"Real Education"

Along with my prior blog, to get more into the sports side of it, I played sports my entire life and it taught me so much. For example in basketball, I have learned how to be able to work with other people and think strategically. This has carried over into my everyday life. Now some may be thinking...how does this deal with education? Well in my opinion, education is not just what you learn from a book, its all the life experiences you have that teach you different values. These are the things that a person should learn outside of school, kind of like walking. Sports makes you set goals, allows you be competitive, you make good friends, and act as an escape. All of these things are key factors to helping educate yourself. Not only is this found in sports but also in all other activities. You might disagree with me but I no that participating in these activities has taught me so much.

Non classroom education

Education comes in many different forms. Yes it it obviously found in the classroom but as I discussed earlier, it is found in video games and in board games. As I think about how else I have learned in my life I think about all of the activities and sports I have played. Getting kids to interact with one another allows them to learn about how to play with other people. For example, a simple game like tag teaches a child how to have a competitive edge but also a soft approach. The goal of tag is to run around and not the tagged by the tagger. If you do you have to run and tag someone else. Simple enough. But the thing that it teaches kids is a strategic value of how not to get tagged but if you are the tagger you can't go push someone. Sometimes kids will get frustrated with themselves because they can't catch anyone and when they finally do they have to have enough self control to not go push someone over when they finally reach them. Some may think this is a stretch as to a learning game but when I think about it, you can learn from anything.

Education in Board Games

In my opinion there are so many advantages with interactive learning. When kids have fun, they are more likely to remember what they did in association with that fun activity. There are multiple things that can be taught through board games. Everything from math to history. Now im not saying that these games can be the most fun but they can defiantly be effective. I remember in elementary school when my teacher made us all stand in a big circle around the room and she had a ball that we would toss from one person to another. The ball had numbers all over it. When you caught the ball whatever numbers your two thumbs landed on were the number you had to use. My teacher told us to either add, subtract, multiply or divide the numbers. This was a simple game that didn't take much preparation but was much better than sitting in a desk staring at my teacher write and solve problems on the chalkboard. There are studies show that even board games that make you move spaces teaches kids that it take longer to move 8 spaces than to move 4. It also visually shows them that it is twice as many. Also there are many games that require you to move backwards which then incorporates subtracting. More and more games are being added to the way teachers teach. Kids are much more excited to learn when they can have fun and im sure kids will remember things for a longer period of time.

Learning and video games! Video games can make kids better problem solvers. As they play a video game situations arise that makes kids think on their feet and also work with others and themselves on the best way to get around the obstacle or problem at hand. There isn't much time to react while playing a video game so it makes kids think quicker and based on their decision comes an outcome just as there is for anything. It is said that video games can promote thinking skills as well as improve spacial and fine motor skills. (Video Games and Learning) Now there is also studies that take place that there should be a limit to the amount that should be played and also there should still be time for kids to play outside. But there is nothing wrong with kids playing video games, it doesn't "suck everything out of you" as people commonly say.

Comm 344

Gaming can consist of many different things. One can play video games, board games, interactive games, learning games and many more. People often discuss that gaming is bad for kids to do unless it has some learning background to it. In this blog i want to explore more into the educational process that is within all types of games. There is often the misconception that those who sit in front of the television all day aren't getting any brain stimulation and I am looking forward to providing information that either supports or proves this theory wrong. For example, my opinion before doing any research is there is still some thinking involved whether it is having to think quickly when your playing an action video game to counting money while playing monopoly. These two are just an example of the possible knowledge you can gain from playing a game. Also when you play in groups you are having to deal with other people and learning to work with others in a way that you might have to in the future. You are either playing with partners and learning how to work with others or playing against someone but still have to strategize against them. These are all points that i would like to explore throughout this blog.