Amadu Kargbo

8/2/17

Pre-English

Position Paper

Games are a form of entertainment that most kids spend their time taking part in. It takes

up a lot of their time, keeps their attention and allows the kids to interact with the characters in

the game. I relate to this a lot. Most of my childhood was spent playing videogames instead of

doing my homework. I found school as a chore and it was hard for me to get invested into the

subjects taught. I just wanted to play games in class instead of having to read books and take

tests. What would happen if you interpret games into the classroom and use that to gain their

attention and help them learn more efficiency. Would using this technique help students learn a

lot more or would it only be a distraction and cause them to learn less in class. It is a discussion

that has been going on in schools for some time. kids find games exciting and meaningful. They

dont want to spend their weekend with their heads in a book, they want to do something

exciting. If we incorporate this mentality into the way we tach our kids what would happen? This

topic has brought on many different perspectives.

The use of games in the classroom as a method of teaching kids has had different

perspective in the community. Most people believe that this has improved the kids interest

towards class and helped them learn better. Others believe that this method has not helped kids in

class at all. This is the issue of games hurting or helping kids. It has been a topic that has been

argued in general. This issue is defined by the type of game used and its affect it has on kids.
Some see games as a learning tool that allows kids to be creative and learn in a different

perspective. Others define games as a waste of time that teach kids bad habits and values. This

cases tension between the two sides. The use of games to learn is nothing new. This goes back to

the 1970s. this was the time when computers in the households started to become a thought.

Educational games started to come to be later and it brought on a new way of learning.

Advances started to happen as technology became more and technology was eventually brought

into classrooms. This became the new way of teaching kids. Now in the 21st century technology

has become the basic use in classrooms and the use of games have become much more prevalent.

Games have had such a huge impact on both kids and the school systems. They are even

being used to teach kids in class, games like kahoot are being played in classrooms. This game is

used as a study guide for quizzes and exams where you have to answer as fast as you can. The

faster you answer the more points you get. At the end of the game the one with the most points

win. This game incorporates the knowledge of the topic study as well as the amount of time it

takes them to answer. This game was something my teachers used to help us prepare for the tests

and she found it to be very effective. I enjoyed playing the game and I learned a lot. This method

of teacher worked for me and others. With this mentality, the incorporation of games into the

classroom environment would help them learn efficiently by capturing their attention, allowing

the students to participate and interact with each other in class and giving them a fun way to

learn the information.

One of the main positive things games can do is capture the attention of the kids.

Grabbing their attention for a long time and keeping their interest is amazing. It has a great effect

in them. Playing these games helps teach them great hand eye coordination. This is something

that truly works and it something we want to be able incorporate in the classroom. This was
shown to work in the book Technology, Knowledge, and Learning. This book was written by

Amanda Bell and Melissa Gresalfi. In it they did a study using an interactive game. The kids

were told to decide where the teacher would go and determine how long the journey will be.

In this study, they saw a huge increase in the pre-and posttests of the students. The

teacher described how she connected better with the students and how they were really engaged

in the game. She also felt that the methods used are very useful and it helps with the learning

process (Para 20). This study showed the positive impact the game had on both the teachers way

of teaching and the students way of learning.

Games in the classroom helps the students create a positive and solid interaction. It is

very hard to interact with others in class. Kids now tend to be silent in class and barely interact

with the teacher and the others student. I had this same issue but games changed this. Games

made the students interact with each other. This broke the silence in the class and gave the

students an activity to do. this creates a healthy interaction between the students and the teacher.

This was proven to work in the article Learning by Playing: Video Game in the

classroom. This article was written by Sara Corbett, she tells the story of a 54-year-old teacher

named Al Doyle. This teacher incorporated an interactive game in his lesson. He played a game

where he would ask them to help him navigate his character to the girl while getting reward

points. The kids were so happy and interested in the game. They guided him to the goal and

when he made it the kids cheered; some even high fived each other. This was an exciting

learning experience that kept their attention. Corbett describes this new way of teaching as the

source and organizing principle of our childrens learning (Para 11). This way of learning is

slowly becoming the new way of teaching.

 The best impact games have on the kids is it lets them learn the information in a fun way.

It is tough for kids to get into learn about topics they have no interest. This is something I deal

with every day. I find it hard to get into some of my work and I often lose focus and get bored.

This is something students tend to feel they get bored if they are just sitting in class and listening

to the teacher talk for ninety minutes. This is where games come into the equation. Games help

stimulate the students mind and it keeps them engaged.

This is expressed in the book Design and Use of Serious Games. In the section Using

Videogames as Educational Tools: Building Bridges Between Commercial and Serious

Games. It was written by Pilar Lacasa, Laura Mendez and Rut Martinez they discuss the

positive effect of games and the use of games as an education tool. They believe videogames

can turn into an educational instrument because they engage with symbolic reconstructions of the

world (pg. 108). This means thats they help connect others and teach them many different

things.
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