Within the first page of his article, Good Video Games and Good Learning, James Gee says, “all of my Baby-Boomer ways of learning and thinking did not work, and I felt myself using learning muscles that has not had this much of a workout since my graduate school days in theoretical linguistics” (Gee 2005, 34). I’m pretty sure I’m not a Baby-Boomer, and I know I’ve never taken theoretical linguistics, but I’ve definitely been in this same situation. My gaming experience includes : Mario Party, Mario-kart, and Paper Mario, all from the summers of my childhood. Since then I have not interacted with gaming at the level that Gee discusses in his article. I appreciate his research and many of the point he makes, especially when he says “customized curricula in school should not just be about self-pacing, but about real intersections between the curriculum and the learner’s interests, desires, and styles” (Gee 2005, 35). From what I understand, gaming helps students recognize these interests and styles through creating a character and game customization. These were the two things that stuck out to me because I believe that they would be the most useful for bringing into the classroom. As the article mentions, I don’t believe that games necessarily need to be brought into the classroom (even though that would be great as well) but the classroom needs to be “more game-like in the sense of using sorts of learning principals that young people see in good games everyday” (Gee 2005, 37). I think that giving the students the power of customizing their classroom setting and the curriculum is so important. If students are able to customize themselves within games and the games themselves and they enjoy themselves and are succeeding, why not offer them the same challenge and experience in school. I went to a self-paced high school were I was able to plan my schedule every week and plan a lot of my own unique projects as well. While it didn’t always work out, (see my last posting re: the MSN Macbeth catastrophe), I truly enjoyed filling out my day planned every Monday in homeroom while figuring out what subjects I need to work on in order to meet my weekly goals. I was able to design my week, choose where I wanted to work and what kind of work I wanted to do. I realize that this may seem like a subtle connection between gaming and schooling, I believe that the fact that I was able to create and explore within a learning model that I had some say in was truly beneficial for me. I definitely had some struggles but for the most part they were, like Gee mentions, “pleasantly frustrating”, school was always do-able and the challenging aspect added motivation.
Through this article I’ve realized that you don’t need to be a gaming expert in order to find ways to draw connections between the learning that students experience in gaming and the learning that they experience in the classroom.
Gee, J. (2005). “Good Video Games And Good Learning.” Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85.2, 33-37
1 response so far ↓
Dayonne Wegner // Jul 16th 2013 at 7:53 pm
Hi Melanie!
I had a very similar reaction to Gee’s article as you did. I am also a “newb” and I have not played very many video games yet. The only video games so far that I really got into are the Lego Wii games (Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Batman, Lord of the Rings). The main reason I like these games is because the characters are cute and they are from movies that I know and I like. I think this relates to Gee’s first learning principle, identity, in which gamers become connected with the character they play in the video game (34). The second reason I like playing these games is for the social aspect; the games are multi-player so I can play with other people. I don’t think that they would be as much fun if I were playing them alone because I often lose motivation when I am the only player. While this aspect of gaming is not represented too much in Gee’s article, (a little bit in principle 15), I think that this relates to how gaming can fit with any personality because they are so diverse. I would like to try out some more games, but I think I would need someone to introduce me to the world of gaming before I would go there on my own.
In the end, I think making education as flexible and engaging as gaming all comes down to allowing individuality and choice. Being able to go at your own pace and solve problems in your own unique way makes learning feel meaningful. The cookie-cutter model of education that we have now, in which all students are supposed to turn out the same, is problematic when there are much more effective ways of learning, as we can see in Gee’s article.
Thanks for sharing about your self-paced high school. I’m glad to hear that you had such an interesting secondary school experience. This sounds like something that could be very helpful for students. I can imagine that by being able to pace your own learning as well as design it, you would become more interesting in what you are doing and also feel like you have some control over your education. I would love to hear more about it some time!
Gee, J. (2005). “Good Video Games And Good Learning.” Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 85.2, 33-37
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