For many years, video games have been the central idea of violence, aggression, addiction, distractions, health hazard, and much more. The idea of video games in the classroom have distraught many educators, parents, and district leaders, whether it can be an educational tool or just a complete utter distraction. Digital media has developed tremendously and it has now become apart of the classroom environment. Video games such as computer games or apps that promote learning can be beneficial for students academic success. Children already spend most of their free time and social time through online methods. We’ve learned that all students learn differently, flexible seating has been a rising topic in the 21st century classrooms. Similarly, if expand the opportunities and creativity for students by using video games, they can be used as a medium for the outdated school system.
The school system has followed. The first known video games used as an education tool began in the mid-80s and have since have growing innovations. Logo was one of the first educational games created in 1970, but the most known educational game was Oregon Trail released in 1971. Oregon trail was created from american geography and history, where the player had to guide a traveling family across the country based in the 1800s. An increase in disk space games increase following the invention CD-ROM in 1982. In 1991 the computer games grew higher as the invention of the internet.
Although not many homes owned a PC at that time, it advanced the the possibilities of gaming’s including educational video games. The Nintendo consoles have had success with educational gaming over the past few years as well such as Brain Age and Big Brain Academy on the nintendo DS that allows for a variety of subjects. The most popular and important technological innovation for educational gaming, used also in classrooms today, are the Apple iPads. The ipad is easy to install a variety of applications known as “apps,” kids and parents can find games that will be educational and fun.
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Another educational game that many parents and children are not aware that it is education is Minecraft, you probably heard of it since it was very popular when released in 2011 and continues to be popular today. Children learn through the custom maps made by other on the internet, parents even host classroom-style servers where children can learn school subjects and play with children their age. Because this game can be anything that the player wants it to be, it makes it appealing to kids and parents. In all, depending on the game children can learn the basics of language, solve puzzles to keep their brains active, practice math and reading. Video games create a blend for learning and fun.
The problem today is that so few are using their iPads to play educational games and some do not know what to make of those games. The tablets do have access to the internet, and on the internet you could find the answer you’re looking for, which many students take advantage of. Teaching children to respect the use of a tablet allows students to use it for the right reasons. Early educational teaching relied on teaching by the book, now with the easy access of technology, children have the opportunity to use their accessibility to create conceptual thinking and keep their brains active, as they are opening new windows to creativity and learning. As the 21st century is becoming digital media generation, the use of video games are also a popular demand.
New ways of learning has become an important factor for many parents and teachers because with the development of new technology, our educational goals are now at a different path from when the education system was conducted many years ago. That being said, children and adolescent spend most of the out of school time playing video games on variety of devices. I want to explore the benefits of immersing video games into the education setting of young children and adolescents.
The immersion of video games are important for children and the educational potentials they have. Video games can be used as an educational tool for X,Y,Z. Video games teach children X,Y, AND Z. Exploring digital media can expose students to engage and motivate them to explore, experiment, and construct their own knowledge. The benefits of the video games in the educational setting is shown in a series of experiments, they include skills that children will recieve from the games as well as exploring the potential of experimenting and creating their own knowledge.
The first experiment from “Measuring and Defining the Experience of Immersion in Games” by Charlene Jennett, investigated participants’ abilities to switch from an immersive to a non-immersive task. The second experiment investigated whether there were changes in participants’ eye movements during an immersive task. The third experiment investigated the effect of an externally imposed pace of interaction on immersion and affective measures. I plan to use this article to explore the topic of immersion in video games and the benefits that come with it.
