My Gaming Experiences

My Gaming Experiences

My earliest gaming experiences came from board games. Monopoly and Yahtzee were two of my favorites. Checkers and chess were enjoyed for many years as well. Simulations were confined to war inspired Capture the Flag and others along those lines. These activities provided great learning experiences.

Rules, strategies, and interpersonal skills were developed and reinforced by continued play. This, of course, was long before the advent of the digital age. I lost interest in these games as I got older and gravitated toward just one game in which I would participate, golf. I enjoy watching games like baseball and football but, even though I have never been very good, I like to play golf. Today, I am not what one would call a gamer, although I have tried my hand at many games on the Xbox.

As I began college in 1990 with an eye on a teaching degree, personal computers were maturing and the games technology was growing rapidly. Fast forward to my first few years in the classroom and we have education games seemingly, coming from everywhere, and everyone wanted learning to be fun. Similar to today, by the time you bought it, it was obsolete and the kids knew it. 

A lot of money was spent by schools and districts across the country to get that new thing that would help them improve their scores. One of the problems I saw with that was that the students were not engaged for long, if at all. I don’t believe that the district where I taught embraced technology wisely in those years, and I think it had a negative effect on many students’ impression of educational technology. As the technology has improved as well as its access, so has the usage and incorporation by students and teachers alike. 

When I found games that were engaging for my students and they looked forward to the next time or they would tell me how they accessed it at home, showed their parents and siblings, I knew they benefited. When their academic progress reflected improvement in those content areas, we were both excited.

When games aren't relevant to the content being taught or engaging enough for the student to want to continue and return, then it is certainly not beneficial. Those games of my youth were fun and engaging, yet I was learning things without realizing it. When we use games in the classroom, learning doesn’t have to be the only goal.