The site I explored was titled “Game Classroom”. It is a free site that appears to have collected many different Web 2.0 applications in one place. The games are generally designed for kindergarten to sixth grade. As I explored the games, even though the skills required were elementary, the gaming aspects were very entertaining. In retrospect, if these games would have been made available to me in kindergarten, I think I would have viewed them as a recreational break from the classroom academics. Certainly with younger children, I could see the value in using these as breaks from traditional classroom methods. All the while, circumventing the student’s normal apprehension in accomplishing continuous academic effort. These games certainly feel more like recreation than they do an academic pursuit.
Academically, the features offered through
this site included math, writing, reading, language arts, and multiple
resources for teachers/parents to use while assessing children or students.
So, I thought, why replace the inherent
rewards for learning with recreational rewards.
Don’t children understand and feel a sense of accomplishment and
self-enlightenment as they learn? And, it
occurred to me that at these young ages children may not. So, these games can help young learners develop an
external sensory reward associated with gaming, and then
associate that enjoyment with the inherent personal satisfaction of the
learning itself. These games are very
good at allowing children to develop a sense of “enjoyment” while they learn. As they get older and acquire better abstract
and complex cognitive abilities, the children will naturally substitute that
early development of sensory enjoyment with a deep internal satisfaction that comes from learning. I love these games and have already taught my
twin 6-year-olds to enjoy them. Thanks
for Reading! -Clint
Link to the site: Below
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