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rachelhelps's review against another edition
4.0
This book is about how video games use teaching techniques that make learning easy and fun. They have to - otherwise they won't sell. We can learn good teaching techniques from video games - introducing material in a context that isn't boring, introducing material as it is needed or used (think tutorials), encouraging problem-solving, and much more! Good video games encourage users to interact with their virtual worlds and not just blindly blast to their goal. While kids who play video games don't learn the same things they are learning in school, they are learning methods of exploration that, if they were transferred to a school setting, would make learning easier and more fun.
Reading this book was really fun. It made me want to play video games (they'll help me teach better!), and helped me think of video games as less of a "waste of time" (though for me, they are still a leisure). The author looked at specific games (like Deus Ex and Pikmin) and explained how they use good teaching/learning principles. Every teenager who wants to convince their parents that video games are awesome should read this book.
Some other reviewers complain that the book is dry, but I heartily disagree. Yes, the information presented is backed by actual research (hooray!), but it's presented with engaging examples and I wish more of my textbooks were written like this. I especially like how Gee explains his sources at the end of each chapter - instead of meaningless citations we get miniaturized annotations.
Reading this book was really fun. It made me want to play video games (they'll help me teach better!), and helped me think of video games as less of a "waste of time" (though for me, they are still a leisure). The author looked at specific games (like Deus Ex and Pikmin) and explained how they use good teaching/learning principles. Every teenager who wants to convince their parents that video games are awesome should read this book.
Some other reviewers complain that the book is dry, but I heartily disagree. Yes, the information presented is backed by actual research (hooray!), but it's presented with engaging examples and I wish more of my textbooks were written like this. I especially like how Gee explains his sources at the end of each chapter - instead of meaningless citations we get miniaturized annotations.
hawkietta's review against another edition
3.0
Would have been more up my alley if my interest was in education in the traditional sense, schooling. However, some of his comments on cultural models are worth considering when thinking about videogames and representation.
alice94's review against another edition
2.0
I thought that this book would be a lot easier to read, to be honest it felt more like I was reading a thesis then if I was reading an actual book. I guess it would be a good book for research purposes. Unfortunately I would find it hard to recommend it to anyone I know.
missprint_'s review against another edition
4.0
What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy (2007) by James Paul Gee might be one of the most valuable and timely titles I have read in recent years. Coming to video games late in life, initially to "help" his son with gaming, Gee began to see connections to his professional life as an educator in the virtual worlds created by video games.
Specifically, Gee identified 36 learning principles often found in the best (most challenging, most fun, best designed, most popular) video games that are often lacking in contemporary schools that favor the skill-and-drill approach to deeper, more immersive learning. In discrete chapters, Gee identifies individual games (Tomb Raider, Half-Life, World of Warcraft, Sonic the Hedgehog to name a few) and the principles found in those games that could be applied to school learning.
The ideas Gee outlines in What Video Games Have to Teach Us will not be shocking or revolutionary to anyone who already plays video games. Gamers know that it takes more to play a video game than hand-eye coordination. As Gee underscores throughout this book, gaming is a multi-faceted process that requires planning, reflection, strategizing, and even community interaction. In other words, it's impossible to play a video game without learning how to do so.
The key difference in learning a video game is that the learning is more strategic and immersive. Gamers learn by doing and through experimentation. They also learn in strategically effective ways. Instead of having adjust to the difficulty level of a game, the game--through its very design--often adjusts to the competency of the gamer. Schools have not found an effective way to do that yet. The main argument of this book is that video games create active, critical learners while schools often create passive learners.
There is a lot to like about this book. Gee keeps the book grounded in actual anecdotes and experiences and carefully avoids the hypothetical by using his own life as a gamer to explain the principles found within the book. The game play is described as carefully as the learning principles to create a book that gamers and non-gamers will be able to embrace--and understand.
Finally, this book isn't just about playing video games in isolation or even about schools. Rather Gee also looks at the community aspect of video games through their use of shared knowledge and, especially, through the creation of game related affinity groups (communities of sorts formed organically around shared interests). This multi-faceted approach to the subject creates a well-informed and thorough examination of video games, players, and how the ideas found in good video game play and design can be adapted to traditional learning environments to create a more engaging and enriching learning environment for every student.
Specifically, Gee identified 36 learning principles often found in the best (most challenging, most fun, best designed, most popular) video games that are often lacking in contemporary schools that favor the skill-and-drill approach to deeper, more immersive learning. In discrete chapters, Gee identifies individual games (Tomb Raider, Half-Life, World of Warcraft, Sonic the Hedgehog to name a few) and the principles found in those games that could be applied to school learning.
The ideas Gee outlines in What Video Games Have to Teach Us will not be shocking or revolutionary to anyone who already plays video games. Gamers know that it takes more to play a video game than hand-eye coordination. As Gee underscores throughout this book, gaming is a multi-faceted process that requires planning, reflection, strategizing, and even community interaction. In other words, it's impossible to play a video game without learning how to do so.
The key difference in learning a video game is that the learning is more strategic and immersive. Gamers learn by doing and through experimentation. They also learn in strategically effective ways. Instead of having adjust to the difficulty level of a game, the game--through its very design--often adjusts to the competency of the gamer. Schools have not found an effective way to do that yet. The main argument of this book is that video games create active, critical learners while schools often create passive learners.
There is a lot to like about this book. Gee keeps the book grounded in actual anecdotes and experiences and carefully avoids the hypothetical by using his own life as a gamer to explain the principles found within the book. The game play is described as carefully as the learning principles to create a book that gamers and non-gamers will be able to embrace--and understand.
Finally, this book isn't just about playing video games in isolation or even about schools. Rather Gee also looks at the community aspect of video games through their use of shared knowledge and, especially, through the creation of game related affinity groups (communities of sorts formed organically around shared interests). This multi-faceted approach to the subject creates a well-informed and thorough examination of video games, players, and how the ideas found in good video game play and design can be adapted to traditional learning environments to create a more engaging and enriching learning environment for every student.
trevonio's review against another edition
4.0
Dense at times (at least for me having English as a second language) but I really enjoyed every page. Can't wait to start reading "The Anti-Education Era".
Here a short excerpt underlining the differences between the traditional school and how different is from learning through videogames...
"This and other games have brought home to me that I hold cultural models about learning something like this: “The final goal is important, defines the learning, and good learners move toward it without being distracted by other things” and “Good learners move quickly and efficiently toward their goal.” I also hold other models: “There is one right way to get to the goal that the good
learners discover (and the rest of us usually don’t)” and “Learning is a matter of some people being better or worse than others, and this is important.”
These models all get entrenched in school repeatedly. They are linear models that stress movement ever forward toward greater skill until one has mastered one’s goal. They are competitive models, as well, that stress better and worse and sorting people into categories along the lines of better and worse.
Video games tend not to reward these models. They stress both nonlinear movement—exploring all around without necessarily moving forward toward one’s ultimate goal and the mastery defined by that goal—as well as linear movement, which, of course, eventually happens, greatly deepened,
sometimes transformed, by the horizontal movement. They stress multiple solutions judged by a variety of different standards, some of which are internal to the game (different things happen when you take different tacks) and some of which are set by the player (who wants to solve the problem on his or her own terms and may play scenes over to solve problems in different ways)."
Here a short excerpt underlining the differences between the traditional school and how different is from learning through videogames...
"This and other games have brought home to me that I hold cultural models about learning something like this: “The final goal is important, defines the learning, and good learners move toward it without being distracted by other things” and “Good learners move quickly and efficiently toward their goal.” I also hold other models: “There is one right way to get to the goal that the good
learners discover (and the rest of us usually don’t)” and “Learning is a matter of some people being better or worse than others, and this is important.”
These models all get entrenched in school repeatedly. They are linear models that stress movement ever forward toward greater skill until one has mastered one’s goal. They are competitive models, as well, that stress better and worse and sorting people into categories along the lines of better and worse.
Video games tend not to reward these models. They stress both nonlinear movement—exploring all around without necessarily moving forward toward one’s ultimate goal and the mastery defined by that goal—as well as linear movement, which, of course, eventually happens, greatly deepened,
sometimes transformed, by the horizontal movement. They stress multiple solutions judged by a variety of different standards, some of which are internal to the game (different things happen when you take different tacks) and some of which are set by the player (who wants to solve the problem on his or her own terms and may play scenes over to solve problems in different ways)."
schlawiner's review against another edition
3.0
I'm just reading this for an exam (I chose the book myself, i had bought it a few years back because I thought the topic interesting). I must say, as much as I wanted to like it, it it horribly written. Most parts are very dry and unnecessarily laden with scientific jargon. It is also overly wordy. The ideas themselves are excellent and interesting, but written in a way that exactly the people who could and should make use of them will probably never finish the book. It also lacks practical examples. Gee gives a string of 36 principles of learning (they are actually more observations and opinions than anything else) that he found in video games and that can be applied to learning in other areas (schools for example). But how to apply them practically is left for the reader to ponder. And that is almost impossible, considering the principles are also written in such convoluted terms that it is improbable that many people will understand what he has to say at all. Too bad, because I think there are a few hidden gems.[return]Another point is that the principles he found don't really have a backing in research. He bases them mostly on his own experience playing games and watching his little son play them.
bougainvillaya's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
THIS BOOK!!!! Changed my life. Pedagogy is so good. Go off J. P. Gee. my thoughts on this are so varied and wide and מבולגנים that I can't really articulate myself but this book is truly excellent and gave me many ideas for my future classroom. go off king
scottaf's review against another edition
4.0
Throughout the book, Gee goes into detail on 36 different principles of learning, how they are exemplified in video games, and why they are so important to learning. I may not be an educator, but in my personal experience as a learner, I will say that these principals appear to be accurate. Many of them were things that great teachers helped me do, or that I discovered on my own. Ultimately this isn't a book about video games, but a book about education and teaching. Video games just provide a surprisingly useful context.
I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the field of education, regardless of their interest in video games. However, if you love video games, but don't care about learning and literacy, this is not for you. There isn't much I can spoil in this book, so if you are curious about reading more, follow the links below.
Blog entry
Full database entry on What Video Games...
I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the field of education, regardless of their interest in video games. However, if you love video games, but don't care about learning and literacy, this is not for you. There isn't much I can spoil in this book, so if you are curious about reading more, follow the links below.
Blog entry
Full database entry on What Video Games...
jeffs's review against another edition
5.0
Read in preparation for grad school in the fall. Really well-composed and compelling theories about learning that have roots in education, psychology and english.