’t just carry the potential to replicate a sophisticated scientific way of thinking. They actually externalize the way in which the human mind works and thinks in a better fashion than any other technology we have.

This quote really says a lot. As a new and young teacher at my high school, some of the traditional teachers do not always agree with my methods of teaching or my extrinsic rewards for good behaviour and completion of assignments. In my class I like to find educational games that the students can play once they have completed and turned in all of their assignments. The students find this very rewarding and fun :). The students are learning by playing these games but yet they think they are just having fun. One of my favourite games I have is the lemonade stand game. In this game students have to run a lemonade stand determine how many ingredients to buy based on the days weather and how much to spend on advertising. Students go through a 30 day period (this only takes about 10-15 minutes) and they are provided with a profit/loss statement at the end of each day and then at the completion of the 30 days. It is always important that we discover the way in which our students learn and address those methods through our teaching. Our students are accustomed to playing these games as a routine part of their life - since they are so use to it and they enjoy it - why wouldn't an educator want to find a way to make their educational content reinforced through the use of a game. As the quotes says video games are the best method of technology we can use in the educational system. I found an article Why Should We Play More Video Games, An Article about Health - that supports the quote that I made to the same degree. The following quote was obtained from the article:

Games that claim to train you brain like Brain Games for DS, puzzle games that require increasing skill like Tetris, and games that require that the player continue to play small amounts everyday like Animal Crossing. Believe it or not even these simple games help our minds with problem solving skills of everyday life. They also challenge us to set aside our limits of what we are willing to give up on and how long we are willing to work at our best. “the way gamers explore virtual worlds mirrors the way the brain processes multiple, but interconnected, streams of information in the real world. “Basically, how we think is through running perceptual simulations in our heads that prepare us for the actions we’re going to take,” he says. “By modeling those simulations, video games externalize how the mind works.” (reference #3) no other platform is this natural when it comes to teaching our minds new things.

The Question: How did this reading change or confirm your understanding of the connection between video games and learning? I knew that video games were great for our students because that is what they are accustomed to and it makes the learning process fun and enjoyable. What I learned from the reading of these articles is that video games do in fact improve the function of our brain. I found the information about simulation to be very interesting and surprising as I never thought of video games as simulations. It makes since to think that video games are simulations and by practising and solving problems in the video game it helps us to solve those similar problems in our daily live. This is a great point to argue for the support of video games in the classroom.