Hey, you lovely, wonderful human I may or may not have met!
I am writing a chapter about the usefulness of teaching people ambiguous concepts through video games (like awareness of racism through narrative experience or helping someone understand schizophrenia or Alzheimer minds when they do not have one themselves). This is an unpaid chapter to be used by a free class, so it will not be used for personal profit, only education.
I'm a writer, artist, editor, interactive media lover, and eternal student. I have taken the role of a teacher many times throughout my life, but I am not a school teacher (mad props to those of you who are--it is the most important and, from what I can tell, thankless job in the world).
I'd love some educator input. I just realized that as a non-educator, I kind of really suck at knowing what will and won't work in the classroom and at knowing which questions to ask; but as I was emailing Dr. Beach about it, I remembered -- I AM a journalist! Just, as a non-educator, I don't know what questions to ask to get the answers good teacher folk like yourselves need.
So, that's what I'd like: your questions about integrating serious and social consciousness games into teaching, whether in a classroom setting or not. I'd also love your doubts and criticisms. I heard someone mention in class that when kids are playing games, it's hard to teach (or impossible); but as someone who learns well that way, I don't get it. So, your doubts and criticisms will probably be THE BEST way for me to learn!
I can pay you in design or writing or editing lessons or help on something I know well! Or all my loves, which I'm also decent at :-D
Feel free to send this blog page link to whoever you would like. I'd love to have all the knowledge in the world on this, so I welcome as many people making me feel like a silly non-educator as possible. I'll be posting it on Twitter and in the G+ community too. This is how I learn, so thanks in advance.
Note: as a writer and artist, I don't get butthurt (another one of those online terms I've been teaching my blog group this semester, meaning my feels don't get hurt from criticism or challenging my opinions, i.e., hurt for no reason).
Help a human out. Thanks in advance. I'll try to check back daily and comment back.
Hi Jacqueline. Ok, so I think that you're onto a good idea, but I know as a classroom teacher I'd have several concerns about implementing a practice like this with my students. My first concern is the level of exposure to sensitive subjects without direct contact with my kiddos. What I mean is, if I am not participating with them 100% of the way, they may come upon some information or scenarios that make them uncomfortable or that raise questions for them. As a teacher part of what makes me effective is to be able to read my kids as we go through a lesson, relying not just on what they say they understand, but also on my observations as I interact with them. So the idea of having them move through a program dealing with such sensitive information without me, makes me a little uncomfortable. It's not like a math problem (like the accounting game we discussed a few days ago) where I will know pretty soon thereafter if there were any issues along the way....
ReplyDeleteAnother concern is whether or not the students would actually get the desired effect of the game/lesson. Now this may depend on the group of students in any given class, but let's just say that enough of the students that I've worked with over the years have struggled with extracting abstract ideas from presented material, as well as thinking introspectively. Sometimes we forget that their brains are so different from ours, that we expect that they will be able to analyze information and walk away with the same (or similar) "take-aways" that we did. Now, much of this can be facilitated through debriefing and supplementary lessons and such, but without knowing how the game looks within the bigger picture of the classroom instruction, it is a concern.
The other concern that comes to mind pretty quickly is the involvement of parents/guardians in the process of this. Unfortunately we have a great number of parents out there that react so strongly to anyone suggesting anything different to their children other than their personal/family opinions. While I absolutely respect those parents desire to "protect" their kids, it makes it very difficult to discuss or suggest anything outside of the central grade level content without fearing retribution by an upset parent. So, I think there would definitely need to be some parent "orientation" and without a doubt, a permission slip, before having kids participate in an activity such as this. Regardless of my personal opinions on how this may or may not be ridiculous, it is the truth and reality of our society right now.
I may think of some other things. If anything I said triggered a question for you, let me know. Also, if you have more specific questions, just let me know.
Hope you're doing well!
That's fascinating, the idea of a parental release for it. This explains a lot toward why many of these games don't include expansive narratives and why some mistaken researchers claim that narrative can take away from the actual instruction, which is honestly just the opposite. However, in a situation like that, where educators are nervous about what exactly is being taught, as are parents, I could see how narrative would be concerning.
ReplyDeleteI guess, knowing that now, my question is then how is this different from books then? Kids read them on their own, or in the hyper-ineffective round-robin way, and are expected to glean certain concepts from them without teacher involvement. They are used as part of a lesson for debriefing and synthesizing, and then they are revisited if necessary or used to create something else with. If a game was part of a lesson like that, would it still be as concerning? Games are meant to be a part of a lesson(s), so that's a common practice.