How Video Games Can Teach Reading Just as Well as Books
How Video Games Can Teach Reading Just as Well as Books
How Video Games Can Teach Reading Just as Well as Books
By Ivan Kaltman
August 9th, 2019
Summary
His tech of choice: video games-specifically narrative-based digital games that engage students by engrossing them in a story.
His guiding belief is that "Modern video games have the potential to be taught as humanely and deeply as any traditional text." According to Fallon, "Students are living, shaping and immersed within a modular, meme-soaked, multimedia world, and video games are a dominant art form within that world."
Games support literacy skills in part because they enable students to play and learn in authentic worlds they care about.
The reason educators like Fallon and Darvasi are taking to games is because they engage students and teach many of the same skills students need to learn anyway.
According to Karen Schrier, associate professor and director of games and emerging media at New York's Marist College, "Games support literacy skills in part because they enable students to play and learn in authentic worlds they care about, where they need to read to be able to solve missions or interpret clues."
Narrative digital games aren't just for high school students.
In our fourth grade professional learning committee we used "Sydney's World," a narrative roleplaying game I developed to help younger students improve their reading fluency and comprehension.
Reference
Kaltman, I. (2019, August 09). How video games can teach reading just as well as books - edsurge news. Retrieved July 07, 2021, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-08-09-how-video-games-can-teach-reading-just-as-well-as-books