Video games in education settings free essay sample

Video games in education We have a misguided idea about video games that they are violent and they cause violent behavior in kid. But, we also like to ignore that video games can actually be beneficial. We can use video games for rehab purposes, for training purposes and most important in our education system. One of the biggest benefit of video games are that they are entertaining. Kids or teenagers, who play video games, know the difference between fantasy world and the real world and they act accordingly. The United States of Americas Army is using video game stimulations for training purpose. Even our heath care systems have started to use videogames for treating different sickness and also in different rehabilitation programs. Therefore I dont believe that video games cause violent behavior in kids or teenagers. Video game works as a stress reliever and they also helps in concentration and coordination. We will write a custom essay sample on Video games in education settings or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Whenever I am stressed or have no idea how to solve a problem at home, I used to play Assassins Creed on my playstation3, but now days when I in those situations I play bejeweled or angry birds on my iPad. I feel that a word with friends and scramble are great app for smart phone or for iPad because it competitive and also n helps in developing your vocabulary. For the iPad and iphone, there are lots of apps that can be used for education purposes for example the sky view app it gives brief description of different celestial bodies around us and its location too. Southern Methodist University in Dallas Texas has a program where first year engineering students get together and built a robot. This program is only applicable for mechanical, electrical students who are taking introduction class in their disciplines and only for computer science engineering students who are taking honors Java programming class. These students will be divided into groups and each roup will have students from each discipline in it, but the number of students from each discipline may vary. They have to build a robot using Legos NXT kit, Wii remote, LED light receptors and Java program. The function of this robot is find the firing line when it placed in a field and then shot the ping pong ball into a hole three times and each time the size of the hole will change. The design and the building part of the robot are done by the mechanical engineering students. Electrical engineering students fix the electrical components and write small programs so that the robot can translate the LED lights. The computer science students write the program for the robots movements, shooting the ping pong ball. The reason why the college has this program is to make sure that students get to practice what they have learned and see whether they can learn new information on their own and part of this project is for the grades too. As a result students have shown great interest in robotics club and this club is successful one too. Robot building project was the most important project for me. This project thought me how to work in groups and interact with others while working in groups, how to dived the Jobs and most importantly ask for elp when having problems. Projects like this can sure help students in learning new topics easily. From my personal experience Java is not my strongest programming language but I sure that I will be able to write programs using Java it need and some help. This project has also helped me in changing my learning style also. By introducing video games in our education system I am sure students especially the teenagers will benefit from it but it will be challenging also. Introduction of video games in education system is still in development stage even though it mass appeal mong younger generation. But when they are introduced in our education system, it will surely challenge the traditional way of learning things. In traditional ways of learning new information, students have to listen to what their teachers or professors are lecturing that day. If they miss a day or more, it becomes impossible for students to make up for those days and even to teachers or professors to explain that information all over again for that person in class or during office hours. If the topic is hard students have no choice but to learn it by heart or some people like to call it earning like a parrot i. e. without understanding what the topic is about or students have to skip that topic and concentrated on some other topic. But with video games students will be able to learn on their own pace. They will be motivated to learn new things because video games have made them entertaining. Video games will present information in multiple visual and auditory modes which will help students who have different learning styles (Mayo, Merrilea J). Video games can help in reinforcing information taught (Mayo, Merrilea J). By rewarding them with points or bonuses that an be used later in the game, they can achieve these bonuses or points by completing certain task in game (Mayo, Merrilea J). By doing this students will develop greater self-confidence and self-efficacy too (Mayo, Merrilea J). When I was in high school the most difficult subjects for me was math and science. The reason was I did not understand the functions of different elements or components in it. In those day I did not have luxury of using video games or computer to help me with my problems, the best option I had was to ask my friends, teachers if I still dont understand, then I had to learn it by heart or skip it. But now a days there are video games that can help in learning mathematical functions for example paper toss game app on smart phones or on iPad. The game looks simple but there are certain elements we need to consider while playing it such as air flow direction the distance of the bucket etc. For that we do certain calculation in our mind without even thinking about it and we get exited whenever we make the paper in the bucket. AquaMoose is another video game that does the same as paper toss game, but the difference is that student gets to explore mathematical concepts in 3D. Study was conducted by Jason Elliot, Lori Adams, and Amy Bruckman by using two pre-calculus having 30 students in each from BSH public high school in central Georgia. They gave this game to one class and used the other class as the control group. They were surprised by the outcome of their study. Some students said to them they would like to learn using this game and some said that they would do something else that playing this game. The class which was used as the controlled group said that they like to use this game. Some students said to them that this game was not up to their expectations. They conclude saying that to encourage tudents to learn using video games the quality of the product has to be best and also entertaining. Men/boys are normally considered to be visual and hands on learners, but there are girls who are visual learners too. Most time ot the time i rue nad difficulties when I was learning now write computer programs in my high programming class. I did fine in learning the theory portion because I studied it by writing over and over again. But when I had to write the code I always struggled because I did not have the tools need to practice it. But later I was able to practice and made good grade in the final lab exam. Something happened to e when is started to work in a hospital, in beginning it was difficult and when I had questions regarding entering certain orders in the computer, I had tough time when some verbally said how to enter them, the only way I learned to enter them was when some showed it to or made me to do it while they were showing how to enter it in the computer and That how I learned. This is same with video games; boys spend more time playing video games than girls. Girls due play video games but not as much as boys do. Video games in education system will make visual learners to retain information without even known that they are learning. Due to its high graphic environment, challenge in the game and it is more hands on learning style. Whenever a product is introduced in the market, first thing I do is talk about is its negative side not the positive side, until I buy it or use it and then I will start talking about is positive side for example when apple announced that they are coming up with iPad. First thing I did was that I went and read about it and then deiced that I will not buy it because Just bigger version of phone or iPod even if the review were great. But after few months I went and brought it now I cannot live without it. Same hing is video games in education system educators look at the negative side of it, than the positive side and try to utilize it for education system. Video games like Alga- Blaster, Reader Rabbits have become popular among students because those games can be easily integrated into the education system and can be used during independent study time (Kurt Squire). There are video games that are not used for educational purpose but have help students to engage actively and think quickly Pac- Man is example for such a video game. This game has made players to work together and share their tips and secrets in finishing the game (Kurt Squire). By sharing ideas students can learn to work in groups and fell confident in sharing their ides with one another freely by not worrying whether their solution is right or wrong. The reason boys spend more time playing video games than studying is because they are entertaining, have high quality graphics and also have trophies or bonus that can be used later in the game. So they feel comfortable playing games for hours and struggle while studying, but they can even spend time reading graphic novels. To encourage students in reading school information video games must have clear goals hat students can find meaningful, multiple goal structure and scoring to give students feedback on their progress, multiple difficulty level to adjust the game difficulty to learn new skills, random element of surprise, and finally emotionally appealing fantasy and metaphor that is related to game skill (Kurt Squire). Video game like Civilization Ill is common among high school history student, but it is not the best game to play or learning information (Kurt Squire). There is no silver bullet that will make students to learn new information the only way possible is by making t interesting and by motivating them. Video games work on teedback system tor example whenever a task I is accomplished in the game there is a bonus or a trophy, which makes player to keep on playing due to high curiosity. The make video games work in your education system educators need to implement Input-process-outcome (IPO) model for learning and playing computer game (Lee Dee Miller). In short this model can be called as a feedback system. This model was later modified to IPO-GD which describes the learning process of students when they are developing or playing games (Lee Dee Miller). Basically it means that whether a game is developed or played by students there has to be feedback system in the game. To implement this model in educational based video games, video games developers have to work with teachers from different fields so that they can make study material interesting and a way to grade their students without letting students know that they are being graded for the study material they are playing as video games. From my personal experience I have solved problems sometimes while playing video games. Sometimes I came up with new idea while playing video games. Even I have questioned myself while playing how is possible and how can I use this in my personal life. For example I like the graphics from the video game The Mummy it has sequence where a book open on its own I am trying to learn that animation portion so that I can use it on my web page in different way. There was a game called The Bible for playstaion2 1 used to play with my brother and sister when they had to review for their Bible quiz on Old Testament. This game was based on events from Old Testament. Before I wanted to be physical therapist I wanted to be software engineer or a video game developer. There are games where people interact with other over the internet and play with them online for hours and sometimes they play with friends, family members staying in different area or with strangers. If they are playing with strangers they develop friends or trust even though they have not seen them in some case it can be harmful or in some cases it has be beneficial. If video games are introduced in our education system this area of video games needs to be exploited properly. This makes them responsible for they are part of learning information while they are playing video games or doing some kind of group work. When I was in middle school, I was afraid to approach most of my middle school teachers for help sometimes it gave me nightmares. With games or the internet students will be able to approach their teachers more freely and teachers will be able to keep the content of the game under control by releasing information that is need for that time Video games have mass appeal among the younger generation especially in United States of America and Japan. https://website.education.wisc.edu/kdsquire/tenure-files/42-cot.pdf https://mcdb.colorado.edu/files/history/mcdb_cu_boulder_history.pdf http://videogames.procon.org/ http://apueduc513.weebly.com/week-2-readingsvideos.html https://www.twulasso.com/