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Saturday, February 6, 2010

Games in education.  Does playing games in the classroom promote learning?  Can an activity like the following be useful for students?


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

That activity could be useful, but it's not a game in my book. There's only one possible action (label), and only right/wrong as possible outcomes. It would be a reasonable start of class activity on an IWB while kids filter in, but not much more than that.

Unknown said...

Absolutely. In fact I think that for some subjects games can actually be more effective than a textbook activity. I think one of the major problems in the classroom is that students get bored and when they are bored the information is not well received but if the kids are interacting with the material they are more likely to remember it.

Mrs. Tenkely said...

Definitely! Games can engage students in ways that other learning tools cannot. They suck students in and bring out that competitive human spirit. I would agree with tieandjeans though, I probably wouldn't categorize the Class Tools activity as a game. It is interactive and gives immediate feedback which is very important in the classroom. I feel like games are more engaging and interactive, they encourage the competitive spirit.

Nick Provenzano said...

Kids learned wonderful things at a young age due to games taught in the classroom. There are so many interactive games students can play today. Like many things in life, you need to sort out the junk from the good stuff, but there are plenty of great tools out there.

I think the best part is that students can play these games at home with parent help if they have access. Getting students to see the fun in learning is a huge step in education. I say use what works!

- @TheNerdyTeacher

Thomas Boito said...

I must agree with tieandjeans that this is not an example of a learning game. It's simply an interactive activity, though with some value in its own right.
Educational games need to incorporate problem solving skills and strategies which require creative thought, not a just knowledge base.

ashmm said...

As has already been said to some extent, I think that games are a great way for students to learn new material. That said, games have to be chosen carefully. If the game does not force the students to think and incorporate the knowledge that they are learning in the classroom then it will not do much good.

Jensenperdue said...

I think games are so good for kids! I am working in a second grade class, and they don't seem to think they are learning anything if they are playing a game... However, as the teacher we know they are learning something. The games they usually play are math games that keep them adding and subtracting. Even if they add the same numbers over and over again, they are still reiterating that problem and eventually they won't have to do the math, they can just say the answer. So I think we can make ANY game into this, where kids think they are just playing and not learning!