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."

Comments

Too deep for chat

[RobotWisdom]

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.

Yay! Number Munchers and Oregon Trail

[snooo53]

Were both excellent classroom games when I was in grade school. Everyone *loved* playing them, and they both had that stealth learning experience...one under the guise of an arcade game, the other strategy.

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.