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

Top of the class

[Anonymous Coward]

"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.

New Warning Labels

[dafoomie]

Warning: Use of this game may cause undesired learning and uncontrolled thought in children. Parental guidance is advised.

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.

Greetings, Starfighter!

[chumpieboy]

Greetings Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada

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.

The simulation paradigm

[RobotWisdom]

I started asking myself what question I'd pose in a Slashdot q&a, and realised it's one that wouldn't likely get a high rating, so i'll pose it here:

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?

Problem based learning and knowledge transfer

[neglige]

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 ;)

Re:It doesn't sound so new to me

[couch_potato]

Indeed. Remember The Electric Company? It made learning fun, and you didn't even REALIZE that you were learning. I haven't been able to find anything much like that these days. Sesame Street can't hold the attention of my 5 year old nephew, unlike Spongebob. And the only thing that Spongebob has taught him is that he can roll his eyes up into his head and see his brain.

You need a license to own a dog, but any fool can have a child.