Game Use in Children’s Lives and in the Classroom

Created by: Linae Graupmann

Location of Video Game Use & Who the Players Are

•Video game consoles more likely to be in lower income households (Wartella, O’Keefe, & Scantlin, 2000).

•Multiple computers are likely to be in middle class homes. (Holloway & Valentine, 2003).

•Boys spend more time playing video games than girls.

•Black (25 minutes) and Hispanic (24 minutes) children spend more time on video games than white children (17 minutes) .

(Roberts, Foehr, Rideout, & Brodie, 1999).

•Children start playing computer games as young as nine-months old.

(Rideout, Vanderwater, & Wartella, 2003).

Children’s Interest in Games

2001 Survey [ESA] for game players

•Fun [87%]•Challenging [72%]

•Social experience [42%]•Low cost entertainment [36%]

(Kirriemuir, & McFarlane, 2004)

•Human/game interaction and reaction•Children are allowed to experiment

Social Interactions Surrounding Games

•The location of the gaming equipment affects the social dynamics around the game playing

•Children use video games as a hobby where friends can get together to play and discuss games.

•“According to their parents, among children who play video games in a typical day. 64% spend most of their time playing with someone else, and half (49%) have a parent in the room with them most or all of the time they are playing” (Rideout, Vanderwater, & Wartella, 2003).

Educational Value of Games•Games motivate students to engage in activities for longer periods of time.

•Children move from receivers of information to experiencing content.

•Children may develop spatial representation, iconic skills, and visual attention.

•Children may become more comfortable using computers.

•Raises some children’s self-esteem

•Activity is fun

Use of Games to Teach

•Civilization III to teach history(Squire, in press)

•The Island of Dr. Brain to teach chemistry and math(Ito,1997)

•SimCity 2000 to teach urban planning(Ito,1997)

The Use of Amazon Trail

Activity: Students will play the game with their partner.•Students will then write a journal entry about their travels.•Students will also be responsible for researching specific

information on at least two of their findings everyday.

3rd gradePartner activity

Goal: Students will learn about the Amazon Rainforest and the

Amazon River.

How children start the game1) Children pick a guide:Guides are of various

genders and races.

2) Children select a supplies package.

3) Children get into a boat and navigate the river.

Children learn to read a map and use a compass to navigate

Once on the river children learn about rain forest animals, fish,

and plant life

In the cities children learn about history and science and practice

problem solving

Trade

Cortez

Learn Sciencebotany

Learn History

Henry Ford’s rubber

plantation

Practice problem solving

BibliographyHolloway, S.L., & Valentine, G. (2003). Life around the screen: The place of the ICT in the family’ home, Cyberkids: Children in the information age (pp. 99-126). London: Routledge Falmer.

Ito, M. (1997). Kids and simulation games: Subject formation through human-machine interaction. Paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S).

Kirriemuir, J., & McFarlane, A. (2004). Literature review in games and learning. Nesta Futurelab Series: report 8. Retrieved January 26th, 2005, from http://www.nestafuturelab.org/research/lit_reviews.htm

Rideout, V., Vanderwater, E., Wartella, E., (2003). Zero to six: electronic media in the lives of infants toddlers and preschoolers. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Roberts, D., Foehr, U., Rideout, V., Brodie, M. (1999). Executive Summary: Kids and media at the new millennium (p. 42 –56). The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Menlo Park, California.

Sanger, J., Willson, J., Davies, B., & Whittaker, R. (1997). Keeping IT in the family: Computer games and families, Young children, videos and computer games: Issues for teachers and parents (pp. 63-96). London: Falmer Press.

Squire, K.D. (in press). Civilization III as a world history sandbox. To appear in Civilization and its discontents. Virtual history. Real fantasies. Milan, Italy. Ludilogica Press.

Valentine, G., Holloway, S.L., & Bingham, N. (2000). Transforming cybespace: Children’s interventions in the new public sphere. In S.L. Holloway & G. Valentine (eds.), Children’s geographies: Playing, living, learning (pp. 156-173). London and New York: Routledge.

Wartella, E., O’Keefe, B., & Scantlin, R. M. (2000). Growing up with interactive media: What we know and what we don’t about the impact of new media on children – Executive Summary (pp. 1-16).