I remember when I was in grammar
school, maybe first or second grade, we would have time set aside so we could
go on the computers and play games. Of course these games were “educational”
and not role playing or first person shooter games. But corny children games
with spelling aliens or grammatically correct dogs. But as I grew older, I wondered,
were these games actually helping me to read? When I would go home, I would sit
with either one of my parents for an hour or two practicing sight words and
reading easy books, such as Dr. Seuss or Curious George. This was helping me learn how to read. Not silly little computer
games. I remember when I would go on the computer, I would either sit there and
click on random things, or blur out my vision (space out) and click to hear the
noises.
It wasn’t until I was older that I actually
knew what the computer games were asking me to do. By the time I knew what the
computer games were asking, I was bored with them. It wasn’t helping me, it was
schooling me on things I knew already. So why do we continue to use these
games? Is it to break students up and give them a break? Or is it to say “well
we have supplemental computer games to help them learn” so parents feel
comfortable when they don’t have enough time to sit down with their child to
teach them how to read? Is it purely for the fact to that it gives parents the peace
of mind that their child is getting one on one attention from a computer
screen? I personally think these games are silly, students need human help to
help them learn how to read. They should be able to go to their teachers or
parents or friends to help them learn. They shouldn’t have to rely on a
computer to learn how to read.
Do you think computer games are
helpful to teach students how to read?
Computer games can go one way or the other. While I think some are great (like LeapFrog and Read, Write, and Type), some are mindless games organizations try to shove down educators throats just to make money. As future teachers, we have to be very critical of the educational games we let our students. We have to use these games as tools, not a platform for all learning.
ReplyDeleteI totally why you would say that and this reminds me of WebAssign, an online homework website. We had to go on WebAssign and do the online homework on there for my physics class. The thing for WebAssign is that you don't always have to get the right answer to the question to get the question right because there is always a pattern to the answer, and you can make an educated guess to get the question right if you have done enough of it. That's the thing I do not like about online homework or educational games. They may not always be "educational" or helpful because students can always find a way out by doing something like guessing the answer. As a future teacher, I will definitely have to be careful with how I use them in my class.
ReplyDeleteI left out a word in the first sentence, it should be "I totally understand why.."
DeleteAmanda, I agree with you wholeheartedly and also agree that computer games are not helping students to read. I think perhaps they are in schools because the creators of the games probably market the games saying "Statistically proven to helps student's reading, etc." which then convinces the schools to use them in their education programs. I know from my own personal experiences that I would also just play on the computer and hit random different pictures, etc. I think that the best way to get students to read is by actual physical reading and human interaction. Computers and technology are great, but they cannot always replace the incredible pedagogical practices that us humans can give ourselves.
ReplyDelete