User:Kiannajade/New sandbox

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This page includes some history of video games being used as an additional or alternative method to traditional education. This page presents why using video games are beneficial to use for educational purposes in the classroom as well as the limitations that combat some of the positives of using video games in class. This page additionally discusses how learning from video games outside the classroom is possible as well.

Compared to a classroom model
Video games have been found to be more engaging; instead of providing information over an extended class period, games provide small amounts of information at relevant stages. Playing video games helps with metacognition (which describes the ability to think about your own thinking); strong metacognitive skills have been proven to help with developing academic skills and allows students to learn about their strengths and weaknesses and increase their performance. Video games that are used as objects of study in classroom can enable students to be skilled rhetorical readers, by exposing literature and language from different discourse communities, and by encouraging students to practice reading the symbolic structure of inherently consumption-based video games.

Using video games in the classroom
Several studies have attempted to answer, "How and to what extent are games used in the classroom?" In one study, fifty-three Swedish ESL teachers were surveyed; the outcome determined was that video games in the classroom were barely utilized. Although the teachers were open to the idea, they did not identify the benefits of applying video games to the curriculum. Video games created excitement, not for learning, but for the games.

While there are people who do not agree with the idea of using video games in the classroom, others are open- minded to the experiment. Video games are an interactive entertainment. They promote intellectual skills that support academic achievement. In supplying students with educational subject matter, they demonstrated further advantage. Making use of video games in the classroom is simply another technique to engage with students.

A study was conducted in a "3 week intervention with game- based learning activities in eight lower secondary classrooms." The study found that video games are a motivation to the students who do not find educational settings interesting. The purpose of the study was to increase engagement and participation of students. Class participation increases retention of the material. Encouragement for student involvement in the classroom is distinctly recommended.

Promote critical awareness of discourse communities.

Barriers to the use of games
Many teachers have reservations about using video games. One study asked teachers who had some experience using games in class why they didn't do it more often. Six general categories of factors were identified as problem areas:


 * Inflexibility of curriculum: Teachers find it difficult to integrate games with the already-set curriculum present in classrooms. It can be difficult to locate a game that is educational as well as fun. And many teachers have no experience in using games to teach. Learning with games may not be accepted by skeptical parents who personally learned with more conventional techniques. The interdisciplinary field of game studies has offered a variety of perspectives to complement traditional modes of rhetorical analysis and production, which should be adapted to address the unique affordances of video games as a medium in contrast to the traditional banking model of education.
 * Stigma: Video games are associated with children's play or a leisurely pass time for the adolescent population, which creates tension between the reality of video games enhance a child's educational viewpoint. Video games are thought of to distract children from the seriousness of academics and is considered an unproductive activity.
 * Psychological issues: Gaming can promote student addiction as well as physical problems. Students may also lose their desire to learn in the traditional setting. It can also remove teacher control and result in "excessive competition".
 * Students' lack of readiness: Students have varying levels of skill and computer literacy, which may be affected by their socioeconomic status. It takes time to teach them the rules of games, and games are harder for them to understand than traditional audiovisuals.
 * Lack of supporting materials: Teachers do not have access to supporting text or work for students to do alongside games.
 * Fixed class schedules: Teachers have time constraints and their school may not allow them to use games. More sophisticated games, often yielding the most learning content, often take hours to learn, and more time to play.   The tutorials for Civilization V take an hour to finish, and complete games can take 10s of hours.
 * Limited budgets: Computer equipment, software, and fast Internet connections are expensive and difficult for teachers to obtain.
 * Relevance to Common Core: The educational systems is increasingly driven by standardized testing focused on assessment of common core topics.  Games exist for these topics (glasslabgames.org) but gameplay is generally not competitive with commercial video games.

Some teachers were more concerned about some problems than others. Male teachers were less concerned about limited budgets, fixed class hours, and the lack of supporting materials than were female teachers. Inexperienced teachers would be more worried about fixed class schedules and the lack of supporting materials than were experienced teachers.

Learning from video games outside the classroom
Commercial video games in general, referred to as commercial off the shelf (COTS) games, have been suggested as having a potentially important role to assist learning in a range of crucial transferable skills. One example of this would be in first-person shooter games such as the Call of Duty franchise (although these games are violent by nature, and they have been subject to massive negative reception by parents with varying justification). While the Call of Duty franchise itself falls short of actual tactical strategy or realism in depth, there are many games in the same genre (first-person shooters) from which one can learn key skills from the games: they stimulate the player at the cognitive level as they move through the level, mission, or game as a whole. They also teach strategy, as players need to come up with ways to penetrate enemy lines, stealthily avoid the enemy, minimize casualties, and so on. Players can test their usage of these skills using the multiplayer aspect of these games. These games also allow players to enhance their peripheral vision, because they need to watch for movement on the screen and make quick decisions about whether it is a threat, to avoid wasting ammunition or harming allied players.

Other games, such as the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, have been used to provide insight to the basic nature of education in video games. Success at these games requires the player to first fail multiple times – this is the only way to learn the proper actions. These games also provide real-time feedback on how well the player is doing, an area in which traditional educational systems are lacking. The main advantage with video games is that there is nothing to lose from failing, unlike in real life, where failing usually results in negative consequences.

Games similar in nature to Animal Crossing give the opportunity for it's players to practice multiple life applicable skills such as time management, materialistic value, investing in payment plans, skill building, and more day to day neighborhood based activities. The value of the cutesy, animated, animal characters who each execute neighborliness in the video game foster a friendship value that primarily focuses on the social practices learned while playing the game. Players may experience an increase in comprehension, evaluation, and deliberate skills that are gained from playing this animated game that sends out messages about cultural, social, or political practices.

A research project involving positive use of video games is outlined in an article that focuses on studies that suggest there are health benefits to playing video games. This article presents information from studies from the University of Utah, Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, 2009's Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine, University of Washington, Visual Development Lab of Ontario's McMaster University, University of Rochester in New York, and North Carolina State University. The researchers from these universities found that video games are therapeutic for children with chronic illnesses, can improve preschoolers' motor skills, reduce stress and depression, provide relief from pain, improve vision, improve decision making skills, and maintain happiness in old age as well.