One facet that I really loved in the Horizon Report was the idea of "game based learning." What a great concept to really engage the students in learning. The report mentions the many innovative ways in which we can use games to teach our students, which I find genius. The report describes the games as being , "goal oriented; social game environments; non digital games that are easy to construct and play; games developed expressly for education; and commercial games that lend themselves to refining team and group skills." This idea of game based learning highlights so many important skills such as; role playing, collaborative problem solving, communication, critical thinking ,and digital literacy. I think researchers are definitely on to something here by integrating games into the curriculum. This idea incorporates these skills, but in a unique fashion. Education is always evolving and changing. As educators I feel we must learn how to interweave these new concepts into our classroom. I used to love when we played review games for test in school. What a nice break from the humdrum of busy bookwork. This allowed us to have fun, but we were also learning at the same time ,and developing many beneficial skills.
I also love the idea of game based learning! I am a future speech pathologist, and in my shadowing I see this used a lot. In fact, just the other day the lady I was shadowing had her kids play a game like Go Fish, but with words they had trouble pronouncing. It was a great way for the students to interact while also receiving the therapy they needed.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. We actually talked about this in my first class today. We were talking about how the way that males and females learn is very different, and that males often times need games and active learning to stay engaged, but still be goal oriented. I think "game based learning" is a great strategy for teachers to use.
ReplyDeleteSo true how boys and girls learn differently. Games are a great way to help boys get their energy out!
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