Chapter 3
After reading this chapter, I think of the word authentic. How many authentic reasons do we give our students to learn? Are students learning things that interest them? Why is it that Johnny never turns in any of his work? I think Johnny needs to see a real reason in knowing whatever it is I want him to learn. I think of my own children, 5 and nearly 2 years old, and how many minutes they will sit in front of a video game. I have argued with my husband about this because I see it as such a waste of time. He sees it a challenging learning experience. It drives them to want to learn more and more. It’s pretty amazing to see. Imagine having students in your classroom with this same kind of drive.
One interesting point in this chapter that I must mention is the fact that the author says technology can support mega-change in schools by shucking off the technical nature of School learning. Learning is a natural occurrence, but it isn’t described as such at school. The very thing that could help bring about change in school is turned into another interference. When he describes in this chapter about how taking the computers out of classrooms and putting them into a lab with a curriculum did the students no good, I have seen that in other areas of school as well. We have many resources that we miss the purpose of and end up losing their benefit on student learning. He really made some interesting points.
Too many parents think that video games are for strictly entertainment value and believe kids spend too much time on them. While kids may spend too much time playing video games, they are not strictly for just “play”. Depending on the game, gamers have to learn to adapt to their surroundings, master new controls, and develop startegies for completing tasks. A lot of those same objectives are used in the classroom with different activities we design for our students.
Some parents believe that video games are strictly for entertainment value and kids spend way too much time on them. While kids may play them too much, they are not just for entertainment. Gamers have to learn how to adapt to their surroundings, master new controls, and develop strategies to beat the tasks in the game. There similar objectives used in the classroom for the type of activities we have our students complete on a daily basis. While we may not be asking them to stomp on Bowser or whoop up on Mother Brain, we are asking them to use their critical thinking skills to solve meaningful problems.
As far as the whole time spend playing video games, time limits can be set for gaming to avoid kids playing them for far too long. There are devices within certain gaming consoles, like the X-Box 360, that will shut down the console after a certain period of time.