Several years ago I had the opportunity to teach a game design class to a group of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy upper school students. While my teaching experience was limited to teachers in a professional development capacity, I was intrigued by the opportunity to work with students. Albeit, my gaming experience was bounded by a childhood immersed in Atari, Nintendo, and Sega Genesis. During my first year away at college, I found solace in NHL 97 on the Genesis console. Although an argument could be made that my time should have been dedicated to course work, the hours I spent gaming were the most engaging and focused all year.
Leading up to the aforementioned game design course I was slated to teach, I spent substantial time researching gaming in education—evaluating game …show more content…
One of the most important lessons learned during this teaching experience was that students are good at following tutorials. Kids are raised in an environment dominated by technology, using messaging services to communicate, social media to interact, websites and mobile technology for online shopping, fantasy sports, gaming and more. Online resources and tutorials can certainly be helpful as supplemental teaching tools; however, being in the classroom, I recognized that students were far too focused is on the end goal—complete the assignment to get a good grade. We were missing key elements to the learning process—collaboration, creativity, reflection, and more.
Important questions exist in the minds of educators with regards to student engagement. How do we create learning environments that foster creative and critical thinking skills? How do we encourage students to move beyond grades...to not only solve problems, but to find problems? How do we cultivate deep thinkers...not just good test
Leading up to the aforementioned game design course I was slated to teach, I spent substantial time researching gaming in education—evaluating game …show more content…
One of the most important lessons learned during this teaching experience was that students are good at following tutorials. Kids are raised in an environment dominated by technology, using messaging services to communicate, social media to interact, websites and mobile technology for online shopping, fantasy sports, gaming and more. Online resources and tutorials can certainly be helpful as supplemental teaching tools; however, being in the classroom, I recognized that students were far too focused is on the end goal—complete the assignment to get a good grade. We were missing key elements to the learning process—collaboration, creativity, reflection, and more.
Important questions exist in the minds of educators with regards to student engagement. How do we create learning environments that foster creative and critical thinking skills? How do we encourage students to move beyond grades...to not only solve problems, but to find problems? How do we cultivate deep thinkers...not just good test