Identity and Technology
blog for UN1001
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- Today’s Class (Friday, Dec. 12th)
- Questions for Wright reading: How does user created content influence learning from games?
- Questions for Wright reading: What are some of the drawbacks from learning from video games or certain types of video games?
- Questions for Wright reading: Do games offer problem solving? Provide an example of how a specific game offers or does not offer problem solving.
- Questions for Wright reading: Do games offer self-esteem? Provide an example of how a specific game offers or does not offer self-esteem.
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At first thought, I couldn’t think of any games that I played as drills as a child; the games that first came to mind were too simple (tag, hide and seek, and other playground games). However, after some consideration I realized that many of the video games I played as a child do serve as drills.
For example, there’s Math Blaster. It contains some cases where the player needs to do some basic math problems quickly to advance. Basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills are reinforced. Being able to use these basic math skills later on was helpful in school.
Another game I found containing drills is Reader Rabbit. This game focuses on reading skills; being able to sound out words to figure out what they are and constructing some basic sentences. The words (or consonants and vowels depending on the level the player is on) are on blocks that the player must drag onto a conveyor belt to create words and sentences.
Most children’s games have some form of drill in them. Even a program designed for drawing and artwork are not without purpose–motor skills and creativity benefit from the use of this type of program. A game called “The Incredible Machine” allows the player to complete puzzles by inserting balls, flashlights, motors, conveyor belts, and many other items into a sort of a Rube Goldberg machine. This inspires creativity, coordination, and critical thinking skills.
Sadly enough as a child I didn’t play many games at all, but the few games I did play had many practical implications. For example, one of my favorite games to play as a kid was LIFE. In this game you usually started as a teenager either in or out of college. As the game progressed it gives examples of events that might occur in real life like having children and retiring. It also demonstrates how choices can affect your future. For example if you choose to start the game in college you had to pay back loans but got a better job later which paid more. If you chose not to attend college you had more money to start off with but couldn’t work at a higher paying job later. The goal of the game was to come out the richest, but the game LIFE also taught us that money wasn’t the only way to live a rich life. They did this by placing prices on “LIFE” cards that you received after buying a dog or having a baby.
I was lucky enough in my fifth grade class to be exposed to many computer games that were actually fun “drills” that allowed you to learn something. I have to say my favorite game by far was number munchers. What you would have to do in number munchers is go through and eat numbers while avoiding other objects. This taught you to eat what numbers were bigger for more points. The basic concept behind it was being able to get the idea of negative numbers and being able to add on the fly since they would throw addition problems or even multiplication and division at you and you would have to determine which was bigger to eat. This also taught a bit of hand eye coordination that many video games do. You would always have to keep an eye on where your guy was as well as where the enemies were in the grid or you would get eaten yourself. You could almost think of it as a math pacman of sorts. The biggest thing about this type of learning is it was positive reinforcement. Essentially if you had your assignements done you could go play these games on the many computers that the teacher happened to have in the room. On top of that many of these games would teach you something. Overall a very fun experience.