Journal 5: Gaming in the Classroom

Gaming in the classrooms is about incorporating creative and challenging educational games into lesson plans. The teachers’ goals are clearly to teach the standards but also to engage students more fully than traditional curriculum. Teachers have caught on to the popularity of gaming and are eager to tap into the fascination it holds for kids. They seek to incorporate gaming with learning in the classroom to take full advantage of the motivation level kids have shown toward games. They are networking for advice from fellow teachers for what kinds of games, in both computer and board form that have proven successful in their classrooms. They are also eager to share feedback as to what kinds of games they have found successful. Through experimentation, they are learning which games are best at maximizing learning engagement with minimum intimidation. Overall, the teachers have had success getting kids to learn enthusiastically without making it feel so much like a lesson. Fellow educators are so willing to share their experiences, both positive and negative, about why they feel something either works or doesn’t. They are sharing links to resource sites and to people on the cutting edge in the field of educational gaming. Also encouraging is the openness with which those with their own educational sites willingly respond to teachers asking for ideas. I also saw many links for games being sent from literally all over the world. It’s gratifying to know that we’re not alone out there in our quest to maximize the teaching experience.