What can video games teach us about good learning environments?

  

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This was the question posed by James Gee of Arizona State at the annual meeting of  the American Association for the Advancement of Science. ("First_Person Solvers: Learning Mathematics in a Video Game")

Stay with me; this not the usual old wine. Gee is basically inviting us to steal ideas that work, and points out that we can do this with or without technology.

Think about your basic video game environment. I mean really think about it, if you can bear it. (This part is hard for me.) What works? Break it down to its elements, and then picture how those might translate to the classroom. Gee highlights the following:

• Feedback is immediate, continuous and plentiful.

• Information is provided when it is needed, near to the point when it will be used (rather than all at once, as is often the case in the classroom).

• Game designers encourage "modding," and this invites meaningful engagement. ("Modding" is when players use the actual game software to modify or add to the game.)

• The environment is a big "problem-solving space" which Gee calls "pleasantly frustrating. The tasks are challenging but doable. That's a very motivating state for human beings," says Gee.

If you know your video games and what makes them tick, let us hear from you. What you might add to this list? A sense of accomplishment and progress? A game's multiple entry points? The ability to personalize an experience? Is it modding when your students write a story problem? (Do you like just using the word "modding"? I do.)

Most importantly of all, what do these things look like in the math classroom? What are you already doing that has a parallel in the world of video games? What features, small or big, could you see yourself adopting? It's an interesting thought experiment -- please do let us know if you make it a real experiment.