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.