Thank you Cathy, for introducing me to edutopia.org and this video. Here James Paul Gee, a professor at Arizona State University talks about video games and their learning potential, online communities, and the future of education in general. Fascinating stuff.

Dr. Gee has written a book called What Video Games can Teach Us About Literacy and Learning. In an interview at gamezone.com he says this:

“My book covers 36 good learning principles built into good games like System Shock 2, Rise of Nations, Arcanum, or even Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. But there are many more. Let me just give a few examples. First, humans are terrible at learning when you give them lots and lots of verbal information ahead of time out of any context where it can be applied. Games give verbal information “just in time” when and where it can be used and “on demand” as the player realizes he or she needs it.

Second, good games stay inside, but at the outer edge of the player’s growing competence, feeling challenging, but “doable.” This creates a sense of pleasurable frustration. Third, good games create what’s been called a “cycle of expertise” by giving players well-designed problems on the basis of which they can form good strategies, letting them practice these enough to routinize them, then throwing a new problem at them that forces them to undo their now routinized skills and think again before achieving, through more practice, a new and higher routinized set of skills. Good games repeat this cycle again and again—it’s the process by which experts are produced in any domain.”

For more, read the paper Good Video Games and Good Learning by Dr. Gee, where he outlines sixteen reasons why gaming can be good for you.

I want to find a game that teaches high school biology topics. Any suggestions?

Jena is a homeschooling mom of three teenagers (one off to college and one checking out public school this year). She has been relaxed/unschooling for most of her home school career. She writes at www.yarnsoftheheart.com, runs http://www.dailylearners.com, and writes at http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/.