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Games As Stealth Learning Tools?
Thanks to the Chronicle Of Higher Education for their transcript on 'Video Games in the Classroom', chronicling a video Q+A with Professor James Gee, following his earlier article on the same subject. A number of interesting points are raised - to the question of "Where's the research that shows that games... improve application of logical reasoning [or cause] increased sensitivity to moral issues?", the professor suggests: "I would not want to claim that 'video games have positive effects,' but rather that 'video games used in different ways have different effects'." The concept of 'stealth learning' is also discussed - Gee says that "Learning works best when the learners are so caught up in their goals that they don't realize they are learning, or how much they are learning, or where they actively seek new learning inside and outside the game."
"Learning works best when the learners are so caught up in their goals that they don't realize they are learning, or how much they are learning, or where they actively seek new learning inside and outside the game."
*HEADSHOT*
*ULTRA KILL*
*HUMILIATION*
What can I say...i'm a f@ckin genius.
Warning: Use of this game may cause undesired learning and uncontrolled thought in children. Parental guidance is advised.
I don't think the topic here really worked in chat format-- the answers had to be hasty and superficial. It's a great candidate for a Slashdot-style Q&A, though.
Greetings Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada
It just remember me all the chattering about "TV isn't all evil" I heard as a child... it was some time ago indeed (sigh) and my teachers were of the first generation who really grew up with Television...
I'm not sure about the "moral sensitivity" parth though. I suppose I learned that you could only carry 100lbs of meat back to the wagon, but that didn't really stop me from shooting every buffalo on sight.
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
From the headline, I thought this would be about kids running around like Solid Snake and Sam Fisher. You know, hiding behind things, throwing cans, knocking on walls.
But, I think video games do teach problem solving, and in some cases, team work.
What, me Tweet?
Because games still have to be somewhat fun, many stealth aspects are left out. Although you may at least be clued in to how stealth works, you will only know enough to succeed in an idealized world. It's the same with other genre's.
Take for instance RTS games: how many of them have you really manage the supplies of your army? How often do your soldier run out of bullets despite firing non-stop?
Real life is much more complicated than the simulated gameplay. At best, a video game can get you to a novice standing while still being a game. The details just aren't fun.
Most(?) of the educational advantages of games seem related to the fact that they're simulations, but sims are usually educational even if they're not games.
I see simulation as a new stage of the scientific method in general-- we can test our hypotheses best by simulating them. But in the social sciences, this implies a pretty complete rejection of all 20thC theories-- Will Wright had to start from scratch to build "The Sims".
So I'd ask Professor Gee if he sees any signs of a more all-encompassing paradigm-shift around science and simulation, with games sneaking in by association?
...I thought we were training children to be sneaky and hide in shadows, a la Splinter Cell
"My God...It's full of ads!" -Fry, about the Internet, Futurama
Learning with games is basically "problem based learning" as advocated by the constructivistic learning theory. The game creates a problem and leaves the solution up to the player. The more realistic the problem is, and the more freedom the player has for the solution, the better is the learning result. Sims like "Capitalism" or "SimCity" are good examples for this.
;)
Studies show that students have problems applying knowledge to real problems (knowledge transfer) when the knowledge has been acquired by "traditional" learning processes, e.g. sitting in class and listening to a teacher. Learning with realistic problems (case studies) eases the transfer process. So if you are about to plan a city, "SimCity" would help you much better than "Age of Empires". Even though the latter has some aspects of placing buildings, "SimCity" is closer to the real problem.
I'm sure this is not a perfect example, but right now I can't think of a better one. Hopefully it's sufficient
My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
I haven't fully investigated how factual the history in the Journeyman Project games (notably the second and third instalments) but they were a lot of fun. Not only did they have a rich visual world and a compelling storyline, but one of the best aspects for me was the witty AI companion you picked up called Arthur, who when prompted gave interesting comments on some object or the place you were in. I think games in this style would be great for opening kids' minds to learning about history as well as maybe teaching them a little problem-solving.
The Military even did a test where they had some people play "Medal of Honor" for 2 weeks and then compared their skills at detecting stuff on a radar screen with those who didn't play video games. And do I have to tell you who scored higher? No. Video games are fun. And fun's what matters, right?
7 hours in a week is excessive! But I have learned many words from Nethack, (A very good game, the best, in my opinion) Such as the word for a Japanese Long sword, shord sword single-edged polearm, etc. Besides, Nethack is fun! And it's fun to have fun.