James Paul Gee on Video Games, Learning, and Literacy

I am glad that Dr. Beedle is introducing us to the people we are learning about in our chapter book.  It is always good to put a face to a name.  I will briefly touch on subjects that Mr. Gee talked about in his video on video games, learning, and literacy.

I agree with the subject of attention spans in learning and teaching.  It is sometimes hard to keep someone's attention in most areas of life, especially with learning.  I was working with a student today and she was learning how to get information from charts and graphs and use it to answer questions.  Her attention was focused, until reaching vocabulary words that she did not know how to pronounce.  She is a second grade student attending a public elementary school.  She repeatedly said, "I give up!" but I would continue to push her, telling her she was doing a good job and she could do it.  This is mind-puzzling to me, the fact of keeping a student's attention while learning.  The program this student was using is animated and it even reads the passages to her.  I believe if I was not there to edge her on, she would have given up.  But I showed her how to take her time, pronounce the words slowly, and to keep going until she reached the goal of answering the questions correctly.  So this leads me to the question of what can we use as facilitators to get and keep a student's interest in learning.

I have noticed from a young age that trouble-shooting and figuring out things with hands sparks interests in students.  I remember once during a Christmas holiday, my younger brother received a remote controlled racing car.  Instead of him putting batteries in the remote and racing the car, he decided to break down the car, completely.  He did not stop there, he actually, after taking the car completely apart, put it back together.  That was the highlight of one of his Christmas presents.  I had always thought that he would take that new found interest and use that to fuel a desire of career.  I believe if he had someone that would have paid attention to him and motivated him, he would have went on to a career of car building or mechanics.

I agree that students need an opportunity to apply what they learn from school.  I appreciated and gained more knowledge from courses that were hands-on than a lecture course.  Learning about the Legislative Process and the inner workings of Congress was an interest of mine.  I researched a Member of Congress and also learned how to write up a bill and go about getting it passed.  But if we did not get the opportunity as students to do this activity actively, it would have been a bore being told to me.

This brings me back to the question of what can we use as facilitators to get and keep a student's interest in learning.  I know that life is evolving towards technology.  People of all ages use some sort of technology, whether it be a cellular phone or computer.  Technology has the attention of the majority of everyone.  Tutorials, blogs and forums, and video games help with teaching and learning.  Technology helps us stay in touch.  And why not use technology to stay in touch with our students, young and old, and keep learning and teaching vibrant and engaging.