Will video games change the way
we learn? Video games are important because they present players simulated
worlds. Worlds which, if well constructed, are not just about facts or isolated
skills, but embody particular social practices. Video games make it possible
for players to participate in communities of practice and as a result develop
the ways of thinking that organize those practices. Games that are currently
available are going to replace schools as we know them any time soon, but
because they give a glimpse of how we might create new and more powerful ways
to learn in schools, communities, and workplaces. Even though, they are wildly
popular with adolescents and young adults, they are more than just toys, new
social and cultural worlds can be created, and these might help people learn by
integrating thinking, social interaction, and technology, all in service of
doing things they care about.
Years of research on epistemic games have
shown that players can learn concepts and principles, and acquire practices and
ways of thinking by learning to solve real problems the way professionals do. Epistemic
games players develop skills not by playing as experts, but by playing as
novices training to be experts of a particular kind: engineers, urban planners,
journalists, and so on. Educational games are powerful learning environments because
they recognize that students need to be a part of rich activities that build on
their own goals, backgrounds, and interests.
Epistemic games can be used to help
students achieve success through simulations and models. They have attracted
players for whom English is a second language given that they can practice
grammar by selecting games that maybe instruct to move words around to make
sentences. If they use the right structure then the game gives the player high
points. In that way, an English student will learn how to put the words together
in order to create coherent speech which eventually will be used in the
classroom or in another social environment. The point of these games is to help
English students improve vocabulary and even pronunciation depending on the
type of game selected by the player.
Epistemic games are an
interesting way to enhance the teaching process as well. Many schools in
foreign countries already support epistemic teaching. Current teacher
preparation programs do their best to prepare students through method courses,
which often include a mixture of lecture, hands-on activities, and lesson plan
development assignments. Before becoming licensed and getting classes of their
own, future teachers observe classrooms and get a chance to practice teaching
briefly. Observing a class, however, does not give beginners an access to the cognitive
decision-making process a teacher uses when questioning students, making
suggestions, or noticing signs of understanding.
In conclusion, epistemic games
make it possible to take good practices for learning and make them more widely
available and more powerful to learn by doing, and emphasize the value of
implied as well as abstract ways of knowing. They may not be the only way to
accomplish these ends, but epistemic games lower the cost of failure by placing
action in a simulated world, and thus make it possible to learn to innovate
without risk, to step into other cultural and intellectual settings in a guided
and protected way.
Esther Ramos
English V section 01
15 comments:
video games represents a fun way to learn, for that reason it is consider a modern tool to capture the student attention.
That means as well the success of the intention in a educative project because is not only to capture the attention of the students is to keep them involved during the whole activity.
Games give an enjoyable language practice at all ages and leves of learning. They can be used to practice any of the skills such as: speaking, listening, reading and writing at any stage of the learning process, for avoid repetition in classrooms. Teachers have to select the activities and bring the necessary information both when they will develop a specific game, in this case, about the language content putting in practice the skills of all the students giving the instruction or use of the games. Students and teacher have to be clear of the purpose of this kind of games to make the learning a possible fact.
Teachers always have developed and found different ways or strategies to make their students acquire the knowledge as well as they can, that is the reason why games have emerged as a tool to strengthen the students’ abilities, helping them not only to keep interested in the learning process but also making them to notice what their skills are, to indetify what kind of things they would like to do in the future and so on. Games are really helpful, and they are not just a way to complement the subjects or the topics we explain because they can be just a way to have fun, why not? Human beings also need a time to relax and if they can enjoy and learn at the same time, why not consider this option??
Yay.. Video games are not just for fun we can learn too.. LoL That's why I like to play games... Do not say " Dont waste your time playing video games " it's a fact that we always learn.
absolutely, I love strategy games because they make you think! and isn`t that the main purpose of education? to shape individuals who have a unique way of thinking. I ship this tool.
I think this is awesome! my kind of learning! :D though games we can learn a lot of things. I have seen epistemic that help people to learn and think like lawyers,designers, geographers and other innovative professionals. Also I have played some sort of games that let you knowledge of geography and stuff. I thikn is a funny way of improving you knowledge!
Exactly my friends, these epistemic games are powerful aids for effective reasoning and for the design process. They also
provide a theoretical basis for a great variety of knowledge-structuring activities that can be used in any
classroom. However, the same principles generalize to software development, instructional design, and
potentially to any academic, corporate, or workplace domain where knowledge construction and representation
is involved.
I've experienced myself the learning process through games, but I my mind never went that far, thinking about all the uses that gaming has nowadays! And yeah I agree with all, games are a great way to teach people new things, because basically they are learning for themselves while they experience the game.
I like epistemic games because are more than just fun. Games possess an important part in human beings since we are born, through those kinds of games that we used to play we learnt many things that helped us to develop a lot of skills, from psychomotor abilities to creativity, values, vocabulary and even helped us to socialize and build our own personality and likes. Beyond that, it is one of the best instrument to arouse interest in the acquisition of knowledge as well, thus epistemic games has that potential element that motivate young people and adults build confidence and leadership, and take out the best from them by developing their potential that they have in any activity. In this way, in the teaching process it must be the weapon that teachers must used to help students bring out all their skills. Games not only promote in the acquisition of knowledge, it helps teenagers to be focus more in studies and are also the perfect way to keep them away from drugs and dangerous behaviors. They are great tools that help people learn about life. In this sense, as future teachers, we should have to take advantage of the amount of epistemic games that technology offers us.
epistemic games prepare you for life, it is kind of like when you play resident evil and you learn how to defeat zombies. If we ever get invaded by those then we shall be prepared.
same thing happens with EG. if you want to become a teacher, EG gives you the opportunity to practice by having a simulated class. its awesome.
exactly, that is basically how we have learned everything. by playing: touching objects, dragging chairs, singing even. games are excellent tools for a teaching/learning process.
Epistemic games are definitely the perfect tool to increase your levels of concentration, production and creative response, there are now many ways to acquire more knowledge, but this is undoubtedly one of the most fun to do it
I love videogames and the idea of learning through them is awesome. I think that is a new way to learn at the same time that the students are having fun and keeping their attention on a lesson. So, it is not a bad idea to apply this tool in schools, it is a good way to teach something and for students learn all that they need in a future. Finally, I can say that my first English teacher was a GameBoy :D Long life to Nintendo!
LONG LIFE TO CARLOS DUTY @JANIR xDDD
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