Simulations in Educations

What role do you think simulations have in education?
Using simulation in the classroom can be a great learning resource. Science classes are now using simulations to dissect animals. As a science teacher, this would be an excellent program to have. I wish I had a simulation my students could complete for every lab. Oh, the time it would save. There is something to be said for hands on learning, but in my experience students are just as excited to work with computers as real equipment. I also teach Social Studies. Simulations are an excellent source of learning in this subject. Students get so much out of games like Oregon Trail and Civilization. The only problem is the cost. It is very expensive to legally equip each student to play the games. A new version of Sims will soon be released which allows users to pick from over 400 careers. Each career has detailed information and real life dilemmas users most overcome. This program would be excellent for a high school senior who is about entering the work force. Simulations are extremely important and beneficial in the medical and flight industry, two professions that can afford no mistakes and rely on simulations to ensure success. Why not education? The fact is that simulations should play a greater role in education.

Video Games in Education

The article brings up some interesting points. Like it or not video games play a large part in today’s society. When I was a kid my brother and I would spend most of your time at our neighbor’s house. Not because we liked him but because he has a Nintendo. My father was against any video games in the house which made us want to play even more. When I was fifteen I almost got arrested for stealing from a tip jar at an Asian restraint. Why was I stealing? I wanted to go to the arcade and play video games. “Fifty-eight percent of kids declare that they play almost daily, 36.7% one or two days per week, and 4.8% never use videogames.” The numbers do not lie. Education caught on to the trend early with the introduction of educational games like Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, and Bomber (all games in which I spent countless hours on trying to fulfill my gaming needs). “Videogames are useful instruments for learning specific strategies and for acquiring knowledge; they also develop the learning that is characteristic of the culture of the information society, and this learning is likely to have long-term consequences.” There has always been resentment for video games in education. It is almost like teachers do not want their students to play games for the simple reason that they are spending their time in front of a computer screen and not a text book. The Education field must come to the realization that video games are the future of education. Video games enhance personal and social development, language and literacy, mathematical development, creative development, knowledge and understanding of the world, and physical development. It is our duty as teachers to positively engage our students and educational video games do just that.

PBS Site

http://www.pbs.org/video/
Review by: Sam Atkinson

Videos are divided into collections:
American at War, Be Green, Cold War, Iran in Flux, etc.

And Topics:
Cinema, Culture, Arts, Lit., Nature and Envirnment, etc.

The site was average. I think most of the videos are very dry. Even high school students could be easily bored. If I were to use this site I would use it was a web quest. Students could not be expected to sit and watch the videos on their own. The videos are easy to find and are up to date. This site would be very useful to an AP civics class. On this site I was able to find a link to http://kids.pbs.org/go/video/. The kid’s site would be fantastic for students k-3. It has a great search engine and is very easy to use.