I was born in Fairmont, WV and reside in Fairview, WV. Currently, I am working at Fairmont State University as a Professional Development Coordinator and teaching an Instructional Technology course for the 2011 - 2012 school year. I'm employed by the Marion County Board of Education as a fifth grade teacher at Fairview Middle School.
Not only do I want to learn the technology skills to create games, I want to understand the role that games play in students learning content.
I enjoy games on my ipad and android phone. Games such as, words with friends, scrabble, monopoly and yes, Angry Birds! My sixteen year old often "ropes" me into a few Wii and Wii Fit games and xbox games. ( I'm partial to Mario Kart.) When our son was 3- 5 years old, my husband and I really got involved with playstation games (frogger, pacman, bugs life, to name a few). We've tried to explain to our 16 year old what it was like to play "pong" in the late 1970's. I'm extremely competitive and really enjoy all kinds of games. We still play many board and card games as a family, along with video games.
My position on kids and video games is one that expects a balance. For example, I understand my son's fixation and need to complete levels in various games, because of his competitive nature (I don't want to be a hypocrite). But I expect him to participate in some social activities, read books (online is fine with me), and have conversations with others (and during these conversations he often quotes football, basketball and golf statistics that he learned from his games).
On the other hand, it's hard to ignore the stories that elementary and middle school students share; staying up all night playing games (falling asleep in class), refusing to complete minimal homework assignments because their entire evening is consumed with video games...it's these types of stories that fuel the fires of conversation around the "lunchroom" table, about "what's wrong with today's youth".
I've chosen the article Video Games Don't Cause Children to be Violent because the opposite is often stated in the media, by parents and teachers.
List three major world events that happen during the year you were born: (1965)
1. 1965 Voting Rights Act: The Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote becomes law.
2. Lyndon B. Johnson announces his program to create Medicare and to expand his war on poverty.
3. Mandated health warnings appeared on cigarette packages, and smoking became a no, no.
I agree completely that there needs to be a balance. As a Business teacher there are computers in the classroom, and the students just want to play games instead of doing their work or hurry up and half do their work to play games. As a teacher you can control the classroom, but it is harder to control their home life. I do feel games can have an educational effect on students and I will enjoy learning how to create them for the classroom. I like that you chose a positive article to share about games not promoting child violence.
ReplyDeleteI really like the fact that you mentioned the outside factors of video game playing, such as not completing homework assignments and falling asleep in class from staying up too late, that clearly have an impact on children's learning and development. Typically the issue of violence is pointed out as a being a big problem, but in my opinion, these issues are also just as significant; just in a different way. Although video games, if educationally based, can be very inspiring and stimulating to the mind, good old fashioned board games and card playing can be just as fun and developmentally productive. The age of technology seems to have swept under the rug the gaming styles of the prior days and generations. As for your three major world events I do not recall any of them because I was not yet born. However, they are all very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI remember a time, a few years ago, when no one new was Words with Friends was... and now, it seems everyone is playing it. I started playing two years ago with my roommates who discovered the game over Winter Break that year, and ever since we've always played each other, and now I'm addicted to it! ... As for the events during the year you were born, I wasn't alive at that point, but I do know some about Lyndon Johnson's Medicare program, simply because both of my parents' are doctors, and that seems to be the issue they discuss at dinner every night when I'm home.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the fact that you still play card and board games with your family. I still love playing games with my family. Now that my nephew has a wii, our family likes to play that. I also agree that video games can be a part of childrens lives as long as they balance their time with other social and physical activities. I was not born until 1988, but the events you listed were major events so I am familiar with all of them.
DeleteThe 60's rock! I'm really glad you posted the video game and violence article. Although it was posted by a CEO of the gamming industry (says something about the bias of the article) I'm intrigued by the statement:
ReplyDelete"The myth that video games cause violent behavior is undermined by scientific research and common sense. According to FBI statistics, youth violence has declined in recent years as computer and video game popularity soared. We do not claim that the increased popularity of games caused the decline, but the evidence makes a mockery of the suggestion that video games cause violent behavior. Indeed, as the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared: “The state has not produced substantial evidence that … violent video games cause psychological or neurological harm to minors.”
This is a topic I would like for someone in the course to explore for the Literature Review paper assignment in this course. ;)
I remember when I was in high school, internet games were just starting to take off, and there was one that we started playing called U-planet. It was basic simulation game, where you were the administrator of your own small country, or world. Your job was to grow your world into a strong enough position to survive. You had everyday duties like food production, building production, and such, as well as diplomatic responsibilities, including forming alliances, and making war on other worlds. It was funny, my political science teacher actually got us started. It quickly got out of hand though with students going to the computer lab during their free time to log onto their U-Planet accounts. The school ended up banning the game on school computers due to the high use of the bandwith. At that time bandwith in the schools was still about as good as dial-up :(
ReplyDeleteI think that there needs to be a balance in all thing. I am a dietitian and teach there are no bad foods just bad eating habits. I think that this is where as parents and educators we teach personable responsibility. I was really amazed when I did my student teaching how differently students reacted to the same type of activity using technology and one that was a paper and pencil assignment. I actually used two different versions of the same lesson plan with two different classes and the level of work was very different. The class that completed the assignment using the web excelled.
ReplyDeleteI did some of my clinical hours at Fairview Elementary. It's a nice little school. Great link. I agree with you that there needs to be a balance when kids (and adults) play video games. They should not be something that consumes everything you do.
ReplyDelete