Twenty-First Century Teaching: Utilising Video Games as Educational Aids
As we go further into the twenty-first century, the nature of education is rapidly changing. The times of writing notes by hand, preparing essays on paper, and learning only from teachers and textbooks are evolving. Students use their phones in class to help them and employ laptops to take notes and stay organized during the school year. Teachers are also using PowerPoint presentations, projectors, and YouTube videos to assist them in the classroom as well. What the average student carries with them to class and how the classroom looks is completely different today than it was five to ten years ago. With the advent of technology and it becoming more accessible, it is up …show more content…
When using video games as a support mechanism for education, students can manage to immediately apply the knowledge they’re learning and then see the results of what they are doing straightaway. Some of the most common subjects that students struggle with, such as math or science, can also be covered in an in-depth and unparalleled way. In a national survey from 2013, researchers from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center had interviewed nearly 700 teachers who taught from kindergarten to grade 8 in the USA on their experiences using video games in the classroom. The results were unsurprising. Out of the teachers surveyed 78% agreed that “Digital games have improved student mastery of curricular content/skills (e.g. math, language arts, science, etc.)” (Takeuchi, Valaa, 2014 p. 52). Furthermore, out of the teachers surveyed, the vast majority agreed that video games had been “highly effective” in improving their students learning in such subjects as math, computer and technology content and skills, and science. These subjects have historically been the most challenging for students in school. By using video games to help teach students, it makes it significantly easier for them to take on these challenging
As we go further into the twenty-first century, the nature of education is rapidly changing. The times of writing notes by hand, preparing essays on paper, and learning only from teachers and textbooks are evolving. Students use their phones in class to help them and employ laptops to take notes and stay organized during the school year. Teachers are also using PowerPoint presentations, projectors, and YouTube videos to assist them in the classroom as well. What the average student carries with them to class and how the classroom looks is completely different today than it was five to ten years ago. With the advent of technology and it becoming more accessible, it is up …show more content…
When using video games as a support mechanism for education, students can manage to immediately apply the knowledge they’re learning and then see the results of what they are doing straightaway. Some of the most common subjects that students struggle with, such as math or science, can also be covered in an in-depth and unparalleled way. In a national survey from 2013, researchers from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center had interviewed nearly 700 teachers who taught from kindergarten to grade 8 in the USA on their experiences using video games in the classroom. The results were unsurprising. Out of the teachers surveyed 78% agreed that “Digital games have improved student mastery of curricular content/skills (e.g. math, language arts, science, etc.)” (Takeuchi, Valaa, 2014 p. 52). Furthermore, out of the teachers surveyed, the vast majority agreed that video games had been “highly effective” in improving their students learning in such subjects as math, computer and technology content and skills, and science. These subjects have historically been the most challenging for students in school. By using video games to help teach students, it makes it significantly easier for them to take on these challenging