Video Games as Learning Tools?

An Arizona State University professor known for pushing games as learning tools is encouraging parents to change their negative mindset about games and embrace them as learning tools.

James Paul Gee made a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science symosium, where he discussed the topic of "First Person Solvers? Learning Mathematics in a Video Game:"

This half-day symposium will look at the current situation from four perspectives: the cognitive science issues of learning mathematics in a video game, the curriculum issues for K-12 education, the curriculum issues for university education, and the challenges involved in designing and building a video game for mathematics learning.

During the presentation, Gee pointed out a juxtaposition of how games teach and classrooms teach, according to an article at oneindia:

He said: "We tend to teach science, for example, by telling you a lot of stuff and then letting you do science. Games teach the other way. They have you do stuff, and then as you need to know information, they tell it to you."

Games also provide an environment that Gee calls "pleasantly frustrating." They are challenging but doable.

He wrapped up the talk on this note:

"Think about it. If I have to make the game, or a part of the game, I come to a deep understanding of the game as a rule system. If I had to mod science-that is, I had to make some of my own curriculum or my own experiments-then I'd have an understanding at a deep level of what the rules are."

The video above is from a similar chat that Gee had in 2007, sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation.