The Truth Behind VideoGames

[educationalvideogame-blog]

Do you Agree?

On march 30 2019 I started an interview with a teacher in the Pennsylvania school district. He would like to stay anonymous to protect his job and his social life. I will be referring to him as Mr.L. Mr.L has been in the school district from 25 years and has taught math science and social studies. This interview was conducted over email over the course of 3 days. Jarrod was conducting the interview.

Jarrod- “hello Mr.L, how is your day going?”

Mr.L - “Great, you?”

Jarrod - “ Good thanks for asking. So as a teacher in the a Pennsylvania school district, what are some flaws within the schools?”

Mr.L- “ Well to start off funding is a huge problem with schools. They are trying to become high tech and wasting money on things we don't need like projectors, smart boards and tablets. The curriculum is another huge problem in schools.”

Jarrod- “ I see where your coming from. Is there any way that you can think of that could solve the problems?”

Mr.L- “ The only way to solve the problems are to either up funding which we cant do without harming poorer families or change the way kids learn.”

Jarrod- “do you find that video games could be a positive outcome?”

Mr.L- “ It depends on how its implemented.”

Jarrod- “Can you elaborate on that?”

Mr.L- “ Kids Understand technology better and better. They will find a way to get out of the work and do what they want. If you could implement a game that makes them learn without them knowing that would be extraordinary.”

Jarrod- “I understand, But do you find that kids should stick to books?”

Mr.L- “No at the end of the day kids are kids and they are attracted to technology. If we can find a device that is great to use help them learn and can be regulated than we should start to use technology to learn.”

Jarrod- “How would you implement video games into your curriculum?”

Mr.L- “I would have a warm up on the computer and have them do activities using video games regulated by me and the school.”

Jarrod- “Do you find that will help and how?”

Mr.L- “Yes I do, I feel I am able to monitor and see what I need to help the students with”.

Jarrod- “What about violence in video games?”

Mr.L- “Don't be careless.”

Jarrod- “Can you explain?”

Mr.L- “If you conitore the students they should not have access to anything you don’t want unless you are careless or lazy.”

Jarrod- “Thank you for your time Mr.L”

Mr.L-“pleaser is all mine.”

A teacher of 25 years finds that video games can help. The research i've spoken about and done in other posts says the same yet nothing is being done. What's stopping schools?

[educationalvideogame-blog]

The book “The Game Believes In You” brings up the concept of the brain being used as a muscle. For a muscle to grow, get bigger and stronger it must be used. The brain works in the same way. In early childhood children like to learn when it's fun and engaging. By using video games we are having kids learn and use critical thinking to get around an obstacle or problem.

Greg Toppo is a senior editor at Inside Higher Education. As part of the editorial leadership team, he coaches reporters and contributes himself as a writer to the national publication. he was national education and demographics reporter at USA Today. He worked there from 2002-2018. He graduated from St.John's college in in Santa Fe, N.M.,  he taught in both private and public schools for eight years. After teaching he then moved into journalism. Some of his other works and achievements are a 2015 book about technology in schools, and was also a 2010 Spencer fellow at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

In the book it says that while playing video games is fun it also explains that video games improve the capability of the brain’s frontal lobe, which is linked to the processing of attention and executive functions. The frontal lobe Carries out higher mental processes such as thinking, decision making, and planning. It also says that more than nine hours per week of video games, compared to infrequent use, can benefit a wide range of mental operations.

Not only does the frontal lobe benefit from video games but your cognitive function also increases. Cognitive functions are mental processes that allow us to carry out any task. They allow the subject to have an active role in the processes of receiving, choosing, transforming, storing, processing and retrieval of information, allowing the subject to navigate the world around him. Games are intended to train different aspects of executive functions, such as capacity planning, as well as skills related to working memory and inhibitory control, to regulate thoughts and behaviors.

Greg Toppo gives examples on how schools could incorporate video games into the curriculum. The book not only explains how video games  helps children and adults in schools but also shows how it helps them outside of the school.

[educationalvideogame-blog]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-education-in-gaming/2015/05/28/b6920cbe-edcc-11e4-8666-a1d756d0218e_story.html?utm_term=.64a2f06f3ae5

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/3/videogames-in-theclassroom.html

T. Rees Shapiro reports on education for The Washington Post.

On May 29, 2015 T. Rees Shapiro posts an article on the benefits of playing video games. T. Rees Shapiro quotes Greg Toppo author of the book “The Game Believes in You.” Shapiro brings up, “via dozens of attempts at particularly difficult levels, video-game players must innovate their path to success in a way that exemplifies the best kind of learning.” He explains that some aspects of video games teach us lessons life skills and habits that schools can not. Games do not just reward for participation or casual effort. But you are rewarded for taking risks, persistence and practice.  According to Shapiro “The U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation see games’ potential and have invested millions accordingly. The Gates Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation have together committed $100 million to educational gaming. Also the Gates Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation have together committed $100 million to educational gaming.” The fact that organizations are throwing so much money into video games that can help kids learn is truly a sign that they must work.

Michael Thomen on March 29, 2014 wrote an article against the proposal of implementing video games into school curriculum. Popular video games, such as Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto, played by younger children, include guns and vulgar language. According to many studies, violent video games can increase aggressive behavior. Thomen also brings up the point of sitting inside all day and not getting physical activity.

T.Rees Shapiro and Michael Thomen both make great points but do not look at the whole picture. Video games are a great thing to fill your time with,expand your mind,and change the way you think. Over the past 19 years I have learned life lessons through games that most teachers could never have taught me. Cool math a small math based game helped me learn my times tables and division. Playing video games allows you a mental release from reality. During my research on this topic I found a post by a man explaining how video games did not just save his life but helped him grow as a person. He was bullied all his life at home in school and had nowhere to turn. One day he found a game and fell in love. Video games change the way people think and look at a problem or obstacle. No matter how you look at anything in life there will be pros and cons. I believe video games are the future and instead of fighting it we embrace it and start looking at how it implement it into everyday curriculum.

[educationalvideogame-blog]

Are video games really that bad? Around the world there are millions of gamers out there playing violent video games. The media says that violent video games leads to violent behavior in the real world which is false. They used a test using two players that played against each other. Whoever loses gets to choose how saver the opponents pain will be. They used hot sauce, electric shock and pinches as types of pain. But there was only ever one player. The one player had no idea that they were playing an A.I (artificial intelligence). So they had the allusion that the pain level they pics is being performed on the other player.

They put thirty people in a room, some played violent games and others played friendly harmless games. Each players heart rate and skin condition was being watched. After playing the games they were assigned they were shown a series of violent video to see their reaction towards it. People who played more violent games had less of an reaction to violence in the real world. Children do not copy what's in the video games, but tend to act out more violently. This is do to the video games changing the way you think. Some don't believe that this is true do to the past twenty years young violence is down over 82 percent. They say this is do to the children having less opportunity to commit crime in the real world.In the data given video games do not make people less social or violent. It shows people have the same escalation in heart rate and violence when talking about video games or watching football. The emotions from doing all three tends to evaporate in a matter of minutes and you go back to your normal state. But maybe it's not the violence in the video games that makes you violent.

A study done made the player put one hand in a bucket of ice cold water. Then they played Titres. But it was not the original Titres, this game took the worst piece you needed to finish a line ultimately making you fail.  They were then asked before they left, how long should the next player keep their hand in the water. Almost all the players said more than what they had to. This shows a sign of aggression. Even tho they were playing a harmless family friendly game they still had aggressive thoughts and behaviors.

Another study was done at the exact moment you are playing a video game. When playing the game all the participants  amygdala (part of the brain that controls fear and emotions) would suppress emotions when violence occurs. This is not just in video games it also happens when we have emotions we don't want to feel. Examples sadness, anxiety and being scared.

Throughout all these tests and results I feel that video games are not making people who play them more violent but more controlling of their emotions.  

[educationalvideogame-blog]

The librarian that I had a meeting with was very helpful and was able to point me in the best route to find the information I am looking for. I was recommended  https://wenr.wes.org. Which is a website that describes the good and bad in the education system. This was helpful but not what i was looking for.

I was also given www.thebalancecareers.com. This website tells you what the predicted future jobs involving technology are. Every Single job listed is needed for the creation and tools for video games. As I read the jobs description and requirements I then combined the two sites to see how schools can help repair to the future needs of jobs. The schooling system offers a set of classes that allow you to dip your toes in and feel if you like working with computers. The problem is some people look at classes that are not the traditional math,science,English and social studies. After the cold war America made it mandatory to take four years of English, three years of math science and social studies, and a half of a year of computer science. These sites have intrigued me to look into the standards of education and the requirements of the jobs of the future workforce of technology. The education system is taught and organized in the same manner from the cold war. Much has come and gone and yet we are restricting the new generation from evolving and growing how technology is.

[educationalvideogame-blog]

This blog is about how video games can help people in everyday life and in educational purposes. The gaming world is growing at an extreme rate. According to Spil Games approximately 1.2 billion people play video games world wide(16% of the world's population). Education in America as we know it is changing. We are starting to no longer use textbooks but we are using online books. Everything we know in schools is becoming electronic. Some key jobs that are predicted for the future are Mobile Application Developer, Software Engineer, Video Game Designer, IT Security Specialist, Computer Systems Analyst, Web Developer. Every single job is required to develop a video game.

According to NPD, 91 percent of U.S. children ages 2-17 play video games. Parents see video games as the enemy, but instead of fighting the kids to stop playing they should be encouraging them to play games after they study. Some games tend to have a large amount of information in them. Not only will the information be learned but the child playing will learn highly social skills needed in school and in the workforce.

[educationalvideogame-blog]

My name is Jarrod and I have loved dinosaurs my entire life. The early years of my life was spent watching Land Before Time. This is a cartoon dinosaur movie that was created in 1988. As I got older I started watching other dinosaur movies like Dinosaur by Disney and Jurassic Park. I also would watch walking with dinosaurs and other dinosaur related documentaries.  It was August 29,2017 when the game of my dreams came out. A.R.K Survival Evolved an open world survival game. This game does not just entertain you but brings you into another world. I am going to become a high school social studies teacher. I feel that there is a way that important information and life skills can be learned through video games. I am dedicated to show the true power that video games have over everyday life. Whether it’s in a professional setting or at home with friends and family.