Gaming Gains Respect

The idea of learning through games isn't necessarily new. In fact, over the past decade, researchers have been espousing the use of games to help both children and adults learn. But it's only been recently that games have begun to make serious inroads into classrooms. As the world becomes more and more driven by mobile apps and tablet technologies, the games that kids are playing at home (and a variety of others) are slowly but surely making their way into classrooms across the world. Computing power and graphics are making games much more engaging. If what most observers say is true, people are at the beginning of a serious shift in the way they think about and employ video games and simulations in learning situations. Students will learn not just the content of the traditional curriculum, but, more importantly, the skills and learning dispositions they need to create, to solve problems, and to collaborate throughout their lives. The classroom is the perfect place to get kids reflecting on the really sophisticated thinking they do while playing these games. When they collaborate, they can solve more-complex problems than they can alone, and when they share strategies, it encourages that metacognition. Ultimately, they can apply those same problem-solving strategies in their real lives as well, and that's where the real payoff is. (Contains 11 online resources.)