There’s been a lot of talk in my life recently about using games to teach the future of our world. Hearing the story I just linked to on NPR is one. Having my students tell me song and dance wasn’t good enough, I need to make it a game, is another. And listening to a speaker last Saturday explain how students see teachers as a game, wondering how they can get to the next level, well, it’s decided. I need to make games a part of my curriculum.
Growing up in the digital age has given me a certain appreciation for games. I can’t recall how many times when I was in High School that I’d be in class daydreaming about going home and playing games all afternoon.
From the previously linked article comes this quotation:
She’s come up with four elements she believes we all need to be happy: satisfying work, the experience of being good at something, time spent with people we like, and the chance to be a part of something bigger. Games, she says, do all of these things.
I completely agree. Games are amazing because you learn through trial-and-error, so there’s no real punishment for being bad at the game. You just reload and try again. Yet as you gain experience you can really feel it. You also get to be something bigger than your body. I’ve built a countless number of rollercoaster’s playing RollerCoaster Tycoon and learned how to run a city in Sim City/a>. It’s a natural extension of my creative nature.
I’m interested in how games can improve learning. I’m more interested in actually developing a game that teaches the fundamentals of web design. It would be a lot of hard work, but if it gets the students to happily learn the basics, then they suddenly have the skills to feel confident in building more complicated websites.
No related posts.