Gamers are the new Students

   Video games are another new media in which teachers are now experiencing at their disposal to reach out and educate their students.  I think using all sorts of things that children are interested in, whether gaming, music, sports, etc and using that information to better educate children is a great idea.  This trick in teaching is not new.  I can remember in my schooling where the teacher went to extra lengths to incorporate the things that we, her students, were interested in.  The new media, or thing a lot of students are interested in, is video games.

   Gaming, while it intrigues me, is not really my thing.  I have played a variety of video games throughout my childhood and adult life to know that I'm not very good at them.  I have a hard time focusing a lot of my time and focus at any given part of the day to play.  While I know this about myself, I do think I will try to use video games in my classroom.  The way I reason it is I don't like all the things that I know my students will like, but I still try to appeal to them through that source.



  

   One of my favorite modified video game lesson that I have read was done by a guy named Mr. Todd Nesloney.  He took the popular app, Angry Birds, and turned it into a real life game about geometry and physics.  The students created 3D figures of the "birds" and the "pigs" and set up their own levels to try and beat the pigs.

   This type of "gaming" in the classroom, as well as tangible board-like games, are ways that I think I can handle.  I'm not sure I'm quite as prepared to enter into the World of Warcraft interface, I'll stick to baby steps.