Take Away Message 3/24/14

The connection or lack there of between video games and learning was spoken about tonight in class. The love for video games is no uncommon among children. Every show and tell item that gets brought into my classroom is some type of game. How can we as educators marry the two into a productive learning tool?

The idea of Mind Craft this evening didn't sit well with me. I didn't really find the educational aspect of it besides being able to build things. If there was more thought being put into it, maybe math or some sort of reading tasks mixed it, I could see it being educational. I think specifically of my students and how they would just think it was "fun". There would be no rigor and in a country that is pushing common core standards with higher order thinking and all these new platforms for students to reach, I would not see a fit for Mind Craft in my classroom.

 There are games out there that can be fun for the children and educational. Yeah, they might "smell like school" as in the man in the video tonight said, but the kids ARE in school and that is what we do in school, we learn. My school has a math program that is fun and the kids beg to use it. There are ways to mix in the "fun" but there is also a need for a set structure and framework for our students that they need to understand to be successful individuals.