Yadi Ziaeehezarjeribi, a faculty member in the department of curriculum, instruction and media technology, uses a variety of technologies and researches the role of gaming in students' development.
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Teaching Games: Faculty member promotes using gaming, technology
- Thread starter Jason Svoboda
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Let me get this straight...Sonic the Hedgehog helps kids learn to write? No...Sonic the Hedgehog is the topic upon which kids wrote. Sonic ain't teachin' kids a thing about writing. Sure, use a video game as a tool to reach a goal. Use Mario Brothers as a topic to gain the kids interest, but Mario doesn't actually teach them anything.
From where I am sitting, Sonic teaching kids how to write is like Mario teaching kids how to be plumbers....
I see where Prof Z is going with this concept and there is nothing wrong with it. But the article makes it sound like he is stating that Video Games (off the shelf) are an actual educational tool which they are not. Kids discussing Sonic the Hedgehog in an effort to advance social behaviors is no different than kids discussing what happened on the Big Bang Theory last week. It is a topic of discussion like the football game on last sunday or the comic book that was read last week. Video games can be a tool for sure when designed to be, but there is no inherent educational value to a Sonic the Hedgehog game of any kind, and I would challenge or request viable data to support that claim. The point here is that the use of technology coupled with topics of conversation that are of interest to children is what is important. An interested student is a better student, so if using Sonic is going to get them interested...great!
Also one last point...he is quoted as saying, "When players make mistakes while playing video games, they often just start over, without criticism they may receive in a more public setting, Ziaeehezarjeribi noted." Ummm...please correct me if I am wrong. But in the real world, there are consequences; in the real world, there is criticism....why would we attempt to teach that concept "out" of a child?
From where I am sitting, Sonic teaching kids how to write is like Mario teaching kids how to be plumbers....
I see where Prof Z is going with this concept and there is nothing wrong with it. But the article makes it sound like he is stating that Video Games (off the shelf) are an actual educational tool which they are not. Kids discussing Sonic the Hedgehog in an effort to advance social behaviors is no different than kids discussing what happened on the Big Bang Theory last week. It is a topic of discussion like the football game on last sunday or the comic book that was read last week. Video games can be a tool for sure when designed to be, but there is no inherent educational value to a Sonic the Hedgehog game of any kind, and I would challenge or request viable data to support that claim. The point here is that the use of technology coupled with topics of conversation that are of interest to children is what is important. An interested student is a better student, so if using Sonic is going to get them interested...great!
Also one last point...he is quoted as saying, "When players make mistakes while playing video games, they often just start over, without criticism they may receive in a more public setting, Ziaeehezarjeribi noted." Ummm...please correct me if I am wrong. But in the real world, there are consequences; in the real world, there is criticism....why would we attempt to teach that concept "out" of a child?
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