VIDEO GAME Chapter 4

In general, people rely on past experiences to think about new situations. "One good way to make people look stupid is to ask them to learn and think in terms of words and abstractions that they cannot connect in any useful way to images or situations in their embodied experiences in the world. Unfortunately, we regularly do this in schools."

In school, we often teach students using generalizations. They may be asked to memorize certain words or phrases, but the students may have no idea how to actually do anything with these words. Often times, students cannot even carry on a conversation with these school terms, because all they know is a dictionary definition. Students need to be in situations where they use the information they are taught. Otherwise, it does not make sense to them, and they may never know how or why they will need it.

The author points out that when speaking with teachers about video games, he often gives them a video manual or strategy guide and asks the teachers how much they understand. The teachers often get frustrated. They can read the words, but they can't visualize the information in a way that makes sense. This is what happens to our students when we ask them to read a science textbook, for example. It's all just words. "Good" students can memorize these words and repeat them on a test, but it still does not make "sense" to the students. This is why many school children can pass test but still cannot apply their knowledge to real problem solving. We've got to make what they are learning meaningful by creating real or imagined worlds where children can have experiences to use and apply what they learn. Just like you can't learn how to cook by reading about it and watching shows on TV, you can't learn to be a scientist by reading a textbook and memorizing facts for a test.

Kelly, Heather and John