I've just started reading Don't Bother Me Mom - I'm Learning! by Marc Prensky and I felt the urge to come out of my closet and confess that I used to play Bejeweled Deluxe 2. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I play computer games, but rather, in the words of my 15-year-old Digital Native niece, 'eeww, the game is so passé'. Oh well, Vanessa, you've got to give your Digital Immigrant aunt a chance. At least I'm trying and I do see some good in playing video games.
You see, Bejeweled saw me through MEd 871 and 872 - Educational Inquiry 1 and 2 modules. During those 'dark days', the game gave me a sense of 'I can do it!' and I felt better and better when I leveled up. The game required me to make decisions fast, co-ordinate my hand and eyes, manage different parts of the screen simultaneously. And when my move wasn't wise, I had to think fast how I could recover before the timer booted me out of the game. During the state of 'the flow', I went through the 5 learning levels which Prensky spoke of.
- How - I learned how to strategize, outwit obstacles, click ultra fast to sweep the jewels and beat the timer. (An evidence of my practice - my Bluetooth mouse is now dead)
- What - I learned that I need to grab every opportunity fast, think fast enough to recover from a wrong decision and see a few steps ahead.
- Why - If I don't, my game ends quickly. Just like in real-life, grab the opportunities which come by as they don't hang around for long.
- Where - In the game, this is where I train myself to beat my own record. It's good because I strive to better myself.
- Whether - I learned the consequences of my choices - both good and bad ones.
Hey, come this April when school's out for me, I'm going to check out Grand Theft Auto!
Hi Brenda,
ReplyDeleteMy addiction is actually 'Chuzzle' - almost similar to 'Bejeweled'. Unlike you, however, I think my experience in the real world at the workplace gives me more than enough practice of the 5 learning levels Prensky speaks of (and no I haven't read the book - mebbe I could borrow it from you =D hint!hint! nudge!nudge!) - I think all of us adults do enough tai-chi-ing and ninja tactics and moves 5 days a week.
I like 'Chuzzle' mainly because I can 'blast' the cute chuzzles off (actually it's non-violent, it's getting 3 or more of the same coloured fluffy things together and they will disappear), and well, they don't take much offense, in fact, I get more points if I do. There are no real emotional issues that I have to think of, they're cute - I sort of understand that they're cute but well, it's a game, so the chuzzles and I don't feel bad - no one's feeling gets hurt in the end and no side assigns intentionality when something does not work out as planned and well, the chuzzles and I expect ourselves to take things in stride.
Grand Auto-theft - okay may I join you? - We can play the bad guys, right ;).... it's too much pressure having to be all proper and teacherly like all the time....
Sure! I highly recommend the book. It's really easy to read and it shed light on some areas which I've never given thought to. For example, the cognitive processes going through a gamer's mind. I got the book from the library. I'll try and extend the loan period and pass you the book?
ReplyDeleteChuzzle? You? Hee hee... can't believe our top scholar playing games too eh? I shall try it sometime.
Oh yes, we'll explore Grand Auto Theft together sometime end April, ok?
HI Brenda,
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the cognitive processes going through a gamer's mind, could I ask a question (maybe it's a silly one but nehminelah!)? - Do the cognitive processes (in your view) resemble those processes (if it is at all fair to categorise them) that may go through the mind of an individual
1) playing a basketball game - I have a strategy at the outset, but a lot of my responses in the actual game depends on other players and my team mates - everything is very dynamic and depends on quick response?
2) working through a science problem? I have a strategy and the method is to follow a procedure to solve things step by step?
3) studying/investigating history?
4) debating?
I would think that it may be one - so in your view, if we could remove one 'other than interesting' subject from our curriculum and replace it with a Game (I'm guessing mostly online involving other players) without compromising the use of a certain set of cognitive processes (again assuming it makes sense to speak of them in this way), - which subject could I eliminate? =D
Sorry - erm...let me explain the idea behind the previous question - I just wanted to understand further the claim of 'I'm Learning' suggested by the title - Gaming learning may be learning (I think any experience can be or is)but I feel that maybe it is not the same kind of 'learning' we associate with 'school learning' hence, so much bad press about the habit and addiction of gaming. Possible solutions to counter this is - either
ReplyDelete1) we find similarities between 'game learning' and 'school learning' or
2) we expand the definition of 'school learning' to include the learning that happens in game learning or
3) we introduce game learning as a 'new learning' that needs to happen in schools
Just thinking aloud - what do you think? I'd also be interested in hearing what Arun has to say about all of this. =D
Actually, now that I try to recall, it wasn't 'cognitive processes' that was discussed, not in a scientific-medical-psychology kind of way. Rather,it was to illustrate how gamers think and how they grasp concepts through game-playing.
ReplyDeleteI'm in a rush to do some marking so I shall leave you with this which left an impression when I was reading the book and how lucky! I managed to find the chapter online. Follow this link - www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-Beyond_The_Lemonade_Stand.pdf.
However, my personal take is, I'm open to what Prensky has said. It's just that I'll feel more comfortable if was scientifically tested or if say 20 of my students say the same thing as the boy in the story.
I hope it helps answer some of your questions for now. I'll think about what you've said and will get back to you once work is out of the way. Happy reading!
P.S. Would you be keen on reading it sometime this week? I can pass it to you. I still have 2 weeks into the load period and I can always renew it online. Let me know!
The fundamental reason learning is important is because it enriches us with a certain skill. How society values that skill determines whether that form of learning is good or bad.
ReplyDeletePeople always praise the kid who aces the exams (or as it is known in Singapore as the kid who got 8 A1s, for O'Levels at least).
The skill the kid has mastered is to do well in exams. But how many of these sort of kids actually make it to the top of any sort of profession?
When you look at the list people at the top, you'll find that a lot of them were just average people in the school learning environment. Some even never finished school. The two famous examples of the IT industry are Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Why even consider the "bumbling" 43rd President of the US, was not really the "sharpest tool in the shed."
So how did these people really make it to the top? My view is that their practical application to the various tasks at hand that made them excel in (or rise to the top of) their fields.
What the education system needs to bring in is the use of practical learning. The reason game learning is so effective is that it is a practical learning method in which you pick up a skill to achieve a goal. In the game's case it could be shooting things up or scoring goals or whatever else there is.
The creativity and genius of the human mind is unleashed by practical application. Not by sitting at a desk listening to the "cher" drone away at some random topic.
That said and done, I'm unfortunately drifting into the ideal paradise of a world.
In the same practical sense, the objective or task of the education system is to prepare individuals to fit into various slots and strata of society for the sole purpose of ensuring the survival of it. And sadly the most efficient way (i.e. best yield rate) to do this is using the rote method of learning most of us have endured in school.
The only thing being that the yield rate has been falling of late, due to the technological revolution. As such educators are scrambling to find ways and means to adapt the system to improve the yield.
:)
Hi.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for the link, Brenda - I'll read the article and actually I don't know if I'll be able to read the book in two weeks but thanks for the offer so maybe I'll borrow it from NIE once you're done with the book =D and once my TP a-sigh-nments are done!
Here's the website which linked me to Brenda's Prensky link (for anyone else interested) which I couldn't get from the PDF address - just copy and paste and click read article
http://www.gamesparentsteachers.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=59&page=1
and Arun ..... oooooo...you've said so many interesting and contentious(?? =D ) things let me think through, digest it and link it back to what I was previously trying to think of so .....Akan Datang - and thanks for the prompt replies - back to Brenda's Blog later probably over the weekend. Take care and have a restful?? week ahead.
Hi everyone. Happy New Year!! I’m sure everyone’s busy as they’ve been silent … or noisy elsewhere, so, I decided to be noisy here.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, Brenda, I’ve read the article and think that a lot of what is said there is achieved through collaboration or project work though this has been done in the context of a specific game – it is like PBL and problem solving in a way – students have to divide work efficiently, negotiate with problems and such, don’t know if you’ll agree but that was my sense of it.
Secondly, Arun – I like the way you’ve opened up the topic to say something like, ‘okay, let’s look at how things are happening from the opposite end, in the job market rather than start from the point of school.’
To be honest, I often don’t understand what happens in school – I feel sometimes we’re just like okay everybody is going left so let’s go left; then everybody is going right – so let’s go right. I always feel that schooling or rather education, ideally, should not be about learning this skill or that skill because even the practical skills you speak of in gaming have produced ‘undesirable and unforeseen results’ http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/headhunter-employers-hate-world-of-warcraft-players
here is one to contradict the above one
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2009/id20090114_362962.htm
Ideally for me, education should be about really letting everyone be the best that he/she can be, and in doing that, the needs of society will be naturally filled (sounds familiar?) ….so would gaming or Multi Users Virtual Environments like Second Life allow that to take place, what does anyone think?…..maybe, it will never happen, at least not in my lifetime
Also, I think the practical skills you speak of have traditionally been associated with polytechnics, often meant for older students. My feeling is that the other stuff that we use in practical life happens in the school setting but not necessarily in the classroom – often in the playground, in group activities such as CCA, camps and such. The other stuff that happens in class well….. let me joke about it okay? …prepares us to sit quietly and tolerate many hours of boredom and sameness – but some fun happens in between….
So the key question for me is NOT about how will all this scrambling to learn with technology develop any country’s economy – I like toying with the idea that every country’s economy will take care of itself if every individual is given the opportunity to develop his or her potential – we always talk about it but fail in its execution because it comes third (or even further down) to economic and political considerations ….. so will learning with technology and virtual environments allow the variety that you hint at (by saying society fit people into slots) – allow the fostering of different interests and have the people who notice this and allow it to develop in their students? Who knows, right? It would probably be extremely difficult right, considering how we like to assess and have everybody spend time accounting for everything we do rather than allowing the doing to happen =D
Okay back to a-sigh-nments.