Most children, girls and boys, especially the male population have an unlimited availability to video software games. They are now recently being incorporated into schools systems since video games have already become a daily activity for most students growing up in the 21st century. Some schools at the same time oppose the use of instructional games of any kind. I definitely agree with allowing students to use software for instructional games. Children already instinctively correlate video and computer games with having fun. The students can learn new educational concepts and play the games at the same time. So why wouldn't school systems find ways to keep the children engaged in learning while playing educational games via education software?
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ReplyDeleteI agree. I see no reason why there should be a blanket ban on all software games. Playing real-life games was one of my favorite activities as a student, and I imagine K-12 students today would be enthusiastic about software games. I do think that schools and teachers need to be cautious, though. Games should be rigorously evaluated for educational merit and student learning before being instituted. Those that contribute to student understanding or serve to engage students in material they were previously uninterested in should get the green light.
ReplyDeleteA study by Sunha Kim and Mido Chang that is in our textbook showed the need to temper the amount of time spent on computer games. In their study Computer Games for the Math Achievement of Diverse Students they found that there was not “a significant effect of games on the math achievement,” but “when students played math games frequently,” “they showed low math performance.” In contrast, students who played math computer games “from once a month to twice a week” demonstrated higher performance than students who did not play math computer games at all.
ReplyDeleteThis shows the need for collaboration between teachers, students, and the parents to find that "sweet spot" that works. It could be a class research project :)