Games and Learning

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Games and Learning
Learn- To gain knowledge, understanding, or
skill by study or experience. (Merriam-Webster
)
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Games and Learning
Playing a video game is more than just pushing
buttons to get reactions from the screen in front
of you. James Gee seems to think that there are
thirty-six other reasons why people play video
games. These thirty-six reasons are learning
principles that Gee has discovered while
conducting his own study about video games and
the effect they have on people.
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Games and Learning
A few of the Learning Principles. Self-Knowledge
Principle- The virtual world is constructed in
such a way that learners learn not only about the
domain but about themselves and their current and
potential capacities. (Gee, 208) Dispersed
Principle- Meaning/knowledge is dispersed in the
sense that the learner shares it with others
outside the domain/game. Some of whom the learner
may rarely or never see face-to-face. (Gee, 212)
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Games and Learning
The Committed Learning Principle- Learners
participate in an extended engagement (lots of
effort and practice) as extensions of their
real-world identities in relation to a virtual
identity to which they feel some commitment and a
virtual world that they find compelling. (Gee,
208) Not only are gamers learning to be
committed to a game, but they are being prepared
for the real world at the same time.
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Games and Learning
According to Beck and Wade on a Discovery Channel
Documentary Gamers have amassed thousands of
hours of rapidly analyzing new situations
(Committed Learning Principle), interacting with
characters they dont really know, and solving
problems quickly and independently. Admittingly
they have gained that experience in a simplified
world focused almost entirely on themselves. But
that world has also emphasized tangible results
and given them constant, critical feedback.
Isnt such a world in essence a well designed
training environmentEven compared to team
sports, arent the skills they are learning more
directly relevant to professional work?
(Dispersed Principle) (Beck, 80)
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Games and Learning
According to Beck and Wade From a managers
point of view, members of the game generation
have a complementary value that is even stronger
their attitude toward competition. To put it
mildly, gamers believe that winning matters When
you beat one of your friends in a game, it feels
just as good as beating them in real life.
(Beck, 81) Committed Learning Principle? Isnt
that why we play for hours at a time? Because
winning matters to us and we feel committed to
the games we play.
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Games and Learning

• In conclusion.
• We do learn something when we play video games.
• It could be one or many of Gees 36 learning
  principles.
• To learn is to gain knowledge, understanding, or
  skill by study or experience.
• We develop skills when we play games, we gain
  knowledge about the domain and about ourselves
  (Self- Knowledge Principle), and Gees principles
  allow us to understand why we play video games.