James Paul Gee argues in What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning And Literacy that students in a school
setting will have a better chance of learning the material if they are immersed
in the material’s ways of being, knowing and speaking. By doing so, the
students will be able to find meaning in what they are learning in order to
learn in-depth and to find meaning in what they are learning.
Throughout his text, Gee analyzes how children/people experience video games and how they learn the game in order to reach their objectives. He makes several points about how people can apply learning strategies form video games to the educational system. In general terms, some of them are: People are given a choice for how they reach the objective in the games they play. For example, a person may play one video game cautiously while another player may play the same rashly. They also understand the language used within video games. For example, they understand what “jump to reach the next cliff” means regarding the context of their situation within the game. In a school setting, some of the children do not have a picture within their mind of what they can actually do with their newly acquired knowledge. They do not understand where they can apply their knowledge or why what they learned even matters to begin with. A third point is that students identify with the character they are playing. If the students can identify with the learning process, they will find school to be more beneficial for them. A last point I’ll mention is that people who play video games interact with other people and that also increases their connectivity to the gaming environment.
To be more specific, here is what Gee discusses throughout his book: At one point, he mentioned that in every situation, there are specific ways of speaking that mean something to specific people depending on their values and lens (Gee 25). Gee also said that within those situations, people have an internal and an external viewpoint. The internal viewpoint is when meaning is constructed in a specific situation based on past interactions with other people, while an external viewpoint is how people interact with each other in that same situation. In order for someone to recognize who another person is in a situation, there must be “insiders,” or people who are aware of the language and rules of a situation (Gee 28).
Based on the idea of “insiders,” Gee mentioned that when people recognize each other in a given situation, they also recognize the language that is used and the specific meanings conjured by those sentences (Gee 29). In the context of the video game world, people recognize the language that is used because they are immersed within that situation (Gee 31).
In chapter 3, Gee mentioned that the identities that children take up are different in the academic setting than they are when they play video games (Gee 46). He also said that video games require people to take on certain identities while at the same time using their already existing identities to identify with the character they are playing in the game (Gee 47). He also discussed how video game players have three types of identities, which are virtual, real (Gee 49) and projected (Gee 50). Virtual identity is the identity that makes up the person’s video game character and is different than the person who controls that character. Real identity is the identity that the video game player chooses to have in real life (Gee 49), while projective identity are the traits of the real identity that the player uses to come up with the character that they choose to play throughout the video game (Gee 50). When the player chooses a character based on their own values, they are able to connect with the environment in the video game. When students reluctantly learn in a school setting, they feel as if they are at risk for losing the identity they have. However, in a video game, they do not have to feel that same risk because their identity is part of the character that they are playing (Gee 55).
In chapter 6, video games also either offer people a different understanding of a situation or it reinforces what they think goes on in that situation. Not only that, but they give players the choice of what identity they wish to take up in the video game world, such as good and bad (Gee 145).
While reading this text, I began to wonder how educators could make learning more engaging for the students. Some educational systems tend to rely on one teaching method for all of the students to learn from. However, they do not realize that that model works for some students, but not for all. Since video games are amendable to different learning styles and offer different possible routes to the learning objective, students in educational systems should be given the same choice. By doing this, they will find more personal meaning in what they learning because it will mesh with their real-life identity. Not only that, but if the schools found some sort of way to show the students the contexts to where the information can be applied to by having them play/live as the person/subject they are learning, they would probably find more enjoyment and meaning in the material as well.
Work Cited
Gee, James Paul.
What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy.
Rev. and Updated ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.
Throughout his text, Gee analyzes how children/people experience video games and how they learn the game in order to reach their objectives. He makes several points about how people can apply learning strategies form video games to the educational system. In general terms, some of them are: People are given a choice for how they reach the objective in the games they play. For example, a person may play one video game cautiously while another player may play the same rashly. They also understand the language used within video games. For example, they understand what “jump to reach the next cliff” means regarding the context of their situation within the game. In a school setting, some of the children do not have a picture within their mind of what they can actually do with their newly acquired knowledge. They do not understand where they can apply their knowledge or why what they learned even matters to begin with. A third point is that students identify with the character they are playing. If the students can identify with the learning process, they will find school to be more beneficial for them. A last point I’ll mention is that people who play video games interact with other people and that also increases their connectivity to the gaming environment.
To be more specific, here is what Gee discusses throughout his book: At one point, he mentioned that in every situation, there are specific ways of speaking that mean something to specific people depending on their values and lens (Gee 25). Gee also said that within those situations, people have an internal and an external viewpoint. The internal viewpoint is when meaning is constructed in a specific situation based on past interactions with other people, while an external viewpoint is how people interact with each other in that same situation. In order for someone to recognize who another person is in a situation, there must be “insiders,” or people who are aware of the language and rules of a situation (Gee 28).
Based on the idea of “insiders,” Gee mentioned that when people recognize each other in a given situation, they also recognize the language that is used and the specific meanings conjured by those sentences (Gee 29). In the context of the video game world, people recognize the language that is used because they are immersed within that situation (Gee 31).
In chapter 3, Gee mentioned that the identities that children take up are different in the academic setting than they are when they play video games (Gee 46). He also said that video games require people to take on certain identities while at the same time using their already existing identities to identify with the character they are playing in the game (Gee 47). He also discussed how video game players have three types of identities, which are virtual, real (Gee 49) and projected (Gee 50). Virtual identity is the identity that makes up the person’s video game character and is different than the person who controls that character. Real identity is the identity that the video game player chooses to have in real life (Gee 49), while projective identity are the traits of the real identity that the player uses to come up with the character that they choose to play throughout the video game (Gee 50). When the player chooses a character based on their own values, they are able to connect with the environment in the video game. When students reluctantly learn in a school setting, they feel as if they are at risk for losing the identity they have. However, in a video game, they do not have to feel that same risk because their identity is part of the character that they are playing (Gee 55).
In chapter 6, video games also either offer people a different understanding of a situation or it reinforces what they think goes on in that situation. Not only that, but they give players the choice of what identity they wish to take up in the video game world, such as good and bad (Gee 145).
While reading this text, I began to wonder how educators could make learning more engaging for the students. Some educational systems tend to rely on one teaching method for all of the students to learn from. However, they do not realize that that model works for some students, but not for all. Since video games are amendable to different learning styles and offer different possible routes to the learning objective, students in educational systems should be given the same choice. By doing this, they will find more personal meaning in what they learning because it will mesh with their real-life identity. Not only that, but if the schools found some sort of way to show the students the contexts to where the information can be applied to by having them play/live as the person/subject they are learning, they would probably find more enjoyment and meaning in the material as well.
Work Cited
Gee, James Paul.
What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy.
Rev. and Updated ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.
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