‘When playing games, kids show all the attributes their teachers wish were visible in the classroom. They stay on task, they are determined to achieve their objectives and persist despite failures along the way. They work cooperatively to solve problems, and praise the good efforts of others.’
‘Kids play games, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. They persist because they feel the reward of having achieved something that was a challenge. The ultimate reward is the “epic win”.
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Whilst I disagree that video games can ever be a substitute to a real teacher and whether it can teach social and communication skills to children, teachers can definitely use them in the classroom to increase the ‘levels’ of student engagement and/or learning in a classroom or school.
Many use the term ‘gamification’ to refer to the use of game thinking and game mechanics to engage audiences (does not include game-based learning). Whilst gamification has its origins in the business and marketing world, it has started making appearances in classrooms around the world in various guises.
Best Video Games for Learning
So what would a proper video game curriculum look like? Here are some useful video games that can help you teach important concepts and topics.
ENGLISH
Using Scribblenauts, Students learn to use verbs, nouns and adjectives as they mine Scribblenauts’ impressively vast dictionary in order to solve the series of puzzles.
SCIENCE
Portal’s no-nonsense GLaDOS is great for teaching physics. She’s intelligent, witty and that is why Portal 2 is recommended for all science students. Another good one is Spore for learning about human evolution and how life can be disappointing at times.
HISTORY
Assassins Creed history module – teaches how a bunch of people were responsible for basically everything good in history.
MATHS
Doctor Kawashima from Nintendo’s Brain Training is the best Math teacher in the virtual world. He makes math fun and can take you out of the class if you don’t do your homework.
GEOGRAPHY
Civilization is a game that helps you discover land and other tribes, and then re-create it as your own weird, messed up version of Earth.
PlayTime (PT)
With Wii Fit, everyone will love PT. All you need is your gym kit, extra socks, a towel, a Wii, a balance board, and one Wii remote per person.
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