Reflect on what you already knew or felt about about gaming in learning contexts.

Compare this to your new learning, and analyze how games might be beneficial to your instruction or for your learners. I decided to answer the first part of this inquiry before completing any of the readings. I felt this would allow me to truly understand what I think I know. First to me gaming in the classroom can be an exciting, entertaining and wonderful learning opportunity. Students truly believe that practicing their math facts, writing inside a comic creator or building in a virtual world is only a game. I hope no one tells them they are learning. Second I think games can be more beneficial if students are not given free reign of what and how many games they can play. Teachers need to guide their students with choosing games for them and then giving them choices within these. This can assist with scaffolding. I have found that most students go for the easy games. A knowledgeable facilitator will guide them to their level. Lastly when I use games, videos and other tools I debrief students after class. I use open ended questions that can help them think more critically. Gaming has its place in the classroom, but cant replace a qualified educator. After reading: Gaming for social and psychological benefits (Dunn, 2012.) This is not what I considered gaming. The statistics are quite interesting. Having people game for emotional and social issues is new to me. I had not considered this concept. It seems it would be beneficial for the homebound and isolated communities. Comparing reading a book to gaming was not something I would have considered prior to reading Literature and Gaming (Apperley & Walsh 2012.) Understanding the process and system of books and gaming is imperative to the learning. If a student is engaged in the game they need to understand the action that is involved in the play. This understanding of space is important since the underlying purpose of the game is for the student to learn a skill or concept. Having a game design that follows Mayers Pre-Training Principle will give the students prior knowledge of the game components and allow them to navigate through to the essential learning outcomes. Explain the affordances and constraints of synthesizing gaming within any educational setting. The continuous changes in the gaming industry create a difficult issue for educators. In order for students to learn from gaming, teachers first have to be able to understand the game and how it fits into the curriculum. Most teachers are not equipped with the capacity to learn a game and then implement it seamlessly, they need time. Time of course is a commodity in the educational industry.

The cost of adding the technology to schools is another constraint for implementation. Districts may be able to put the equipment into place, but the maintenance, training and replacement of antiquated machines creates a difficult situation. In the study by (Kebritchi, 2010) the barriers to using educational computer games do not outnumber the reasons to adopt. One of the affordances of gaming is the effectiveness it can have with struggling learners (Kebritchi, 2010.) Teachers from the study suggested that the combination of learning with fun and the alignment with learners learning preferences were two main reasons of using the mathematics game. Gaming is a form of entertainment for students, who learn without all of the fear some a adults exhibit with technology. Video games can be powerful tools in the sense that they can be used to work on group social cohesion as well as to reflect about effort, frustration and pleasure (Aranda & Navarro, 2011.) With this type of capacity and the push for 21st century skills in schools, administrations need to begin to delve more deeply in financing schools to create a gaming situation. Sources

Apperley, T., & Walsh, C. (2012). What digital games and literacy have in common: a heuristic for understanding pupils gaming literacy. Literacy,46(3), 115-122. Retrieved from https://moodle1314-courses.wolfware.ncsu.edu/mod/url/view.php?id=49091 Aranda, D., & Navarro, J. (2011). How digital gaming enhances non-formal and informal learning. 395-397. Retrieved from https://moodle1314courses.wolfware.ncsu.edu/mod/url/view.php?id=49091 Dunn, J. (2012). The powerful road of video games in learning. Retrieved from https://moodle1314-courses.wolfware.ncsu.edu/mod/url/view.php?id=49091

Kebritchi, M. (2010). Factors affecting teachers adoption of educational computer games: A case study.British Journal of Educational Technology, 41, 256-270. Retrieved from https://moodle1314-courses.wolfware.ncsu.edu/mod/url/view.php?id=49091 Williamson, B. (2009, March). Computer games, schools, and young people. Futurelab, Retrieved from https://moodle1314-courses.wolfware.ncsu.edu/mod/url/view.php?id=49091