YOU MIGHT NOT PLAY THAT GAME BUT I DO PLAY THAT GAME AND LEARN

YOU MIGHT NOT PLAY THAT GAME BUT I DO
PLAY THAT GAME AND LEARN

What did I learn playing these video games?
I affirmed some things and I learned other several
things. The affirmation was: I like playing video
games. I liked it in the late’70’s and early ‘80’s as
well as in the present day. They challenge me, so
I think, I problem solve, so I think some more. My
brain is always thinking. I see some video games
in the same light as an interactive novel. I learned
even more, Gee taught me the mechanics of video
games. I learned that there is a whole host of new
literacies. I would like to call it the electronic literacies.
All of these types of literacies need to be studied.
I learned how video games effect the player both on
a physiological level as well as a psychological level.
I see a real educational application for video games
as a medium for learning. On one occasion I watched
a male child roughly 4 to 5 years old play a PSP for
at least 15 minuets sitting in a stroller while shopped
in AC Moore. On another occasion I watched a female
child around the same age play a pink PSP in a
restaurant for exactly 48 minutes. She was so fixed
on the small screen that daddy fed her and she did
not miss a beat. Anything that can captivate a child
of that age for that amount of time has to be utilized
in teaching. I can’t understand why it has not as yet
become a standard practice in education.
I discuss Lego Indiana Jones and video games with
two of my Pre-K students. They are quite literate.
I study their behaviors and pick up on play patterns
that imitate the game. I see how one student’s play is
quite active in the sense that he created a representation
of Indy out of several different types of building toys.
The representations swings and uses his whip.
We as educators need to create curriculum (games)
that both enhance the present curriculum and then
become the delivery system for the instruction.

Existentialism And The Gamers’ World

It seems that the philosophy of existentialism
In particular the Don Juan theory of 

existentialism that states the more 

experiences that one can gain the more 

they live rather than exist is so spot on 

when referring to the gamers’ experience. 

Although the experiences are second hand

 so to speak nonetheless they do experience 

the worlds and the “real” life situations 

that are created in the virtual world. The 

gamer is for a time a “real” criminal in 

Grand theft Auto even though the gamer 

is in reality a 12-year-old from an upper 

middle class suburban neighborhood. This 

might be the one reason why people who 

play first person shooter games have a 

propensity to violent acts by way of 

becoming desensitized to the feelings of 

others. Other games like the ones where 

you have to think to solve problems 

sharpen problem-solving skills. This is 

one aspect of life that is inescapable.
We all have to learn how to solve the 

problems that life throws us into on a 

daily basis. The existentialist in order to 

be in charge of their own life must be able 

to solve problems. In my own personal 

experiences playing the games I found
myself enjoying the experiences 

encountered in Second Life and the 

arcade games that solve problems. 

Since I have subscribed to the notion 

that we all should have free will with 

responsibility.

And this is why we as educators

have to realize the potential for 

these video games. They are the 

future of education.

A COOL SCHOOL LIBRARY

“An effective school library center is an active

 information center designed to meet the 

diverse learning needs of students and 

support the curriculum.” Linda J. Shirley
This mission statement is the essence of a      

good school library. Enhancing learning is 

one goal the school library has in the 

educational setting. For example, the first 

grade learning about the rain forest would 

benefit if a school library had a collection 

of non-fiction books and materials relating 

to the subject. The students could further 

learn about the animals, the plants, the 

people and the environment of the subject.

 Also they could entertain themselves with 

fiction books and materials, for example, 

they could see the animated video Fern 

Gully or read about a superhero who 

saved the rain forest from certain doom.

 The first grade could visit the rain forest 

via the Internet. There are several web 

sites that have live feeds from rain forests 

around the world. Another goal for the 

librarian is to teach literacy. Every type.

 The librarians responsibility is to at the

 least expose the students to every type

 of electronic medium and at the most 

have utilize the medium. The final goal is

 for the student to become a life long 

learner.

The first criteria for choosing materials for 

a library collection is answered by 

determining who the library is for. It 

would be ill conceived for the head 

librarian to pick books and “materials”

 (to use the term loosely) with out any 

thought for the population for which they 

will serve. This planning and for- thought 

does not only have to include the age or grade

 level of the students but it should also 

include the socio-economic and cultural 

background of the student demographics. 

Dr. Seuss is not an author that would be 

appropriate for a high school library, just as 

J.D Salinger would not be an author 

appropriate for a primary school library.

Another criteria for choosing the materials 

would be: how to organize and display the 

collection to entice the student to become

 literate or research some interest they might 

have. For a primary school the child who is in 

the pre-reading stage or non fluent readers 

need context clues thus they have to see the 

cover of the books or materials in order to 

create meaning and make a decision based 

on interest. Rather than having bookshelves 

they would need book bins with a color 

coated system of organization. In this way, 

the child looks at the covers while flipping 

through the books in the bin. They wont 

have to pull books off of the shelf to look 

at the covers. The opposite is true for the 

middle and high school library. The child in 

the middle and high school is assumed to be 

a fluent reader and literate in several 

electronic media. This child could find 

books and materials employing reading 

skills and research methodology. This 

would not be the case for children with 

special needs or children who have not 

reached reading fluency because of a life 

situation. They would need to be 

accommodated in order to take full 

advantage of the library and further their 

literacy of all types.
This leads me to a criteria that is an 

intergraded part of the book/material 

selection process. This is the facility it self. 

We have to work with in the space that is 

allotted for the library. All too many 

schools were built 40 to 100 years ago. It 

would be impossible for a head librarian 

to put an electronic learning lab in a facility 

that doesn’t have the electrical 

infrastructure necessary to maintain several 

computer stations connected to the internet, 

or any other kind of electronic media. An 

open area with a soft rug and pillows would 

be a great incentive for a 5-year old to lie 

down and read The Hungry Caterpillar. 

This might not be a good idea for a 15-year 

old who might use the space to take a nap 

after a long night of Halo IIII.

The final criteria for choosing books

/materials for a library would be finance.

 What are the budget constraints of the 

librarian and the school system. It would 

be very beneficial for the teachers in the 

primary grades to have an IPOD docking 

station in their classroom with a main 

IPOD hub in the library to down children’s

 music. The same kind of main IPOD hub 

would enable middle and high school 

students to reap the educational benefits 

of pod casts. It is only a dream without the 

finances to achieve this goal.

The concrete aspects of creating a library 

have to be considered first before we can 

even think about what actual books/

materials which would be placed in the 

library. Then we can consider the abstract 

notions of intellectual freedom for the 

students and the staff, and how to protect 

the privacy of the students choosing the 

materials. Also at this point of the process 

we can consider aspects like censoring the 

books, materials and access to the Internet. 

Linda J. Shirley states, “Information Power 

defines the mission of the school library as 

ensuring that students and staff are 

effective users of ideas and information.”

To instill in the child a sense of Information 

Power our turns the how to organize a 

curriculum to take into account new forms 

of technological media. I agree with Lev 

Manovich in his article Post-media 

Aesthetics, their needs to be created a 

new form of organizational hierarchy for 

all the new media that has been created

since the inception of the Internet and 

the personal computer. Is the fact that I 

use Illustrator 10 and print out my 

artwork the same as when I paint with 

acrylics on a canvas? The process for me 

as an artist is the same. Also how would 

we organize the You Tube video by 

Franks Valli Close Up on Existentialism. 

This reminds be of a Platonic dialogue 

with each video having an implied 

question.  But how to organize it? 

These are the questions we need to 

answer in the coming years to be 

able to educate all the children in 

this the Information Age.

LET THE GAMES CONTINUE #5 Lego Indy and then some

Over the past few weeks I've been trying a 

whole host of free internet games on

http://games.yahoo.com/free-games.

The strategy games for me are the most

entertaining and intellectually stimulating.

But while they kept my mind sharp and my

problem solving skills homed they are time 

consuming. I'll list the games I played often.

They are: Brick Breaking Hex, Ball lines, Brick 

Breaking II, Burger Island Quick play, Cake 

Mania III, and Marble Lines. I tried just about 

every game on the web site. Video games have

such a great potential in education. 

As for the Indy Lego game I have just about 

done everything a gammer can do in this game.

next week I'll sum up my opinions on games 

as an educational tool.

FAT gamers PHAT games

The link between childhood obesity 

and the use of video games and the 

watching of television is as the 

Vandewater study contends is of 

no significant relevance. (Vandewater 

2004)

The child's body mass index in my

opinion is directly linked to genetics 

and environment. The child will eat

as their parents eat or as they are 

allowed to eat. Diet is also, in my

opinion based on economics. The 

parents have to drive to the supermarket

to buy wholesome foods and have the

money to afford them. Inner city

children or parents of substance

abusers in many cases rely on  

the local deli. And as we all know 

hey are not stocked with wholesome 

foods. 

Is their a link between violent aggressive 

behaviors and the playing of video games 

or (Phat games) as I like to call them?

I don't know for sure, in a scientific sense.

My gut reaction is to say, their has to be.

But my feelings don't mean much in

the world of empirical research.  

The journal "An update on the effects

of playing violent video games" 

(Craig A. Anderson* 2003) is in my

opinion not a valid study. I see  the 

survey of existing literature as an 

attempt to fit a round peg in a square 

hole. The survey of literature is flawed

it blends the watching of violent videos 

with the playing of violent video

games. I see it as comparing oranges 

with grapefruits both are citrus fruits

but both taste totally different. In the 

case of video and video games they

in my opinion employ different types 

of literacy. The similarity is that they

are both viewer on a video screen.  

It also makes an dubious attempt to 

link school violence with the playing

of violent video games. By stating , "For

many in the general public, the 

problem of video game violence first

emerged with school shootings by avid 

players of such games...",then Anderson

by listing thirteen citations to link 

violent acts with the playing of video 

games has in effect fooled the reader

into an false sense of validity. And upon 

reading the rest of the survey I believe

that it was written to demonize the gamer.

I don't have the time to pick it apart 

line by line.

The other case study was both very 

scientific and very interesting. "Violence

exposure in real-life, videogames, 

television, movies, and the internet:

is there desensitization?" (Jeanne B. 

Funk 2004)  I gained a much greater 

understanding. The desensitizing effect 

that violent incidents and experiences

either through real or virtual experiences 

on emotional and cognitive functions is

a sobering thought. " Emotional and 

cognitive desensitization to violence 

decrease the likelihood that violent
behavior will be either censored or 

censured...." This statement should 

become a educational wake up call. The

implication of this in relation to the 

educating the our children leads 

me to the following thought. We as 

teachers need to reevaluate the way

in which instruction is delivered in

light of the psycho-social make up of

the desensitized student. 

To paraphrase  J. B. Funk, moral 

development is fostered through 

empathy. "Violence in screen-based 

media may affect empathy by 

desensitizing viewers to the true
consequences of violent actions...." 

The moral development of a child

directly effects the place in which

that child takes in society. Droves 

of  children that grow up with out

empathy leads me to believe that

the society in the  movie a Clock

Work Orange could become a reality. 

Where are we going as a society?

What can we expect from such

students in the classroom?  

LET THE GAMES CONTINUE #4 Lego Indy and then some

I tried some new games. Two card games 

in fact:"Tiks Texas Hold Em" and "Mystery

Solitaire". Texas hold em was just as I 

expected. It had all the technical aspects 

of playing poker with out any of the thrill

of the risk. The allure of gambling is the

thrill of risking your money ( fear) and the

thrill of winning money. This is an excellent 

example of why video games should be in 

the classroom. The student should learn

how to play poker before they risk 

playing in a real win/loose game.

The other game solitaire was quite 

interesting take on the traditional game. 

It laid out the cards in geometric patterns.

It also played with multiple decks of cards.

The game was very entertaining for its

use of problem solving properties.

I also played Lego Indy in the free play mode.

Layer upon layer and problem upon 

problem to navigate. These game designers

are brilliant. 

Learning Spaces The Final Frontier

What are learning spaces? I can define them 

in two different ways. Both are very important 

to the future of the Information Age student. 

The kind of student that we have in our classes 

today.  These students are described by Marc 

Prensky as "Digital Natives" and "Digital 

Immigrants". 

The first is the physical classroom including the 

teacher who facilitates the learning and the 

curriculum. Each and every classroom should be

 well equipped with the latest technology. A 

classroom should not have any computers that

have Windows 98 or system 9 in the case of a

Macintosh computer. The classroom should have 

XP or Vista in the case of a Windows PC or 

System 10 or above in the case of a Macintosh 

computer. We shouldn't have tape players but 

rather I-PODS should be the norm. Also the 

teacher needs to have the ability to evolve to the 

changing nature of E-education. And the curriculum

needs to be modified to include E- literacy.  

Adding  video games and the like to the 

curriculum should become the norm not the 

exception. Thus the student will become more

and better prepared for the future.

The second, learning space is the one that is

created not in the physical world but rather is 

created in the digital world. In the creation of

"worlds" any thing and any where is possible.

For example, Second Life  is created by hundreds 

of people for any number of reasons. All of which

have real meaning and purpose.  But the worlds

that are relevant to the educator are the virtual

Universities and other places of interest.

You as an avatar (not very risky) can fly in the 

Sistine Chapel to study Art and religion  of the

time. Or have a further understanding of 

schizophrenia by hearing voices in your head.

 

But this is already being done. Why not take 

the class on a field trip to the bottom of the 

ocean to learn about deep sea fish. Much of the

bottom of the sea was photographed. It could

be done.  Or go to Mars to explore the 

surface for possible colonization. The entire

surface was mapped by NASA and  a world

could be created with little effort.  The 

technology is already in use. Some school

districts like Jersey City have ITV Labs that

could accommodate a classroom of students.

Space could be obtained to create these worlds

by creating partnerships with science and 

technology concerns. Both governmental

and private industry could partner with 

universities to make this happen.