Video Games in the Classroom

Before watching these videos, I really did not have a strong view one way or another about the use of video games in the classroom. It is something that I have thought little about. However, now I think that games can be used as an incredible tool to aide in the learning process. It is something that children in today's world are so familiar with in their everyday lives and is something that they enjoy, so using them to help teach can be a wonderful tool. Games instill the learning practices and social skills we see in the 21st century. Today, we don't only have to teach english, math, history, etc. but we now are expected to teach how to use technology, media literacy, and proper social media conduct that students will use in everyday life. Games are a great way to combine the teaching of these skills to make the student enjoy learning both subjects. Many people see a negative effect that games have on the younger generation, but that is not the case. Kids, rather than being harmed from their constant video gaming, are excelling in many areas. Kids are expected to have many different skills while playing the games, and their multi-tasking skills are showing great improvement as they juggle all of these. Instead of lacking the ability to focus, children have a greater attention span and are less distracted. All of these, along with many others, show that video games are mostly helpful to the kids that are considered as "gamers."

In this lesson plan, students use a video game to learn about the eleven different cities visited in the game and about nonprofit organizations, as well as skills developed by play. They use a video game that's already created to better relate to the students about the subject.