Video Games and Education 

I will admit that I have always been a video game lover. If only my original Atari or original Nintendo NES  were in still great working condition I'd be a very happy girl. I found this video so interesting because he has such a great take on what video games are and how learning happens. Learning is happening in vid games all the time, kids can easily get  addicted to playing these games and do  play them  for hours on end. Imagine if we could get our students to be addicted to what's going on in the classroom. James Paul Gee is right when it comes to the definition to a video game- all it is is a set of problems that you must solve to win.  Education is essentially that. The prize for winning a video game is a sense of accomplishment, bragging rights and  hopefully an unbeatable score. As adults we know what the "prize" is from learning- a future. Sadly, most students can't see it that way. Imagine technology in the classroom and all that it can accomplish. Imagine all the "games" out there that are made to teach Math, History, Science and so on. How amazing is it that finally something that kids love (video games) can be used to help a student learn the things we want them to learn and they get to enjoy it at the same time. Like Gee says imagine curriculum built so rich that just by going through it, the way we would perceive ways of assessment would completely change. It is mind blowing and I Iook forward to the time we get to that point.